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Just a few weeks ago, Liverpool appeared destined to claim back-to-back Premier League championships and possibly another Champions League crown. The team's ability to secure victories without peak displays seemed like the hallmark of genuine title-winners.

However, subsequently the momentum turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre performances and started dropping points. At the same time, the North London club, renowned for their stubborn defense and strength in depth, began narrowing the gap at the top.

Understanding a Slump in Modern Football

Can a trio of consecutive losses constitute a collapse? Like most football debates, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key term. Is Paul Scholes elite? How do you define "world class" actually mean? Are Aston Villa a big club? What constitutes "big"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Alright, maybe that is a question we can answer.

For a club of this club's size and last season's brilliance, a minor setback seems a reasonable description. During a radio show, former forward Neil Mellor was questioned how many defeats in a row would trigger panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that threshold.

Pinpointing the On-Pitch Problems

There are obvious tactical issues. Assimilating recent signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct skill set to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a challenge. Likewise, incorporating a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a technical talent who improves those around him, connecting play seamlessly rather than imposing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of players who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently below their best. Actually, most of the team is. And they all have one significant, recent experience: the passing of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Loss on the Pitch

We are now just over three months since the tragic loss of their teammate. Although the wider world progresses quickly, diverting attention to other matters, the club's squad carry on training and playing each day in the absence of their mate.

This is impossible to gauge how each individual and member of the backroom team is coping from one day to the next. It requires a significant amount of projection. Perhaps Salah failed to defend in a recent match because he was tired. But maybe his form is down a small percentage points because he misses his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented insightfully before a fixture, making a parallel to his personal situation of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "How they are performing this campaign is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after the tragedy. I went through exactly the same thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It's not easy for the players, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the manager when you arrive at the training complex and you see daily that place vacant. So you must be very strong. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not well, even better than good. Because they are attempting to deal with a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained well on a well-known supporter's show, the memory triggers are constant. The players hear his song in the first half, they notice his unused locker in the dressing room. Even during matches, a pass might be played and the thought arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have been there.' If Salah was seen crying in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that everything is far from normal.

The Limits of Punditry and Personal Grief

Having reporting on football for twenty years, one comes to believe there is a inherent superficiality in most punditry. We genuinely do not know how an player is feeling at any given time and how that affects their performance. Jota's death is one of the most stark illustrations. We are aware a terrible event happened, and we comprehend the nature of grief. Beyond that lies an intangible level of impact on various individuals at the club. It is very possible that a few of the squad themselves do not fully understand its influence from one moment to the next.

How the media reports on this and how supporters analyze performances is obviously not the primary thing. On a practical level, bringing up Jota's death is difficult to accomplish in a short soundbite before moving on to tactical concerns. Outside of this particular tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify each criticism of a player with an admission that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their family relationships, health struggles, or marital difficulties.

An ex- professional player, the defender, recently talked on radio about how his mother's passing halfway through his career affected his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "Some of the high points and the lows that accompany it no longer felt the same after that." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three months.

The Final Thought

So, whatever Liverpool achieve this season—if it's something or failure—whether or not we omit reference to it whenever we analyze their matches, even if it is not the sole cause for their final result, we should not forget that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not merely a exceptional footballer, but, crucially, they lost a dear friend.