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Just a few weeks ago, Liverpool appeared destined to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and possibly another Champions League crown. Their capacity to win without peak displays seemed like the hallmark of genuine champions.

But, subsequently the tide shifted. Liverpool continued with mediocre performances and started dropping points. Meanwhile, Arsenal, renowned for their stubborn backline and squad depth, began narrowing the distance at the summit.

Defining a Crisis in Today's Game

Can a trio of consecutive losses represent a collapse? As with most sporting discussions, it depends completely on your definition of the key term. Is Paul Scholes elite? How do you define "world class" even signify? Is the Birmingham club a big club? What defines "major"? Is the Old Trafford outfit back? Well, maybe that is one we might settle.

At a team of this club's stature and previous campaign's excellence, a minor crisis seems a reasonable assessment. On a recent radio show, ex- striker Neil Mellor was asked how many defeats in a row would trigger panic. His reply was six. At present, they are halfway to that point.

Pinpointing the On-Pitch Problems

There are obvious footballing issues. Assimilating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct style to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Likewise, blending in a gifted playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical player who elevates those around him, linking play seamlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Additionally, a number of players who excelled last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. Actually, the majority of the team is. Yet every one of them share one profound, fresh event: the tragic death of their colleague and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Impact: Grief on the Pitch

It has been just over three short months since the devastating loss of their friend. Although the wider world moves on quickly, diverting attention to global events, the club's players carry on going to work day after 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. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a recent match simply he was tired. Or maybe his performance level is down a small percentage points because he misses his pal.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented eloquently before a recent, making a parallel to his personal experience of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "The way they are doing this season is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Especially after Jota's tragedy. I lived a very similar thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It is difficult for the squad, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the manager when you come to the training complex and you see daily that spot empty. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are performing not well, but exceptionally well. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

As explained succinctly on a well-known supporter's show, the reminders are ongoing. The players are reminded by his chant in the 20th minute, they see his empty peg in the changing room. Even during matches, a through ball might be made and the realization arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have been there.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that all is not all right.

The Boundaries of Punditry and Human Emotion

Having reporting on football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental lack of depth in the majority of analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is coping at any given time and how that impacts their performance. Jota's death is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a terrible thing occurred, and we comprehend the nature of sorrow. Beyond that lies an intangible level of effect on various individuals at the club. It is very possible that some of the players personally don't fully understand its effect from one moment to the next.

How the media reports on this and how fans analyze displays is clearly not the primary thing. On a functional level, bringing up Jota's death is challenging to accomplish in a short soundbite before moving on to on-field concerns. Beyond this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify each critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their family situation, personal challenges, or marital difficulties.

An ex- pro player, Nedum Onuoha, recently spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's passing halfway through his playing days impacted his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he stated. "Some of the high points and the lows that accompany it didn't really feel the same any more." And that was half a career; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Final Point

So, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—if it's something or if it's nothing—whether or not we omit reference to it whenever we discuss their matches, even if it isn't the cause for their final result, we must remember that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not just a exceptional player, but, crucially, they lost a friend.