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Only a few weeks back, the Merseyside club seemed destined to claim back-to-back Premier League titles and possibly another Champions League trophy. The team's ability to secure victories despite not peak performances seemed like the mark of true title-winners.

But, subsequently the momentum shifted. The Anfield side continued with mediocre showings and began losing points. At the same time, the North London club, renowned for their resolute backline and squad depth, started narrowing the gap at the summit.

Understanding a Slump in Modern Football

Can a trio of consecutive defeats constitute a collapse? As with most sporting discussions, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key word. Was the United midfielder elite? How do you define "world class" even mean? Are Aston Villa a big team? What constitutes "big"? Is the Old Trafford outfit returned to prominence? Well, maybe that's one we might answer.

At a team of this club's size and previous campaign's brilliance, a minor crisis appears a fair description. During a broadcast, former striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would trigger panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular threshold.

Pinpointing the Tactical Issues

One can observe obvious footballing problems. Integrating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a different skill set to previous stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Likewise, incorporating a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative talent who improves those around him, connecting play seamlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Additionally, a number of players who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. Actually, most of the team is. And every one of them have one profound, fresh event: the passing of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Impact: Loss on the Field

We are now just more than three months since the tragic loss of their friend. While the wider world progresses rapidly, diverting attention to other matters, Liverpool's squad continue training and playing each day in the absence of their mate.

This is not possible to know how every individual and staff member is dealing from one day to the next. There is a significant amount of projection. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a particular match because he was tired. But maybe his form is down a small percentage points due to the fact he is grieving for his pal.

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

"It's not easy for the squad, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the manager when you arrive at the training ground and you see daily that spot vacant. So you have to be incredibly resilient. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not good, even better than good. Because they are attempting to handle a situation that is not easy."

Just as summarized succinctly on a popular supporter's show, the memory triggers are ongoing. They hear his chant in the 20th minute, they notice his unused locker in the changing room. In the middle of games, a through ball might be played and the thought arises: 'Oh, Jota would have reached that.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that everything is far from all right.

The Limits of Football Analysis and Human Emotion

After covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a inherent lack of depth in the majority of punditry. We simply do not know how an individual is feeling at any specific time and how that affects their performance. Jota's passing is one of the clearest illustrations. We know a terrible thing happened, and we understand the nature of sorrow. But further lies an intangible layer of effect on various people at the organization. It is highly likely that some of the squad personally do not truly understand its effect from one moment to the next.

How the media reports on this and how fans dissect displays is clearly far from the primary thing. On a functional basis, mentioning Jota's passing is challenging to accomplish in a brief soundbite before moving on to on-field issues. Outside of this particular event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify each critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family relationships, health challenges, or marital difficulties.

A former pro footballer, Nedum Onuoha, recently spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's passing halfway through his career impacted his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he said. "The high points and the low points that accompany it didn't really feel the same after that." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Concluding Point

So, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—be it success or failure—whether or not we omit reference to it every time we discuss their fixtures, even if it isn't the cause for their final outcome, we must remember that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not merely a exceptional footballer, but, more importantly, they lost a friend.