Liverpool's Current Difficulties: How Diogo Jota's Loss Continues to Affect the Team

Just a couple of weeks ago, Liverpool seemed set to secure back-to-back Premier League championships and potentially a further Champions League trophy. The team's ability to secure victories without optimal displays seemed like the mark of true champions.

But, then the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre showings and began losing points. Meanwhile, Arsenal, known for their stubborn backline and squad depth, started closing the distance at the top.

Defining a Crisis in Modern Football

Does a trio of consecutive losses constitute a crisis? Like most sporting discussions, it hinges entirely on your interpretation of the key term. Was the United midfielder elite? What does "world class" even signify? Are Aston Villa a major club? What constitutes "major"? Is the Old Trafford outfit returned to prominence? Well, maybe that is a question we can answer.

For a club of Liverpool's size and last season's brilliance, a minor crisis appears a fair description. On a recent broadcast, former striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would trigger alarm. His answer was six. Currently, they are halfway to that particular threshold.

Identifying the Tactical Issues

There are clear tactical problems. Integrating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different skill set to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a difficulty. Similarly, blending in a talented playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical talent who improves those around him, connecting play seamlessly rather than forcing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of players who excelled last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently underperforming. Actually, the majority of the squad are. Yet every one of them share one profound, recent event: the tragic death of their teammate and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Grief on the Pitch

We are now just over three months since the devastating loss of their teammate. While the wider world moves on rapidly, shifting attention to other matters, Liverpool's squad carry on going to work day after day in the absence of their friend.

It is not possible to gauge how every individual and staff member is coping on any given day. It requires a significant amount of speculation. Maybe Salah failed to defend in a recent match because he lacked energy. Or perhaps his performance level is down a few per cent because he misses his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented eloquently before a recent, drawing a comparison to his personal experience of losing a fellow player, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "The way they are doing this season is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's tragedy. I lived exactly the same experience when I was a player two decades past."

"It's not easy for the squad, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the manager when you come to the training ground and you see every day that place empty. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not well, even better than good. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

As explained succinctly on a well-known fan podcast, the memory triggers are constant. The players are reminded by his song in the 20th minute, they see his empty locker in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a pass might be played and the thought arises: 'Oh, Jota would have been there.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a matches ago, it signals that everything is not all right.

The Limits of Football Analysis and Personal Grief

Having reporting on football for two decades, one realizes there is a inherent lack of depth in most punditry. We genuinely do not know how an player is coping at any specific time and how that impacts their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark examples. We are aware a terrible event occurred, and we comprehend the nature of grief. But further lies an intangible layer of impact on various individuals at the organization. It is very possible that some of the players personally do not truly grasp its influence from one day to the next.

How the media reports on this and how fans analyze displays is clearly not the most important thing. On a functional basis, mentioning Jota's death is challenging to do in a short segment before transitioning to tactical issues. Outside of this particular tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to preface every criticism of a footballer with an acknowledgment that we are largely ignorant about their personal lives—be it their family situation, health struggles, or marital difficulties.

A former professional footballer, Nedum Onuoha, lately talked on radio about how his mother's death midway through his career affected his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he said. "The high points and the low points that come with it no longer felt the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Final Point

Therefore, whatever Liverpool accomplish in the coming months—be it success or if it's nothing—whether or not we don't mention it whenever we discuss their matches, and even if it is not the sole reason for their final result, we should not forget that a few weeks ago they suffered the loss of not merely a brilliant footballer, but, crucially, they said goodbye to a dear friend.