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Only a few weeks back, Liverpool seemed set to secure back-to-back Premier League championships and possibly another Champions League trophy. The team's ability to win despite not peak displays seemed like the mark of genuine title-winners.

But, subsequently the tide shifted. The Anfield side continued with average performances and started losing matches. At the same time, Arsenal, renowned for their resolute defense and strength in depth, started closing the gap at the top.

Defining a Crisis in Today's Game

Can three straight losses constitute a crisis? Like most sporting discussions, it depends completely on your interpretation of the central word. Is Paul Scholes elite? What does "world class" actually mean? Are Aston Villa a major team? What constitutes "major"? Is the Old Trafford outfit back? Well, perhaps that is one we might settle.

At a team of Liverpool's stature and last season's excellence, a minor crisis seems a reasonable description. On a recent radio show, former forward Neil Mellor was questioned how many defeats in a row would trigger alarm. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular point.

Identifying the On-Pitch Problems

There are clear footballing issues. Integrating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a distinct style to previous stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Likewise, blending in a gifted playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical talent who improves those beside him, linking play effortlessly rather than imposing himself on the game.

Furthermore, a host of players who excelled last campaign—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. Actually, the majority of the team are. Yet they all share one profound, fresh event: the tragic death of their teammate and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Impact: Grief on the Pitch

It has been just more than three months since the tragic passing of their friend. Although the wider world moves on quickly, shifting focus to global events, the club's squad carry on going to work each day without their friend.

This is impossible to gauge how each individual and staff member is dealing from one day to the next. It requires a great deal of speculation. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a recent match simply he lacked energy. Or perhaps his performance level is down a small percentage points because he is grieving for his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke insightfully before a recent, making a parallel to his personal situation of losing a fellow player, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this season is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's loss. I went through exactly the same experience when I was a player two decades past."

"It is difficult 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 find every day that place vacant. So you have to be very strong. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not good, even better than good. Because they are attempting to deal with a situation that is not easy."

Just as explained succinctly on a popular fan podcast, the memory triggers are ongoing. The players hear his chant in the 20th minute, they notice his unused peg in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a through ball might be made and the realization arises: 'Ah, Jota would have been there.' If Salah showed emotion in front of the Kop a matches ago, it signals that everything is not all right.

The Limits of Punditry and Personal Grief

After reporting on football for two decades, one comes to believe there is a fundamental lack of depth in the majority of analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an player is coping at any specific time and how that affects their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark examples. We know a tragic event happened, and we comprehend the nature of grief. Beyond that lies an intangible level of impact on different people at the club. It is very possible that some of the players personally don't truly grasp its effect from one moment to the next.

How the press reports on this and how supporters analyze displays is clearly far from the most important factor. On a functional basis, bringing up Jota's death is difficult to accomplish in a short soundbite before moving on to tactical concerns. Outside of this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify every criticism of a player with an admission that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family relationships, personal challenges, or marital problems.

An ex- pro player, the defender, lately spoke on radio about how his mother's death midway through his playing days affected his love for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "The highs and the low points that come with it no longer felt the same after that." And that was half a career; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three months.

The Final Thought

Therefore, regardless of what Liverpool achieve this season—if it's something or failure—whether or not we don't mention it every time we discuss their matches, and even if it isn't the reason 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.