The Reds' Current Struggles: The Ways Diogo Jota's Loss Impacts the Team

Only a couple of weeks ago, the Merseyside club appeared destined to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially a further Champions League crown. The team's ability to secure victories without peak displays seemed like the mark of genuine title-winners.

But, subsequently the momentum shifted. Liverpool persisted with average showings and began dropping points. Meanwhile, the North London club, known for their resolute defense and strength in depth, began narrowing the gap at the top.

Defining a Slump in Modern Football

Can a trio of consecutive defeats constitute a crisis? Like many football debates, it hinges completely on your definition of the central term. Is Paul Scholes world class? How do you define "world class" even mean? Is the Birmingham club a big team? What constitutes "major"? Is the Old Trafford outfit back? Alright, maybe that's a question we might settle.

For a club of this club's stature and previous campaign's brilliance, a minor setback seems a fair description. During a radio show, ex- forward Neil Mellor was asked how many defeats in a row would trigger alarm. His answer was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular point.

Identifying the On-Pitch Problems

There are clear footballing problems. Integrating recent signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct skill set to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a difficulty. Likewise, incorporating a gifted playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a creative player who improves those beside him, connecting play seamlessly rather than imposing himself upon the game.

Furthermore, a number of players who shone last campaign—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. Actually, most of the squad are. Yet every one of them share one significant, fresh experience: the tragic death of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Effect: Loss on the Pitch

We are now just over three short months since the devastating passing of their teammate. Although the outside world moves on quickly, diverting focus to other matters, the club's players carry on going to work each day without their mate.

It is impossible to know how each individual and member of the backroom team is coping on any given day. It requires a significant amount of speculation. Maybe Salah failed to defend in a recent match simply he was tired. But maybe his form is down a small percentage points due to the fact he misses his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented insightfully before a fixture, making a parallel to his personal experience of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "How they are doing this campaign is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after the tragedy. I lived exactly the same thing when I was a player 20 years ago."

"It's not easy for the players, it's not easy for the club, 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 incredibly resilient. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not well, but exceptionally well. Because they are trying to deal with a problem that is not easy."

As summarized succinctly on a popular supporter's show, the reminders are ongoing. They hear his song in the 20th minute, they notice his empty peg in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a through ball might be played and the thought arises: 'Ah, Jota would have reached that.' If Salah showed emotion in front of the Kop a few games ago, it signals that everything is far from all right.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

After covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental superficiality in most punditry. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is coping at any specific moment and how that impacts their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark examples. We are aware a terrible thing happened, and we understand the nature of grief. But further lies an intangible level of effect on different people at the club. It is highly likely 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 fans analyze performances is clearly far from the primary thing. On a practical level, bringing up Jota's passing is challenging to accomplish in a brief soundbite before moving on to tactical concerns. Beyond this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to preface every critique of a player with an admission that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their parental situation, health struggles, or relationship difficulties.

An ex- professional player, the defender, recently talked on a broadcast about how his mother's passing halfway through his career impacted his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he stated. "The highs and the lows that accompany it didn't really feel the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three short months.

The Final Thought

Therefore, regardless of what Liverpool achieve this season—be it success or failure—whether or not we omit reference to it whenever we analyze their fixtures, and even if it isn't the reason for their eventual outcome, we must remember that a short time ago they lost not merely a exceptional player, but, more importantly, they lost a dear friend.