Why would Luis Enrique come to us from PSG right now? It just doesn’t seem credible. I think Iraola is now absolutely the best and only realistic choice and we should be looking to unveil him as soon as his contract ends.
Discussing Jota is difficult because no one really comes out of it looking good. On one hand, if you bring it up too much, your a dick as you look like your using his death as an excuse. On the other, if you ignore it entirely, you look cold and dismissive of the emotional impact it clearly had on the club and players.
No one can answer how much did it affect them emotionally. Its somewhat a pointless debate. It’s more useful to ask how would our season have been materially different if Jota had been available throughout?
Personally, I think we probably would have been a bit better, perhaps good enough for 4th if he had stayed fit. But ultimately, I still think Slot implements the same tactical approach, we see very similar squad fitness, a very similar transfer strategy, and I’m not convinced Jota would have been first choice (and might have been one of the players leaving).
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While I absolutely agree with this, I also think Slot and how we’ve played have actually fed into this. Jurgen would have got the team to rally together after a period of mourning and - while we may have had some abject results (7-2 Villa) and inconsistent performances - the team as a whole would actually play better in the second half of the season as a way of processing losing Diogo. With Arne its the opposite and hence why I think it’ll become a retrospective justification. Unfortunately the thing with that is that it won’t suddenly change and becomes a ready made excuse for why 2026-27 also starts poorly. Football at the top is mentally tough and the last thing players need is an inbuilt reason for underperformance.
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I think the most important thing Diogo would have brought is his personality: the squad has looked fractured and he was genuinely well liked and got along with everyone (as far as we can tell). Additionally he was a fighter and we’ve massively missed that and the balance of the entire squad - from Patrik Berger esque coasting by Dom to low energy from Alexis - may have been shaken up.
To be fair, you have mentioned the Jota tragedy during the season. A large number of us have, and I really doubt anyone is being deliberately insensitive or disrespectful. I think that’s important to note. Perhaps we have all mourned a mate or loved one at some point, and we all do it differently. Players are human as well.
It’s not about the tragedy being an excuse or factor for our fall, it’s about understanding the level of impact on players, and how that is managed. @dalglish suggests that Klopp may have rallied the team, but we don’t know. Personally, I believe the arm around the shoulder is the most beneficial style of management in this instance. Neither Arne, nor Rafa could do this like Klopp. This may be a factor, but not enough in my view to effect the abject failure we have witnessed this season.
My point is, as I awkwardly made last night…
If we win the league this year, its because we are doing things correctly, playing well and meeting challenges. If we win the league there is reference to Diogo, sentiment plays a part. We did it for our mate. All nice stuff. But the reality is we did it because we were good enough.
We lose our title because our form/tactics/injuries etc have combined to make us awful. Of course the awful tragic loss of a teammate is a factor, but not enough to effect our season in a massive way. Lets be respectful to the man’s memory, we weren’t good enough.
Thats my last word on Diogo Jota, may he rest in peace.
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Jota will be turning in his grave with the lack of effort, drive and mental weakness from our players in defending the title.
For me they should have dedicated their efforts for the badge to his memory and rather than using it as an excuse, they should have used it as a driving force in making him proud by giving their all in fighting for the cause, because that’s the type of player he was when he was on the pitch.
I know this isn’t everybody, but it is my persona, I would try and use his memory for the betterment, because that is what he would want.
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Has anyone from the club actually directly cited Jota’s death as a reason for being shit though?
Me too but it’s problematic.
What if you’re pushing yourself that bit extra because you’re looking to honour your mate. That gets you your first few wins in the season but at some point it’s no longer enough to overcome the subpar coaching.
You lose your first game. Then your second. You start to feel like you’re now dishonouring your mate’s memory. It starts to weigh on you and your team mates.
Emotions become strained. Fractures develop. Resentment begins to creep in when you see other factors limiting your ability and that of the team. Coaching, fitness, falling standards, a perceived shortfall in dedication and commitment…
Obviously we don’t yet have an insight to how things have developed during the season so I’m just postulating. We can only draw incomplete conclusions from what we see, week in week out.
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No idea who this bloke is…
https://x.com/ChrisRoyceWords/status/2057355629463843157?s=20
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That’s Chris Royce…
Glad i could help.
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Tier 1, one of the most reliable journalists around (because he is saying what I want to hear).
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I heard yesterday from someone close to Slot that Slot expects Sunday to be his last match for Liverpool. We’ll find out over the coming week just how close he is to Slot😂
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That’s the guy who leaked the lineups before our games. And actually, he was almost always right, tbf.
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If it happens, I hope we give Arne a respectful good thank you and goodbye for all he has done.
He is not a bad person. He just couldn’t bring Liverpool to the next level and he didn’t have the players on board with his football tactics and with his weak man-management skills.
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I agree with you that at this stage, Jota’s death can’t be served up as an excuse anymore. There are enough other obvious problems. But at the same time, from the outside, we can’t exactly know what an impact it has had on the squad.
Look at Kelleher’s comments on his former team-mates, back in February:
“Obviously, football is a massive sport and people have an opinion, which is natural. People expect you to move on quite quickly, and I don’t think that’s the case,” Kelleher said.
“I find it a bit strange and a bit difficult when I hear people speaking about the players at Liverpool and the performances, because I don’t think this season is even important from a football aspect for them.”
That comment struck me at first as a bit odd, coming from a high-level professional talking about his former colleagues, all fierce and driven competitors, at least until this season. But it’s probably a telling testimony of what has lingered, and maybe still is, in the players’ minds. He was there at the time before joining Brentford.
Is that indifference excusable? I really don’t know, but while I want Slot out at this point, I still feel with him if Kelleher’s comment is accurate. How can you reach your players as a coach if they don’t care about the results, or at least, if there is something else on their minds all the time?
That being said, the club should really remove that nr. 20 shirt from the dressing room. Retain nr. 20, yeah, that’s a fitting tribute. But having the ghost of Diogo hanging around in the dressing room before every match? I’m not convinced that it has helped in any way, shape or form.
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Also most certainly the cheaper option. Will mean not having to splurge another 400 million on players this summer because they’ll rightly believe a different coach will get more out of the existing squad. Plus they’ll want to give them time to assess the players for himself and coordinate with the transfer team on needs/targets.
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Someone who sounds like Scooby-Doo trying to pronounce Joyce?
Good enough for me 
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Was that Cody Gakpo you heard from?
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Chris Royce. Hope he turns out to be a messiah.
“That being said, the club should really remove that nr. 20 shirt from the dressing room. Retain nr. 20, yeah, that’s a fitting tributer. But having the ghost of Diogo hanging around in the dressing room before every match? I’m not convinced that it has helped in any way, shape or form.”
I actually didn’t know they did that but yeah that’s wild. Doesn’t seem like a particularly healthy way of remembering him. Put a plaque up or something but I agree having his jersey there is just weird at this point. Doesn’t offer much closure.
I also found Kelleher’s comments odd because he knew Jota just as much as anyone else at Liverpool - why is it just the one’s still wearing the jersey who don’t care about football anymore? Why are Kelleher and Diaz having brilliant seasons are not equally upset and grieving? Kelleher’s comments should apply equally to himself.
At best I’d say that all evidence points to Liverpool mismanaging the situation around Jota’s death and that has had lingering results on the team in more ways than we know about publically. I just can’t buy this “they’re all grieving and struggling more than we can possibly imagine”. Everyone has dealt with friends and family passing away - hell even this very team has had public situations of family members dying (eg Alisson’s dad passing away and he comes back in and scores against West Brom) to accept that the tragic death of a friend is, in my opinion, being used by some possibly inside the club as a sort of criticism-deflection tool. I find that very disrespectful to Jota that his name is repeatedly being used like that.
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