Nothing should be expected from Liverpool in the upcoming season | OneFootball

Right now, the focus is on Diogo Jota's family, his friends, his teammates and anyone impact by his death and providing as much support and comfort to them as possible in their hour of need.

Football doesn't matter. On a basic human level, we can all exercise empathy and sympathy for the situation that people are finding themselves in - feeling lost, upset and emotionally distraught.

That's part of many people's grieving processes and it's natural. Loss is something that shocks us down to our core when it happens and you've got to allow yourself to process what's happening.

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It all takes time. Time is the only thing that can heal our wounds, be them physical or emotional.

So while the news that pre-season is set to take place on Tuesday might of interest to some of you, the players will quite simply not be ready for it. Losing a teammate and a good friend is a serious thing and nothing can prepare you for it. The pain of losing Jota is still incredibly fresh for them.

As such, while football speculation feels wrong at this time, I think we ought to be honest and open about where we're at as a club and a fanbase. This upcoming season is going to be incredibly tough to get through and we must reevaluate things given recent events. Expectations must be calmed.

On a basic sporting level, with no context applied, Liverpool have a squad capable of challenging for the Premier League title this season and retaining the crown they worked so hard to win.

Additions such as Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Armin Pecsi are going to have bolstered the squad significantly, and even though fans might have hoped for a couple more transfers, we'll be in particularly uncertain times for the rest of the summer.

Nonetheless, the team was good enough to win before, most of the positions in need of recruitment have been addressed and many were considering Liverpool favourites just a few weeks ago.

Whether we like it or not, influencers and pundits will be asked in the next month about their predictions for the season, looking at which positions they feel each team might be in by May 2026.

Questions such as 'who is in the title race' will be asked, and you would expect Liverpool to be included in those answers. After all, I have just said that the team is capable of winning again.

But there are two things to take from this.

One - that none of those conversations actually matter right now, because we are all still reeling from the loss of Jota. And two - that the impact of his death is going to be immeasurable and any attempts to work out how the team will cope with the situation will undoubtedly be crossing a line.

A new striker might be brought in, whether this is to cover Jota or not, and that won't be an attempt to forget the Portuguese striker. Instead it will be the football club doing what is necessary, although this topic is unlikely to come up for some time given how fresh everything is. That makes sense.

But I think we really ought to look at the players for who they are - which is human beings like you and me - and simply treat them with compassion, love and support. The mental health impact on those closest to Jota is likely to be enormous and to make assumptions would be wrong.

As such, I don't think anyone can have any real expectations of the team going into next season.

They might underperform to a level below what we know they're capable of playing at, or they might deliver a season beyond the successes of last time out, or it could be a middling campaign.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. We are all emotionally invested in the club and we want Liverpool to do well, but we support the team no matter what. We back them unwaveringly.

So if you get to go to a preseason game - if they are still set to take place - then show as much support to the team as possible and pay tribute to Jota regularly by singing his chant.

Furthermore, if you go to a game next season, the protocol is normal. Getting excited about what the team might be capable of is fine, just as much as showing concern for the team is perfectly okay.

I'm in no way trying to tell anyone how to feel. After all, this is merely my opinion. But the team will take time to adjust and we don't know what the impact will be. So I'd shy away from guessing for now.