Can losing the trackpad cover adhesive cause the trackpad to be dead?

I lost this adhesive (the one that covers the trackpad connector) and it worked fine for a while, I didn't know why but the trackpad started acting erratic after a while and after some weeks, it completely stopped responding to touches or clicks.

For context, I had spilled coffee on the laptop before that as well but everything is still fine for months. Only after losing that adhesive the symptoms appeared (it happened during an attempt

to clean the insides). If it is really the cause of the dead trackpad, can putting a new adhesive back on bring it back to life or replacement is the only fix?