In a side that's difficult to pick holes in and one that's riding high atop of the Premiership, European Champions and potential World Champions, it'd be foolish to not look ahead to the coming seasons and where we need to continue to grow.
I'll very much enjoy the now, but it's also worth assessing the career curves of our existing players and where they are headed for.
Salah statistically still rides high for us and will inevitably have a purple patch of form again, without a shadow of a doubt. It's one of the reasons our front three are so formidable, because as one's goal-scoring drops, another's comes to the fore, and so on.
But there's this niggling feeling that something just isn't right with Salah. His form has been increasingly erratic, he's always a threat even when not scoring, for his skill and directness, but he's also showing frustrating tendencies to lack awareness of teammates and generally not have that final product that was so devastating not so long ago. Against City it looked like he'd found that sharpness again, only to suffer a setback, but his form generally across the season so far (and arguably parts of last) has been fluctuating between glimpses of brilliance and moments of head-scratching mediocrity.
It's rare that top players tail off quickly, so I'm hoping it's more a case of "form is temporary", but I can't help but see something slightly reminiscent of Torres with Salah - a player that literally exploded into World Class form, then quickly faded into a shadow of himself.
Where do people see him heading longterm? I don't think it's much of a secret that he would like to test himself in Spain eventually, but in terms of form, is his form enough to carry us over the next few years? Will he come into top form again? Will he decline quickly? Are we just seeing the nature of football, whereby (as aforementioned) our attackers carry each other at times throughout the season, while those moments of actual top, top quality only happen when all three or so hit form at the right time?
It was mentioned in another thread about title winners smashing teams for 8-10 games a season and the rest of it consisting of just grinding out results and doing the hardwork tactically to overcome teams, when you're not quite all 100%. Is that all it is with the likes of Salah?
I'll very much enjoy the now, but it's also worth assessing the career curves of our existing players and where they are headed for.
Salah statistically still rides high for us and will inevitably have a purple patch of form again, without a shadow of a doubt. It's one of the reasons our front three are so formidable, because as one's goal-scoring drops, another's comes to the fore, and so on.
But there's this niggling feeling that something just isn't right with Salah. His form has been increasingly erratic, he's always a threat even when not scoring, for his skill and directness, but he's also showing frustrating tendencies to lack awareness of teammates and generally not have that final product that was so devastating not so long ago. Against City it looked like he'd found that sharpness again, only to suffer a setback, but his form generally across the season so far (and arguably parts of last) has been fluctuating between glimpses of brilliance and moments of head-scratching mediocrity.
It's rare that top players tail off quickly, so I'm hoping it's more a case of "form is temporary", but I can't help but see something slightly reminiscent of Torres with Salah - a player that literally exploded into World Class form, then quickly faded into a shadow of himself.
Where do people see him heading longterm? I don't think it's much of a secret that he would like to test himself in Spain eventually, but in terms of form, is his form enough to carry us over the next few years? Will he come into top form again? Will he decline quickly? Are we just seeing the nature of football, whereby (as aforementioned) our attackers carry each other at times throughout the season, while those moments of actual top, top quality only happen when all three or so hit form at the right time?
It was mentioned in another thread about title winners smashing teams for 8-10 games a season and the rest of it consisting of just grinding out results and doing the hardwork tactically to overcome teams, when you're not quite all 100%. Is that all it is with the likes of Salah?