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After what became an emotional night, Arne Slot could probably reflect on the latest win over Newcastle United as one of the most satisfying performances of the season. With his nicely-taken two goals, Hugo Ekitike underlined his potential to become a talismanic striker and, with his neat finish and accomplished assist, the acclimatisation of Florian Wirtz to the demands of the Premier League continued.

Then, of course, there was the poignancy of Ibrahima Konate scoring on his return to the team after the passing of his father. It was a special moment. And for Slot, there was also the satisfaction of seeing his team come back to win a Premier League game after going behind for the first time since the 5-1 win over Spurs that sealed the title in late April of last year.

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But there were also other aspects of the display that should please Slot. Not everything went right for Mohamed Salah but he was always posing a threat, distracting Newcastle defenders and setting up the Wirtz strike.

And while the man himself has only been responsible for one of them, Liverpool have scored 15 goals in the four games in which Salah has played since returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty. In the seven games he missed, Liverpool scored 11 times. That is no coincidence.

And Salah even did the odd bit of defensive duty to help out Slot’s makeshift right-back. Not that Dominik Szoboszlai needed a great deal of help.

Arguably Liverpool’s best player of the season so far, Szoboszlai put in another impressive performance in a position that is clearly not to his liking. He made that perfectly clear.

“This is not even medium-term, to be honest, in my head,” he said. “I'm a midfielder and hopefully our right-back is going to come back from injury and I can get back in the middle.”

The Hungarian’s emergence as a key Anfield figure surely means a new contract will be sorted soon. There are plenty of people within the club who see him as a future captain.

But even though talks have been ongoing, Szoboszlai is clearly not overly bullish about them being conclusive any time soon. When asked if there was any progress on a new deal, Szoboszlai replied: "Nothing yet, to be honest.

"Nothing, from now on… it is not in my hands. There is no progression but if the right offer comes then let’s see.

“Right now, I am doing my job on the pitch - we will see in the future. I like the city, I like the club, I like playing with these guys, I love Anfield, I love the fans, let’s see what the future holds.

“It is not on me. I would love to (stay). We will see. It is always there and back and there and back. Let’s see what happens.”

On the face of it, there seems little for Liverpool fans or management to fret about, Szoboszlai having over two years of his current agreement left to run.

But even amidst Liverpool’s disappointing defence of their Premier League title, the 25-year-old is establishing himself as one of Europe’s pre-eminent midfielders. There has been talk in Spain of Real Madrid having a serious interest and Szoboszlai is probably not amongst Liverpool’s top ten earners right now. You suspect that needs changing pretty soon.

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