In transition, Mohamed Salah benefits. Against teams that defend deep, the forwards on the left benefit. But the center-forward will always be the focal point for Liverpool, and that is why I’m excited to see Darwin Nunez’s pace up top.

When the opposition defense steps out to press or if they choose to defend in a midblock in settled play, Salah tends to position himself closer to the right half-space, with the center-forward pushing more towards the left wing.

The left winger and the center forward aren’t the target in transition, Salah is. More so than last season.

It almost feels like a track meet at times, with Salah waiting to spring forward beyond the opposition’s defense. It is telegraphed; they don’t hide it.

Liverpool can go straight over the top to Salah, but they also love those straight up and down, give-and-go passes, to play the ball through. The fullbacks Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson sit more narrow, meaning the ball almost gets squeezed through to the front line.

The two forwards on the left need to make up a lot of ground once that ball is played through because their starting position is closer to the left wing than the right wing. The main problem is that Salah doesn’t have the same pace as he once had; he can’t do it alone. Without pace on the left, they can’t take advantage of those easy-through balls. That is why Arne Slot’s teams must have fast forwards.

I think Darwin Nunez is going to thrive because having that amount of pace on the end of the second pass, after the through pass to Salah, will be a cheat code once they dial it in. He will be undroppable. Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, and Diogo Jota don’t bring that same level of explosiveness. They are more controlled.

Against a team that defends deep, Salah will play a more auxiliary role, with the two forwards on the left now pushed into the center, in the box. Once Salah receives the ball, Trent Alexander-Arnold automatically makes that underlapping run, and then they can cross.

In these types of games, they won’t need pace, and they will benefit from having forwards that offer more control, but they’ll still want pace because they are at their most dangerous in transition.

To get Salah into scoring position, he will need to go on a long one-touch pass-and-go journey across the top of the box. Or he can drift inside, pushing one of the midfielders outside.