It's not always easy but, in general, footballers don't like to look too far ahead. Things can change quickly on and off the field. Getting caught up in trophy talk can be dangerous. It's nearly always best to embrace the 'one game at a time' cliche. Dominik Szoboszlai learned that valuable lesson last season.
He never made any ill-advised or arrogant predictions or proclamations but, looking back on Liverpool's quadruple bid under Jurgen Klopp, which unravelled not long after their Carabao Cup triumph, the Hungary captain now feels he was a little too forthcoming about his team's chances of a clean sweep.
"When I came to Liverpool I wanted to win everything in my first season!" he recently admitted. "So, I don't like to talk about the title now."
Hardly surprising, then, that when Szoboszlai was asked about Liverpool fans singing 'We're going to win the league' during the closing stages of last Sunday week's 2-0 win at Manchester City, he swerved the issue. "I didn't hear that," he said before immediately adding, "I was so tired."
Of course, that could easily have been the case, because Szoboszlai really did run himself into the ground at the Etihad - quite literally, with the exhausted midfielder collapsing to the turf the moment the full-time whistle blew. Just three days later, though, he somehow summoned up sufficient energy to produce another 90-minute display of dynamism as Liverpool took another significant step towards winning the title by beating Newcastle at home to move 13 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.
What's more, Szoboszlai had scored in back-to-back games for Liverpool for the first time since arriving at Anfield in the summer of 2023 - further evidence that a player still being criticised just last month for his lack of an end product has become a staple in Arne Slot's side.
