On the surface, there's a wonderful serenity at Liverpool right now.
A 23-game unbeaten run, dating back to early March, has them well placed in the Premier League, Champions League and the Carabao Cup.
Jurgen Klopp is able to call on many of his big names that were simply unavailable to him last year and the Reds are looking every inch the side they were when they swept to a first domestic title in 30 years less than 18 months ago.
A 5-0 hammering of Manchester United - at Old Trafford, no less - will likely leave Kopites in the most buoyant of moods for some time to come, too.
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Liverpool, then, are in their best collective shape for some time as they gear up for a busy couple of months to see out 2021.
All is rosy in the Anfield garden.
Bubbling under the surface, however, are two issues that require urgent attention.
Or rather, it is the same issue that concerns two of the most pivotal figures at Liverpool, both on and off the pitch.
The most pertinent and well-publicised one, of course, centres around Mohamed Salah.
Despite Liverpool's decades of success down the years, they have rarely been able to lay a legitimate claim to having the world's best player within their ranks.
Of course, the club is studded with legendary names of the game, but few have been part of that genuine conversation to those outside of Anfield allegiances.
Some will make the case for players like Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes and Steven Gerrard at one time or another, but there have always been others, at different clubs, whose claims have been given wider credence.
In Salah, though, Liverpool have a footballer who is surely the planet's pre-eminent one just now and that's an assessment that Jurgen Klopp concurs with.
"Who is better than him?" he asked earlier this month.
"We don't have to talk about what Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have done for world football and their dominance.
"But right now, [Salah] is the best."
With 15 goals in 12 appearances this term, few would argue against that, even if the lack of a trophy in 2021 will see him overlooked for the Ballon d'Or in November.
That brings us neatly to the contract situation that is featuring almost as prominently as Salah's highlight reel this season.
It's a well-documented one that Liverpool would rather was kept away from the headlines, but as long as it continues without a public resolution, talk over new terms for Liverpool's No.11 will go on.
"Let's leave it up to the club and Mo - I'm sure everyone's trying to get to an agreement that can work for everyone," argued Andy Robertson on Friday.
“Hopefully they can reach a solution because if he's not the world's best, he's definitely in the discussion for it and they're the type of players you want at this club, they're the type of players that the fans at this club deserve."
Those who blindly clamour for club owners Fenway Sports Group to 'give Salah what he wants' perhaps miss the point, though.
It's a more nuanced and delicate situation, even if his outrageous form merits exactly that.
Few are privy to the specifics of the financial situation at Liverpool and a slew of new deals for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Robertson over the summer beefed up an already bloated wage bill.
FSG will be careful of top-loading a wage bill - which stood at £326m earlier this year - further, particularly with the recommended threshold of 70 per cent wages-to-revenue ratio that is advised by world governing body, FIFA.
A new contract for Salah will see him become the highest paid player in Liverpool's history, further swelling a bottom line that has risen significantly since the end of last season.
But even accounting for the need to be sensible and insightful beyond the next 12 months, the talks inside the FSG boardroom over how to resolve this particular impasse need to be swift and decisive.
Liverpool simply cannot allow the Salah situation to drag on into next summer, particularly given the fact that each spellbinding performance only strengthens his representatives' hand.
A hat-trick at Old Trafford will do that for a player, you know.
But if Salah's contract is a pressing concern for Michael Edwards, his own will also be at the forefront of the thinking.
The vaunted sporting director is well into the final year of his contract at Anfield and could yet walk away after what will be a decade of glittering service at Liverpool.
The club are relaxed about the state of play as things stand and are still hopeful of retaining one of the most well-respected operators around.
"If it was my point of view, if it expires next year, which I didn't know exactly, I will think about that next year and not now," said Klopp earlier this month.
FSG would be wise to not adopt the same stance as their manager, though.
A proactive approach to either sourcing a successor or retaining Edwards will place the club on more stable ground when next summer's transfer window rolls around.
Edwards, for his part, is showing no signs of winding down, at least.
His recent appearance alongside much of Liverpool's research team - including his highly-rated assistant Julian Ward - at the 2021 StatsBomb conference was an indication of his continued willingness to improve in his own role at Anfield.
He has always kept himself at the cutting edge as the game has embraced a more analytical eye over the last 10 years, and Edwards' low-key attendance at Stamford Bridge gave more than a nod to his work ethic as questions over his next move rumble on.
But if Edwards does decide to seek pastures new or take what would be a well-earned break next year, maybe there is one last ace up his sleeve with regards to the negotiations with Salah's team?
The ideal scenario would be shiny new contracts for both at Anfield and given the clinical nature of how Liverpool handled their in-house summer business, that is still not beyond the realms of what is possible.
For now, though, those issues will continue to bubble, just underneath that surface of serenity.
