Alan Shearer Exclusive: Bad international break for Isak and Tuchel deserves credit | OneFootball

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In his first Betfair exclusive this week Aan Shearer reflects on the international break and argues that it didn't go well for Alexander Isak, but it did for England, Anthony Gordon and Thomas Tuchel, plus his views on Florian Wirtz and Yoane Wissa...

International break has gone the wrong way for Isak

It hasn't been the start to the season that Alexander Isak would've wanted. When you consider Sweden's front three of Gyokeres, Isak and Elanga and you can't score and are on the brink of not qualifying for the World Cup. Obviously, the manager has paid the price and lost his job which is no surprise.

Obviously with the Newcastle situation, Isak not playing or training and understandably hasn't hit the ground running at Liverpool, he was probably looking to get to full fitness at this international break, but it's gone the other way.

It hasn't worked, he and they haven't scored and can't score which, when you look at the ability of that front three, being bottom of the group doesn't look right at all. The summer certainly hasn't helped Isak.

People will be thinking Wissa needs to show some loyalty

It will be a really difficult decision for Yoane Wissa not to go to AFCON because you always want to represent your country but what I would say is, because of him not training or playing during the summer, he could've shown more responsibility in not playing as much as he did in those two games when he went away on international duty and hadn't played at all.

But it's really tough to say to someone they can't and won't represent their country when it means so much. And we know AFCON is huge and players want to play in that tournament.

It'll be a tough ask, but I understand that there'll be a lot of people thinking that he's never played for Newcastle and he needs to show some loyalty towards us.

I get it and understand that point-of-view because Newcastle shelled out a lot of money on him and he hasn't been able to take to the St James' Park turf as yet. It'd be a really tough decision for him and Newcastle. Whether there's a way around it, I'm not so sure.

Matter of time before we see the best of Florian Wirtz

I've experienced not being able to score for the national team and I've obviously been on the side of not being able to score at club level too. I understand what Florian Wirtz is going through. There's only one way you can change things and silence people being negative and that's to put the ball in the back of the net.

I do think Wirtz is a quality player and it's only a matter of time before he performs to his best. He's one of a number of players that are struggling for Liverpool. Wirtz is too good for his time at Liverpool to go wrong. He's got great ability - I've seen that for myself when I've commentated on games and watched him live. It's only a matter of time before we see the best of him.

Don't forget, I went nearly two years without scoring for England. When you consider the amazing talent we had at centre-forward and the criticism I was getting for not scoring - it was huge.

When I went back to Blackburn at that time, luckily enough I was still scoring for them, so it felt a bit of a relief coming back. I get it and I understand it all. I've been in those positions, had it myself but there's only one way through it. Get your head down, score goals and it'll eventually turn.

You've got to be mentally strong to deal with whatever is said. It's part and parcel of your life - particularly as a centre-forward. There'll always be times that you'll get criticised, it's the world we live in.

I know there's more now because of social media and whether it's right or wrong, you have to accept that at some stage in your career, you will be criticised.

Anthony Gordon has made a statement to Thomas Tuchel

What you have to do is, when you get an opportunity, you have to make a statement to the manager, and I think there's no doubt that Anthony Gordon has done that. He's a really talented player. At times, he just needs to add that finishing touch to his game and he got his goal on Tuesday which will give him great belief and confidence.

When you look at the competition for places, other than one or two positions, it's really tight. Gordon got his chance on Tuesday and took it. I thought he was superb.

There were several players I thought were outstanding across the last two games. Elliott Anderson was absolutely superb. Harry Kane again getting his goals. Guehi was excellent again against Wales. There were some big performances over the last couple of games.

You have to applaud Tuchel for getting his England side right

I think Thomas Tuchel should be commended for what he has done with this England team but also it could be too early to say. You can imagine the reaction if England hadn't won, scored goals and hadn't performed well so when they do, you have to applaud them and the manager for getting his side right. He's had some decisions to make in terms of leaving players out and bringing players in.

Up to now, Tuchel has done everything that he could've done but the opposition hasn't been great at all. It's tough to get excited when there's no fear that you're going into a game thinking we could lose this one. But I guess the manager has to be applauded for getting players' attitudes right, getting them in the right state of mind.

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