Alan Shearer Exclusive: Liverpool are out of the title race and Man United won't finish top six | OneFootball

English Premier League

Alan Shearer has his say on Liverpool, Man United and much more

Liverpool come under the spotlight in this week's exclusive by Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer, plus he has his say on Man United, Newcastle and much more...

Liverpool are out of the title race

If Liverpool continue to play like they did against Manchester City, then they won't win anything. They'll get dumped out of whatever competitions they're in. They've got the FA Cup and the Champions League, but I do think the Premier League's gone for them now they've lost five games.

I don't see them being in a title race now. I think they would have to probably win every single game between now and the end of the season. I don't think that's possible. So, I think their title race is done.

It's the Champions League or the FA Cup for Liverpool, but they won't be winning any of those unless they improve anyway.

Virgil van Dijk should do his talking on the pitch

I think it's very difficult as a player to come out and have a pop back when you've lost five games this season and, in the manner you've lost them. You're entitled to do that, I guess, as a captain. Virgil van Dijk's trying to stick up for his team.

I think the bigger picture is, if you're going to come back and have a pop at a pundit for saying that you've been poor, then you've got to back it up. And the game after that, he was really poor himself again, and as his team were.

Your best talking is on the pitch and getting results. They were really, really poor, so I think the pundits are well within their reason to have a pop.

Liverpool have big problems and this is a big wake-up call

Not that Liverpool needed it, but I do think it was a bit of a wake-up call. I know they scored a perfectly good goal with Virgil Van Dijk. I'm dead against that being disallowed, but they didn't deserve anything out of the game.

They wouldn't have got anything on the day, but that doesn't mean the goal shouldn't stand. I just think there's so many things wrong with that decision.

It says he clearly has to impact the goalkeeper, I don't think he did. The goalkeeper wasn't stopping it anyway. So, for me, it was a poor decision.

I don't think it's sour grapes from Liverpool going to the PGMOL. I just think they're possibly trying to do something in case it happens again. We know that they wouldn't have got anything out of the game, it was just a really poor decision.

I thought Manchester City were miles better than them in probably every position. Missing a penalty as well.

It was a bit of a surprise because I thought the Real Madrid game might have been a turning point for them, it might have been a sign for them to say, "Let's go, let's do this, let's kick on for the rest of the season".

But it actually went back to what it was a couple of weeks earlier. They were really flat; they were really poor defensively. They had no aggression in the midfield. Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise, but he's got problems there.

They're trying to shoehorn Florian Wirtz into a left-hand sided position. Mo Salah's nowhere near what he was last season or what he's been like. Defensively, they're all over the place, so they've got problems, yeah.

There is definitely something not right with Mo Salah

It might be a bit of both for Mo Salah with his age catching up with him and the tactics of the team not playing to his strengths. I don't know the reason why, but he's definitely not at it like he was last season or the season before. I don't know whether he feels because of the money that has been spent on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak that he's not the number one player anymore.

There's definitely something that's not right, whether that's the old age thing getting to him and not being as good as he was, or whether he's got a bee in his bonnet about something. But we're definitely not seeing the same Mo Salah as what we've seen. You could say that about most Liverpool players actually.

It might be beneficial for Isak to get some game time for his country

I think it's always very difficult to tell a player you can't go on international duty. It might actually benefit Liverpool with Alexander Isak actually playing games, but the last thing they want is him going and getting injured again.

I suppose there's always a risk of that. But he needs games, so it's not a surprise that he's gone. It's a tough one to say to a player you can't play, especially when he's not been playing for such a long time. I suspect he won't start both games.

I don't expect United to finish in top six this season

The draw at the weekend for Manchester United is an improvement, yeah. They're far from the finished article. I still think there's a lot of work to be done, and I don't expect them to finish in the top six.

I would think somewhere around 7th-8th, as I said, for Man United, so that is improvement.

They were miles off it last season, they were terrible, so for them to finish there and then if they were to finish 6th, 7th, 8th, then yeah, that's improvement. But there's still a lot of work to be done.

One player that must do better is Benjamin Sesko. I guess, after the 70-odd million pound they paid for him. That was a lot of money, it was too much, but that's the market. He's had a tough start. I don't expect huge things from him though, no.

I think he's a good player, not sure he's any more than that. I guess he came on at the weekend and had two really good chances, should have put at least one of them away. It's been a tough start for him with the money that they've paid.

Nick Woltemade is causing a problem for Newcastle

I guess a manager's always under pressure to get results, but I think the job that Eddie Howe has done at Newcastle and what he delivered in the Carabao Cup, the trophy, I guess he's got a lot of points in the bank.

What I would look at is Eddie's Newcastle team have always been full of energy, being tough to play against, not giving the opposition any space. That in the away performances is missing, and even home form really. The thing that is missing for me is the high press and the energy.

I've said before that as good as Nick Woltemade is with the ball at his feet, he is a problem for Newcastle because he's not the quickest, and he can't press, and he doesn't run in behind.

Eddie's teams have always done that. Look at what Alexander Isak did or look at what Callum Wilson did, they all pressed and ran behind. But this guy can't do that, and that's a problem for Newcastle.

Eddie Howe has been too loyal to a lot of his players

Eddie Howe has been very loyal to a lot of his players as well. Over the next two weeks, he'll be doing some soul-searching. The question is, has he been too loyal to some of his best players who've looked after him over the last couple of years?

He'll be thinking, "Is it time to change it around and give other people a chance?"

The two-week break will also be good for Lewis Hall and for Tino Livramento and hopefully Yoane Wissa, which will add something different to Newcastle and bring a bit more quality into the team. It's a really crucial two weeks for Newcastle and for Eddie.

I am not worried about facing Sunderland in the derby

I wouldn't say I am worried about the derby against Sunderland in a few weeks, but I've been mightily surprised at how well Sunderland have done.

I don't think even their most hardened supporters would tell you that they'd be where they are in the league and what they're doing so far this season. I think one thing that's come out of Sunderland is how tough it's going to be for any team going to the Stadium of Light.

I doubt Arsenal will have a tougher game this season than the one they had at the weekend.

This is not a time for Arsenal fans to be concerned

I wouldn't say that Arsenal's result on Saturday will scare them when it comes to looking over their shoulder with Manchester City. I think those players and Mikel Arteta have been in the game long enough to know that you'd be a fool to write Pep Guardiola off. You'd be a fool to say, "we're much, much better than them".

I don't think Man City will go away. I think they'll make a real good fist of it this time. I wouldn't be too concerned if I was an Arsenal fan or an Arsenal player. Any team will find it tough going away to Sunderland.

The hard thing for them is the way they conceded in the last minute after a tough first half. They were much better in the second half, much more energy. The disappointing thing is the way they conceded so late on in the game.

I wouldn't be too concerned that you go there and get a draw.

It is not all doom and gloom for Leeds and Daniel Farke

What I would say about Leeds is that I didn't expect them to be anywhere different at this moment in time. They're out of the relegation zone, one point and two places above it. That's what I would say.

If they were to finish there, come the end of the season, then I think that would be an extremely good season for them. It's going to be tough. I'm not saying that they won't be relegated, but the position that they're in, then I would ask the question, where do they expect to be?

I don't know what transfer budget Leeds had in the summer and how careful they have to be. But I think it would be wrong to use Sunderland as comparison because very rarely does a team get promoted and do what Sunderland are doing, so that's not a fair example.

I think for Leeds, Burnley, and Sunderland, if everyone was honest, most people said that they'll be in a relegation scrap throughout the season. Burnley and Leeds are, so it's nothing new, it's nothing more than I expected.