Alan Shearer Exclusive: Serbia win was great for England and it's all change at Forest | OneFootball

Alan Shearer

In this week's exclusive Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer talks about England's excellent win in Serbia, discusses the managerial change at the City Ground, and has his say on Arsenal and Manchester City...

Serbia win was everything we wanted to see from England

I hope the result against Serbia is the stepping stone for Thomas Tuchel and England. We'll qualify. We always do.

The game was, without doubt, the best performance in a qualifying game for a long, long time. It had pretty much everything that the manager would've been looking for and that we as fans wanted. Particularly after the first game against Andorra where it was really flat, negative and slow.

The Serbia game was the complete opposite to that. It had pace, energy, players being brave, players attacking defenders and obviously it had lots of goals. What can we take from that? Yeah, we'd much rather have that than a slow, turgid performance like it was against Andorra.

Small steps made by England. What's great for Thomas Tuchel is that there's competition for places all over the pitch, which has to be healthy for him in terms of setting a marker down to the players.

There are so many positives and so many players that are fighting for positions so that has to be a real positive for the manager. Competition for places is what the manager wants.

That was the performance that the manager was waiting for. That's what he wanted. There were so many outstanding performances but probably the best of them in both games has been Elliott Anderson.

Nuno sacking is incredibly harsh

It was only a matter of time. Once Nuno Espirito Santo had come out and said what he did, had a pop and criticised the owner, I felt it was only a matter of time. It probably took a little longer than we thought but it's incredibly harsh.

When you look at the job he's done, what they did last season when they took the big boys on and beat them. Got into Europe and pushed the top four so hard for so long. Some of the football they played was outstanding. It's extremely harsh but it doesn't surprise me in football. We know how it is.

When you got to Nottingham Forest, I guess you know what you're taking on and I guess you know that if you go against the club or the owner in public then there'll be only one thing that's going to happen.

Postecoglou could take this team far in Europe

There is a chance Ange Postecoglou could win back-to-back Europa League titles. Nottingham Forest have a good team and some really good players. They've recruited really well.

It'll be really interesting to see how Ange Postecoglou has them playing because we're aware of that really high line that he wanted to play at Spurs and it didn't work and was one of the reasons why they finished so low in the league. He did adapt in the Europa League final so it'll be really, really interesting to see how Nottingham Forest approach the games in terms of their style.

There's no doubt that Ange has to try and continue the good work that's already been done and there's no doubt that there'll be big expectations because when you look at what Forest did last year and where they are now, you have to continue and grow that.

Ange is used to success. He's had it at Celtic and despite everyone being negative a lot of the time, he had it at Spurs. Albeit they were dreadful in the Premier League but he gave them the trophy they wanted and delivered as he said he would. Let's see what he can do at Nottingham Forest now.

Arsenal won't be getting any sympathy after what they've spent

William Saliba has been a big player for them for a while and they'll be a lesser team for it unfortunately, but you won't get too much sympathy because of who and what they are, the money that they've spent and the squad that they've got there. That happens to all the big boys when you spend a fortune. You're not going to get too much sympathy from rival clubs.

There's no doubt Saliba will be a big miss for Arsenal because he's such a good player.

Last season damaged Man City and Pep Guardiola

I wouldn't say Pep has lost his touch but I'd say his team have lost that rhythm of winning. There's no doubt that last season has hurt and damaged them and they're easier to get through than they were two seasons ago.

We saw what the injury to Rodri did to them last year and there's no doubt their confidence took a hit. I also think that the fear factor may have gone because of what happened last year.

Team's have realised that they're not unbeatable, they can win if they attack Man City, you can score goals if you have the belief that you can take them on.

Maybe 18 months ago, teams were scared of City, reluctant to go at them and prepared to sit deep and soak up pressure.

Now, teams believe that they can go up against Man City and beat them.

Man City are still title contenders... for now

I haven't changed my mind in terms of who the top four will be. I still think it'll be Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea. I think it's only a matter of time before Man City get back to winning ways.

Sunday is a huge game because it's the Manchester Derby. It's one you can't afford to be beaten in and you definitely can't take a hammering.

Man United got their win in the last game, albeit very late on against Burnley. Whether you think it was fortunate or not it doesn't matter - they got the win and have to try and build on that but it'll be very, very difficult for them.

The pressure is on for both clubs, one for the reason I explained for Man United and also for Man City because they can't afford three defeats in their first four league games. That possibly could put them out of the title race if they lose three out of four because we've seen in years gone by, if you give teams a head start ie Liverpool, that's the difference at the moment because Liverpool have found a way to win without playing particularly well and that has to be a worry for the rest of the league, particularly has they've got Isak over the line now.

Liverpool will only get better and are looking to go four from four wins and that's why Man City can't afford too many more defeats.