Alan Shearer Exclusive: Salah, Van Dijk and other stars are letting down crisis club Liverpool | OneFootball

English Premier League

Shearer talks Liverpool crisis, Newcastle away woes and more in this Betfair exclusive

Betfair ambassador says Liverpool stars are to blame for the club's crisis, Newcastle must improve their away form and Arsenal are by far the Premier League's best team...

Liverpool players have a lot to answer for

I think the damaging thing for Arne Slot and for Liverpool at the minute is the manner of the defeats. If you're going down and you're unlucky, conceding unlucky or last-minute goals, then you say: "Okay, there's plenty to work on." But the manner of the defeats is concerning. It's hard enough losing any game, but the way they're being beat has to be a huge concern because they're all over the place.

If it was one problem, maybe you could fix it, but there's issues all over the pitch. In forward positions they look devoid of ideas. Defensively it's a massive worry. They're struggling for a right-back. Dominik Szoboszlai started there, then Curtis Jones went in there. Milos Kerkez has been really poor.

As for Virgil Van Dijk, well you look to your captain to put in big performances, yet Virgil looks leggy, slow, puzzled. He's a shadow of the player from last season, as is Ibrahima Konaté. I suppose you can say that about any Liverpool player right now.

We're talking about Van Dijk because he's the captain and voice of the dressing room. His words at the weekend were concerning, saying they need to look at themselves, do better, roll up their sleeves, and fight. Well, he's got to lead by example, and at the minute, he's a shadow of himself.

You can say the same about Mo Salah, Konaté, and most of the new signings, other than Hugo Ekitike, who went off injured in the defeat to PSV Eindhoven in midweek. Slot left him out at the weekend which I thought was strange. Other than him, there's not a lot of responsibility being shown.

Jamie Carragher pointed out that Salah is quick to speak when he gets Man of the Match or is negotiating a new contract, and I understand that side of it. But the time for talking is on the pitch, not off it. Whether you do interviews or not is irrelevant, you do your talking with performances. Salah isn't doing that, Van Dijk isn't, and many others aren't either. That's the real concern.

Liverpool are in a big crisis

It's a big crisis already at Liverpool. I said maybe 10 days ago it would become a crisis if they lost the next couple of games, and they have. Worse, they've lost them badly. Conceding three at home to Forest, four at home to PSV, who've only won three of 26 away games, tells you it's a crisis.

At other clubs maybe not, but at Liverpool, that's unacceptable.

Isak is a shadow of the player he was last season

Alexander Isak didn't have a pre-season, he didn't train or play and that's catching up with him. He hasn't played for Sweden in the World Cup qualifiers, hasn't really kicked a ball for Liverpool.

Perhaps he'll look back and think he should have trained, but whatever the reasons - fitness, confidence, or other factors - he's a shadow of the Newcastle player he was.

Newcastle can't keep making mistakes

Newcastle's win over Manchester City last weekend was brilliant and I was really enthusiastic about the team going forward. I thought the win over City might be a bit of a turning point. Two full-backs were brought back in, Liveramento and Hall, and I thought they made a huge difference.

Obviously, Eddie Howe changed it around in the Champions League, which is fine.  But you just can't make those errors that Newcastle are making away from home.

There was another error from Nick Pope and I think that's maybe three or four this season which have cost Newcastle games. So the manager has a big decision to make now, because I guess Aaron Ramsdale is sat there thinking: "If I'm not going to play now, or get a chance now, then why have you signed me?"

Then again, when players have struggled, Eddie's been really consistent in sticking with his go-to players, and Nick Pope has been one of them over the past few years. So, Howe has got a big decision to make ahead of the trip to Everton at the weekend.

Newcastle are in delicate situation with Wissa

Can Yoane Wissa make an impact for Newcastle? I don't know how fit he is, or how close he is to first team. Eddie said last week that Wissa hadn't trained with the first team. But if he trains with the first team, and has even a half-an-hour or an hour in a Newcastle shirt, then the Africa Cup of Nations is up next and he will leave in mid-December.

It's a really delicate situation for him and for Newcastle. Because if they push him to get fit in the next two to three weeks, then his country will come calling and he'll have to go.

But if they don't play him in that time, then his country can't call him up, and he'll still be injured. So, it's a delicate situation, and I'm not privy to what's going on and how long he's going to be out for.

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Harvey Barnes has earned his place

Anthony Gordon has been out, and the manager has put Harvey Barnes in, and he's done what you have to do: he's answered the manager's questions.

Gordon played as a centre-forward against Marseille and Woltemade was left out because of the delicate situation that you've got there. If Woltemade were to get injured, then Newcastle haven't got a centre forward, and Anthony Gordon isn't a centre forward.

Barnes has been brilliant, and the manager has to play him on that side rather than Gordon at the minute, because Gordon hasn't done well but he hasn't scored for a while, hasn't assisted for a while, and Barnes has made an impact.

Amorim's tactics against Everton made no sense

It doesn't look like Ruben Amorim will ever change his tactics. I would get it if his team were playing Arsenal or Manchester City.

I would perhaps understand it if you were more rigid and you stick to that system. But when you're at home, and when you're playing Everton, it makes little sense. No disrespect to Everton, but why would United need three or five at the back when Everton are down to 10 men?  I couldn't understand it.

Obviously, the commentators were saying the same thing, but for the life of me, I couldn't see why he would keep it that way, and then put Dalot on that side. It was a strange one for me, but Everton were fantastic. They brilliantly frustrated United, thoroughly deserved the three points, but United were dreadful.

In terms of the system, the United players don't take the responsibility for that. They take responsibility for their efforts, and their commitment, and passion, but if the manager wants them to stay and play in that system, then that's on the manager.

But, when you go and cross the white line, then you have to give everything, and you have to go out and perform. If that's the best they can do, I would guess there was a little bit more there.

Having said all that, if they had beaten Everton on Monday night, they'd have been in the top four. I wouldn't get carried away with them losing that game, and I wouldn't get carried away when they're on a run.

I still think they're a seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th position team. There's been improvement, but it's not very hard to improve, especially with the money that they've spent. You'd be worried if they didn't improve. But in terms of are they a top six team? I don't think so.

Man City are fragile at the back

The big factor in how far Manchester City are behind Arsenal is the defence. I know Pep wasn't happy with one or two decisions against Newcastle, and was having a pop with the cameraman, or the referee, or whoever. But I would be more concerned about how fragile they are defensively, because Newcastle opened them up time and time again.

City missed big chances in the first half, but Newcastle also missed four big chances in the first half, then punished them with two goals in the second half, and City didn't offer too much in terms of retaliation.

Newcastle cut them open easily. That would be the concern. And of course, not having Rodri at full speed to help that situation. I know he's the best in the world, and there's no one like him, but he didn't half help them when they were at their peak and best defensively. They haven't got him now, and it's showing.

City are average without Haaland

Pep admitted he got it wrong when he changed the City team for their defeat to Leverkusen in the Champions League.

When you're doing that, it feels more like a Carabao Cup game rather than a Champions League game at home. City got punished, and I doubt you'll see them do that in the Champions League again. You're against much better opposition, experienced opposition.

I know some of the players coming in are really good, but when you haven't played for a while and you make that many changes, it's always very, very difficult. They got punished for it. They got nothing out of the game, and that's what they deserved.

Without Haaland, in terms of goals, City are average. But that wouldn't overly concern me, because Haaland's going to play in the vast majority of the games.

But he's not going to score in every single one, there are going to be times where, if he doesn't score, other players have to step up. At the minute, they haven't done that.

Consistency is the priority for Chelsea

I did the co-commentary for the Chelsea win over Barcelona in midweek and I was mightily impressed by Enzo Maresca's team. He changed it around, left Joao Pedro and Liam Delap out, played Garnacho, played Estevao, and Pedro Neto as a nine because of Barcelona's high line, and it worked.

Every decision Maresca made worked perfectly. Barcelona went down to 10 men later in the first-half, but forget about that, because Chelsea were the much better team anyway.

I still think Arsenal are stronger than Chelsea, I know they're in second, but in terms of performances and impressing, they haven't done as much as Arsenal have. But I guess no one thought they would win the Club World Cup going into the summer either, and they did.

So, they'll be really happy with people saying they can't or won't win the league. But I guess it's results like the home defeat to Sunderland which will keep people saying that, and that's the reason why consistency's been a big thing. But that's hard to say when they're sitting in second.

Arsenal are the standout team

It's ironic that Arsenal's only defeat was against Liverpool. That looks like a bad result now. Liverpool have been shocking since then. But I guess Arsenal are the only team that has been consistent, whereas everyone else has been up and down.

They've got the strongest squad, and they've had injuries, but you wouldn't have thought that, because of the quality of players that come in. I mean, Madueke's been out, he comes back at the weekend, and then scores mid-week. Tomiyasu goes off, Calafiori comes in, he goes off and Martinelli comes on, he scores. So that's the sign that they've got a really strong squad.

They will believe that they can win the league, and they'll also say that there's still such a long way to go, and that's what they have to say. But Arsenal have been the standout team by an absolute mile so far - in the Champions League and in the Premier League.