Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer Exclusive: Tuchel needs to work out his best team and Liverpool are the team to beat

Betfair ambassador Alan Shearer
Read Alan Shearer's reaction to England's defeat to Senegal exclusively with Betfair

Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer reflects on England's poor performances against Andorra and Senegal, give his thoughts on Tottenham and their potential new manager, and tells us why Liverpool are the team to beat in next season's Premier League...

  • Shearer says England's performances are concerning

  • Tuchel needs to start working out what his best team is

  • Tottenham have shown us that football is crazy sometimes

  • Liverpool already look the team to beat again next season

  • Chelsea and Man City might not be up to winning Club World Cup

  • Read the ultimate guide to FIFA Club World Cup 25


England's performances are concerning

England are miles off where they should be. I think what worries me the most is the players openly admitting after both games, saying that the other team wanted it a bit more. This is pretty worrying from my point of view.

We all accept that you have games where you don't play well, but when your own players come out and say that the opposition wanted it more, then it's pretty worrying.

I look at the big picture and it's been a long, hard season which is still going for a lot of players in that England squad. They've got to go again, starting this weekend at the Club World Cup.

It hasn't been anywhere good enough these past two games, but you would think there are legitimate excuses.

However, if you look at the other national teams who have played, the likes of Portugal, Spain & France - they've all been miles better than England.

Thomas Tuchel must start making decisions on his best team

I would be more concerned if it was March next year and we were going into the World Cup on the back of these results. The good thing is, he's got plenty of time to get it right.

He's now got to look at a more settled side and system with what he wants to do. There's only four or five more competitive matches between now and the start of the World Cup, so I would guess from September onwards he would want a more settled side and system.

Ten changes from one game into another isn't ideal, but I understand why he's doing that and what he's trying to do. Clearly, he will have been very frustrated at both performances.

We know that Harry Kane is going to be the number one forward and that has to be the case. I guess it's who plays alongside him, behind him, to the left and to the right. The manager has to suss it out.

He's got huge dilemmas, it's a great thing that he's got that many players to pick from. You've got Morgan Rogers, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Phil Foden if he gets back to form.

These are unbelievable players, but all of them can't play clearly. Whether he goes with two number 10s and then sacrificing a right or left, I don't know - that's what we're going to find out in the coming months.

It's never a bad thing, when I say it's a dilemma, it's a good thing to have that many good players. The time to worry is when you haven't got any options at all.

We've always said that - he has to find a way which works for some of those players - some of them are going to be hugely disappointed and angry, thinking that it should be them.

Thomas has to make a decision from September onwards for who he wants to play and what system.

Kane has to play, because he's the record goalscorer and is proven at this level. He has scored in every game since Tuchel has been there - he is the only guaranteed starter.

We'll see the outcome of those decisions from September onwards and he's got a few decisions to try and get a settled side going into that. It's the reason he's been employed, for his winning mentality - he's won things.

He has to win the World Cup with England, that's what he's there for.

Walker an England legend, but time catches up with all of us

The manager picked the squads to have a look at who and what they are. I don't think that Kyle Walker will still be in Thomas Tuchel's plans.

Kyle Walker has been amazing for England, and it's no slant on him, but a players international career has to come to an end at some point.

It happens to all of us and it's not nice, especially when you're not putting in good performances, and against Senegal was one of those.

The manager will have other options in that position, unfortunately for Kyle.

When your international playing time comes to an end it's horrible, I made the decision to retire from international football because of my serious injuries, so my situation was perhaps different to most.

I knew that I couldn't continue to be at the highest level for both club and country - I made the decision before somebody made it for me.


Keeping Bruno Fernandes is a good start for United's summer rebuild

Bruno Fernandes was the only plus point for Man United last season - God knows where they would have been without him.

For them they've got Matheus Cunha in and we're going to see a big turnover of players in the next two months at Man United. They have to get a number of players out, and to do that they have to get a number of players in for that club to have a refresh.

It's been so bad for so long, but everything came together in a bad way which they didn't want to see this season for Man Utd. It's a huge pre-season for them in terms of who they're getting in and out.

The Bryan Mbuemo transfer isn't done yet and I know that other clubs were in for him including Newcastle. Whether Spurs try to hijack that if they get Thomas Frank in, which it seems that'll be the case.

On Gyokeres, I'm not surprised at all if they get him because of his work with Sporting and Ruben Amorim before, I think that was always going to be the case.

They're not in Europe this year, they're not in the Champions League and they're going to have to pay huge wages to get the players and temp them away from other clubs that are going to be interested in them.


Football is crazy, Spurs have shown us that

Imagine you haven't won a trophy for 17 years, as Tottenham hadn't, and a lot longer than that in European football, and you had a manager who had a tonne of injuries but still delivered the trophy and Champions League football, then you sack him?

They'll have their reasons for the decision, I get that. Perhaps because they finished fourth from bottom then you may have to look at the bigger picture but I was surprised.

When a manager delivers what he says he will, with an incredible injury list then yeah, sometimes I look at it and think about what a crazy game football is.

I'm not surprised fans got behind him because he said he'd deliver a trophy and he did it. He promised he'd do that and I guess the reward for it is, he got the sack.

If you look at it from Ange Postecoglou's point-of-view, Spurs are obviously a very difficult club to manage so I hope he gets a really good payoff, the fans will remember him forever and there's no doubt he'll get another big job.

I really do think that Premier League teams will be looking at him. I hope he gets a job in the Premier League. The argument is that Tottenham finished fourth bottom and they were really, really poor. You can't argue against that, but the bigger picture is that he delivered them a trophy that they so badly and desperately wanted, like Newcastle did.

It'd been so long and he's given them Champions League football next season. I guess he'll go off with a big payoff, smile and watch them in the Champions League next season.


Thomas Frank will be walking into a hugely different environment if he gets the Spurs job

Thomas Frank has done an unbelievable job at Brentford. You look at the turnover of players, the money made in terms of how their system worked at Brentford. He's such a nice guy too.

I was lucky enough to work with him at the Euros with the BBC. He's a great guy, and he deserves a chance to go to a club that should be winning trophies, Spurs have won a trophy now and hopefully can kick on. But he's going to a very differently run team and it'll be fascinating to see how it works out.

In terms of him being given the opportunity, I'm delighted for him.

I don't want to be disrespectful to Brentford but I'm not surprised at all that 'bigger' clubs have come in for him. When you look at the way he's managed Brentford, coached players that were pretty unknown before they came into the Premier League and how high he's pushed them. I'm not surprised he's been chased by bigger football clubs than Brentford.

I hope he does really well, but what I will say is that he's walking into a hugely different environment in terms of how the club is run at Spurs compared to Brentford.


Liverpool look the team to beat again next season after early summer business

The Milos Kerkez transfer isn't done yet but you'd imagine that it's going to be done. They've got Frimpong and if they get Kerkez and Wirtz, which is looking likely then that'll be really, really good business from Liverpool. It's an incredible amount of money that they're looking at with Florian Wirtz but he's a really, really talented player, there's no doubt about that.

Because Liverpool didn't sign anyone last year, other than Chiesa, I guess they've got money to spend and they had to do that with Trent leaving.

You could tell from Andy Robertson's interview towards the end of the season that they were going to go in that direction and look at another left-back so yeah, not surprising but it could be really good business for Liverpool.

When you look at the business Man City have completed so far, I don't suspect they're finished either. Particularly with the money spent in January and so far this summer, it'll be a really, really interesting summer because we know that Arsenal need to buy a forward to improve.

We know that Newcastle are going to invest so it'll be a really interesting summer but I'd guess that Liverpool will be the team to chase again.


Club World Cup might be too much for Chelsea and City players

My guess is, it'll be a tournament that'll generate a lot more interest as it goes on. Man City wanted to get players in before they went over to it, Rodri may be playing a part in the next few weeks as well. He won't be up to full speed so it'll be interesting to see how Chelsea and Man City cope. The excitement will increase as the tournament goes on.

I'd be surprised if Chelsea or Man City go all the way. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw a South-American club, a country that's midway through the season rather than a club that's at the end of the season and had a couple of weeks off. That's my take on it.

It'll be very difficult for these players because some of them have had a couple of weeks off. Some have been playing international football and if they go all the way, that's another month of playing football so how they start the Premier League season in terms of those players, we'll have to wait and see.

These teams are in it because it's something new, but the finance for these clubs is huge. It's over £100million plus bonuses for whoever wins it. Let's not kid ourselves, that's why Man City and Chelsea are in it.

It'll be fascinating to see how Chelsea and Man City cope over the next two months.

How they manage and handle the players, and whether they start the season in mid-August or have a few extra weeks off, we'll have to wait and see. It'll be really interesting to see how the players cope.


Now read Club World Cup Top Scorer Tips: From Mbappe to win outright to 100/1 E/W punt


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Alan Shearer avatar

Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer is regarded as one of the greatest English strikers of all time and remains the Premier League's record goalscorer with 260 goals.

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