Alan Shearer Exclusive: Manchester City are suffering crisis of confidence

• Manchester City can get back on track after international break

• Fergie and Pep are best ever Premier League managers

• Newcastle should steer clear of Paul Pogba

• Amorim must repair Manchester United after years of damage

• Saints should give Russell Martin more time to turn it around

No need for Manchester City to panic

Pep Guardiola has suffered four straight defeats for the first time ever in his career, and Manchester City's poor form is down to more than just the absence of Rodri.

They've got several players missing, but most teams, at some stage in the season, will have an injury crisis and City have a bigger squad than everyone else so they won't get any sympathy other than from their own fans.

They must put up with that and accept it. There looks to be a crisis in confidence on top of an injury list, but it is just two league games that they've lost. I know they've lost one in the Carabao Cup and Champions League too, but it's not panic time yet.

Liverpool may be the new favourites for the Premier League, but because of who and what City are - they've been there and done it - if anyone knows how to navigate through a spot of bother then it would be Pep Guardiola and his team.

You can see there's concern on Pep's face when he's doing his interviews because it hurts him, and he doesn't like to be beaten, but I think the international break has come at the right time for Man City.

Is City's ageing squad still hungry?

Looking through their current squad, you've got Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker, Ederson and even John Stones who are all in their thirties, so you could argue the bulk of their squad is in a state of natural decline.

However, you could also wonder if a little bit of their hunger may have also decreased, because a lot of those players have been incredibly successful and I don't care who or what you are, it's difficult to keep going again, again and again.

They've done it so many times now so it's a big ask for them to come back and go again, and only time will tell.

They also have the off-field charges that have been put to them as a football club to deal with, and the questions that are going to be asked there too.

Plenty of people will say that the current charges hanging over City shouldn't affect the players, and I understand that, but ultimately what happens at the top of the football club always filters its way down to the pitch at some stage. It shouldn't do but often it does.

Having said all that, if you ask me if they'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, my answer to that would be yes.

Guardiola on the same level as Sir Alex Ferguson

It remains to be seen at this stage whether Guardiola will stay on at Man City next season.

Whether he wants to go again for another year, only he knows the answer, but he has been and is incredibly successful. He's surpremely driven but there's only one person who can answer whether he needs a rest or if he will go again come the end of the season.

In terms of longevity and success at one football club, Sir Alex Ferguson was incredible in what he delivered at Manchester United, but Pep has been unbelievable as well for what he's done for City. The titles and trophies he's won have just been incredible.

Sir Alex did the same so those two are without a doubt the greatest two managers the Premier League has ever seen. You could sit and debate who deserves to be number one, but I wouldn't want to be part of it because they're two exceptional managers.

Brilliant Newcastle don't need Pogba

Newcastle look back to their old best after the last two performances and I was impressed with the way the team came from behind at Forest.

When I look through the side, the midfield is looking like it used to, and we know the injuries Newcastle have at the back, but toward the top of the pitch they may need to look for a striker in January.

That may depend on if Sven Botman will be ready to play the second half of the season, because he's been out with a cruciate injury for what will be seven months by the time he gets back. If doing well, then perhaps a centre-half signing may not be a priority.

Paul Pogba looks to be available next year, but that position isn't one that Newcastle need to strengthen in.

They spent £55m on Sandro Tonali who is now back in and available, and they have enough in there with Bruno, Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock, Tonali and Joelinton, so I wouldn't think that's a position or player Newcastle need to look at.

No Isak could be a big problem for Newcastle

Forward positions are where they need to strengthen, whether that's on the right or down the middle, so that's a position they could target and look to improve on.

Callum Wilson hasn't played yet this season and he's always had injuries throughout his career so if anything happened to Aleksandar Isak, then it'd be a huge concern.

I don't know how the PSR situation is sitting with Newcastle, whether they'll have to sell in the summer should they invest in January, and it's a tough situation for them, having to sell two of their youngsters last summer.

They won't want to be in that position again, but they did have money to spend last summer and didn't make a big signing, so I'd hope that means they can improve somewhere down the line.

No surprise to see Amorim move Van Nistelrooy on

Manchester United announced earlier in the week that Ruud Van Nistelrooy has left the club. That is not a surprise because more often than not, when a new manager comes in, he always wants to bring his own staff with him.

Ruben Amorim will have said thank you to Ruud but 'I'm bringing my own people in to go my own way', and that's fine.

You must respect that because he's in a strong position and you're probably at your strongest when first coming into a football club. Amorim, his own people and their own ideas have been really successful up to now. He is young, energetic, he'll bring his staff in, and they'll look to get off to a great start.

Amorim may need time to repair Man Utd

Ruben Amorim has officially started his new job and, in an ideal world, United will start climbing the Premier League table immediately and clinch a European spot.

You never get a free pass when you become the new manager of Manchester United, but you might get away with one or two things because there's so much to be done at the football club and so much to be changed.

It may take a little bit of time for Ruben to implement his own ideas and own system on some of the players because they'll probably try a system that they haven't played before.

Whilst you don't want to make excuses for anyone, with the damage that's been done over the years at United and how hard it's been for them, you'd understand if it takes a bit of time for Amorim to get it right.

Southampton struggle to score enough to survive

Further down the Premier League table, Southampton sit bottom and it's a really difficult situation because Russell Martin is sticking to the principles that got them promoted to the Premier League.

He's a very good manager and it's clear that his players understand what he's trying to do, but the difference in standard from the Premier League to Championship is staggering.

From an owner's point of view, it must be a difficult moment, because you see your football club at the bottom of the league and the way the team is trying to play make it frustrating at times. But, you have to understand that the difference is massive and Russell has built something there in a specific way.

It's a difficult one for them but I hope they'll give Martin a bit longer to try and improve their position. We saw at the weekend what can happen with Ipswich going to Spurs and getting their first win, as did Wolves against Southampton.

The one thing I will say is that Southampton play some nice football, but a lot of it doesn't lead to the goals that they'll need to score to stay up.

I was there on the opening day at St James' Park, where Newcastle were down to 10 men and Southampton couldn't score. I thought that day they'd have problems putting the ball in the back of the net and they are the league's lowest scorers which is a big problem.

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