Alan Shearer Exclusive: Top four is Man City's target ahead of crucial Liverpool clash | OneFootball

Football... Only Bettor. Listen to the latest episode now.

🔗 Spotify

Still plenty on the line for Man City this season

On Wednesday at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid did to Manchester City what they have been doing to teams for a long time. It will be hard for Pep Guardiola to take, because he's not used to his teams going out at this stage in competitions, so this week's elimination will hurt.

City's focus now has to be on trying to get into the top four and winning the FA Cup. This season is not a write-off for Man City by any means. They can still win the FA Cup, they've got a great draw at home against Plymouth and, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham all out, Pep's team have got a good chance of going all the way.

They will be chasing a top four finish to get into the Champions League, but even top five could be enough as it looks as though England will be getting the extra place for next season.

For an other team, finishing in the top four and winning the FA Cup would be deemed as a successful season. If that were to happen for City then it should still be seen as a pretty good season, although it's not on the same level as what they have achieved in recent years.

This term, they've had some really bad times by their standards, the likes of which they've not had for such a long time. While Guardiola has been at the club, they've always really challenged the top in every competition, but that's not been the case this year.

It looks as though there's a few players coming to the end of the road, the end of their prime years. A lot of them are probably not good enough now to warrant a new contract - it just seems like a bit of a culmination of factors.

I know they've had injuries, Erling Haaland didn't play against Real Madrid in the second-leg for example, and Rodri has been out long term, obviously.

But you can't say that the first goal Real scored on Wednesday, over the top of the defence, is something that Rodri would have stopped. It was just a basic defensive error and when you're playing against the elite, which Real are, then you can't afford to make errors.

In the main, Man City haven't made errors over the years, but they've made so many mistakes this season.

Pep can create more success at City

Can Guardiola lead City to more success? That's what he's signed a new contract to do. That's why Erling Haaland has signed a new contract, because both of those people believe that they can rebuild what they had before.

I'm not too sure that they will be as dominant as they were before under Pep but they will be taking stock. They've spent £180m on four new players, three of those were involved against Real Madrid and started that game.

Those players do need time to bed in - then you'll probably see the best of them next season. Omar Marmoush got a hat-trick last week against Newcastle, but had to play a different role against Real Madrid and didn't look as though he enjoyed it. He didn't get a kick.

In terms of a complete rebuild, I'm not sure whether they will go that far. But they're going to have to bring in another three or four players. They'll spend whatever they want, if they're allowed to, because they have got the funds.

Celtic can be proud of Champions League exploits

It was great to be in Munich on Tuesday to watch Celtic up close again and watch their heroic performance, but they will have been hurting like hell afterwards.

I didn't see them going there and nearly winning. I didn't see them opening Bayern up as much as they did. They had three or four great chances in the first-half, which they should have scored.

I was confident, even at half-time, when it was 0-0 that they would still get another few good chances. Whether they could take them or not was the big question. They got one chance and they took it brilliantly.

Then they had to defend. Kasper Schmeichel was brilliant - he made three or four fantastic saves, including one in the last minute. They can be really proud of their efforts and they can look forward to being back at Europe's top table in the elite competition.

The new format helps them, it suits them with the League Phase not playing home and away, because Celtic will be a match for anyone at home with the atmosphere that they create.  If they can add a couple of quality additions in the summer, which they should be able to do, then I think they can have another run at it next season.

They've had a taste of it, in terms of going to Bayern Munich in the Play-Off. The least they deserved out of that game was the chance to go into extra-time and go head to head with Bayern once again. Celtic can be very proud of their efforts.

I understand Slot's criticism of Nunez

I don't know Darwin Nunez as an individual, but I understand the manager being frustrated with him, because of the chances he misses.  He's not a natural finisher, although I remember that, when he came on at Newcastle a year or two ago, he scored two great goals. His finishes were magnificent then.

Unfortunately he's going to be reminded of his miss against Aston Villa for years and years, because it was that much of a sitter. Even if the manager wasn't moaning about that, then he's got every right to complain about the chance that Nunez missed, because it was a big one.

It's not often you see that sort of thing from a manager, but I don't know what's gone on behind the scenes before, or if anything has gone on in the dressing room. Maybe Slot doesn't like what he's seen from Nunez in training and is trying to get a response out of him.

I can't remember a time, if any, where a manager would have criticised my attitude or work-rate.

The only thing I can think of is the falling out with Ruud Gullit, where I was criticised after the Sunderland game we lost even though I didn't start. I was only on the pitch for 15-20 minutes! That situation has all been resolved with Ruud now.

Liverpool missteps won't stop them winning title

It would be harsh on Liverpool to criticise them too much for their draw last time against Aston Villa. Going to Villa Park is not easy and the atmosphere changes when Liverpool visit away grounds because they're top of the league.

It was a decent result for Liverpool. I know they missed big chances, but Villa did as well and I thought it was a fair result. They're eight points ahead, but Arsenal have a game in hand.

I think for the neutral it's great that it's still very tight at the top, but whatever anyone says or does, I still think Liverpool will take the title.

Liverpool go to Manchester City this weekend, but they way the Reds' forwards are playing, particularly Mo Salah, you would still see Liverpool scoring. It's a hugely important game for both teams, even if with 12 games to go, we're going to be saying that it's an important one so many times between now and the end of the season.

Title rivals Arsenal have got their own problems as well, particularly in forward positions, so it will be interesting to see how they cope and get on. For large parts last weekend against Leicester they were struggling, until they brought Mikel Merino on.

After the game and scoring two goals, he said he's hardly ever played as a striker before. I suspect he will play there again because he offered more than Raheem Sterling did. Putting Trossard on the left, taking Sterling off and bringing Merino on, Arsenal looked a more settled outfit.

I suspect that they will start Merino again in that position this weekend.

Newcastle v Nottingham Forest is huge for both teams

It's hugely significant match, especially considering what happened to Newcastle last weekend. They were dreadful for 90 minutes and didn't pose any problems at all to Man City.

You can't afford too many of those types of performances and they can't have another one. This is a great game for them to bounce back, they're at home and won't be allowed to put in that sort of performance at St James' Park.

Nottingham Forest are also really good away from home. We know what they're like - it suits them to sit in and hit teams on the counter-attack. Newcastle will have to come out all guns blazing after what happened last weekend and that may just suit Forest.

I hope I'm wrong, but because of the players Forest have, particularly Chris Wood coming back to Newcastle with the form he's in, they are going to be tough to beat. Forest got beaten last weekend as well, so it's two teams who have to bounce back.

Alan Shearer's Man City v Liverpool combined XI

Alisson

Trent Alexander-Arnold - Virgil van Dijk - John Stones - Josko Gvardiol

Alexis Mac Allister - Dominik Szboszlai - Kevin De Bruyne

Mohamed Salah - Erling Haaland - Phil Foden