Spurs ‘soft’, Man Utd ‘dismal’ – Alan Shearer on why Leicester can make top four
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By Alan Shearer
MOTD2 pundit
If I was Leicester supervisor Brendan Rodgers I believing what a brilliant opportunity I have got this year and would be rubbing my hands together.
The teams who are usually in the chasing pack have got major issues, while Liverpool and Manchester City are miles ahead of everyone else on peak of the table.
The Foxes are the’best of the rest’ right now in position, and they need to be seriously thinking they can stay there.
Rodgers targeted the six and by what we have observed so far, his side not just have a probability of making itthe top four is a possibility for them.
Because their current performances have shown there is nothing to dread, they definitely should not be frightened of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or even Tottenham.
A week when they dropped to United leicester played poorly. They showed their qualities when they defeat Tottenham on Saturday and deserved the three points.
The Spurs staff of mauricio Pochettino are having a challenging time at the moment, particularly – they have not managed a league triumph.
Tottenham have headed by a goal at half-time within their previous three away games – against Arsenal, Olympiakos and now the Foxes – but failed to win some of these, which tells you they have a flair about them they do not look able to put right.
They had a fantastic season last time out, reaching the Champions League final and creating the best four of their Premier League for a fourth consecutive year under Pochettino – however they still appear a long way from attaining the next level and lifting a serious title challenge.
Arsenal showed good character to return from 2-1 down to beat Aston Villa with 10 guys on Sunday but win does not disguise the fact they have got huge problems.
Since their midfield does not have sufficient players that seem able to track runners, it is not simply their own back-line to blame, but nevertheless they are all around the place.
Are in a similar boat.
They revealed that they take a threat and will score goals however for manager Frank Lampardthey always look like conceding them also.
A great deal of the players are naive and young, therefore you will have a great deal of inconsistency out of them – and that is costing them goals.
They’ll add some fantastic performances – like that they did by their triumph over Wolves and Liverpool on Sunday in their defeat weekend, but they won’t always get the results due to their inexperience.
At Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs put on the weekend – Manchester United did not manage much of the in their defeat at West Ham.
When he confronted the media later, old Trafford boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was quite positive, but he has to be aware of exactly how poor his group were.
I know they were defended against by him because he’s some young players and he doesn’t wish to destroy their faith by criticising them public but I think he will say different things to them privately.
They had been poor all lacking fight in addition to any ingenuity, urgency or ignite . It was just unacceptable.
It is now clear that a gamble was taken by United when they offered striker Romelu Lukaku into Inter Milan and requested players that are either untried or unproven goalscorers to substitute him.
Marcus Rashford has huge talent, but he has a lot of improving to do. Mason Greenwood has potential, but it’s a big ask for him personally to direct the assault of United .
Greenwood ill and with Anthony Martial hurt, they did not have a on the bench to replace Rashford when he limped off at London Stadium on Sunday after an hour.
I have some sympathy for Rashford, who didn’t score in open play to the sixth consecutive game this season, as it would not give me great hope of becoming 25 or 30 targets if I was playing that team – but he’s got to help himself too.
We still don’t know if the 21-year-old is going to wind up like a centre-forward, however when he is going to be a top-class striker with a killer instinct afterward his motion in the box needs to grow dramatically, and he needs to learn to score the ugly goals too.
United’s squad is lacking midfield in addition to front, something which was highlighted by their seat on Sunday if they shipped to Jesse Angel, Fred and Lingard Gomes to try to rescue some point.
But Solskjaer must obtain some creativity from somewhere, therefore it’s vital he gets more out of Paul Pogba when the France midfielder contributes to fitness.
One of United’s advantages is hitting and sitting teams on the rest, but they need to discover a way to break down.
We found them fight to do this when they lost at home to Crystal Palace in August, and it was the same against the Hammers, that didn’t give distance away and were well organised.
It is nice if playing the rest is United’s plan A, but what are they going to do if that doesn’t work?
We have not seen anything to suggest that Solskjaer has seen a response yet, but the 1 consolation for him is that a number of the other clubs are fighting.
BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan was being spoken to by alan Shearer.
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