Shearer Says: “Harry Kane should be the first name on the England team sheet.”

Defensively City were very poor. I did not think the standard was great in the game. It just demonstrates how much work these two sides need to do in order get them back where they need to be. The two standout players on the pitch were Rashford and Lingard.

The result in the Manchester derby now opens up the race for the top four. Pep Guardiola did not sign up to manage a team in the Europa League. When they announced the deal a couple of months ago, City were going strong in four competitions. I know they have won the Capital One Cup but the way it is going, they might not get into the Champions League for next season. United reduced their deficit behind City with a win in the derby, West Ham are in the hunt and Southampton have an outside chance.

I feel for West Ham as they were robbed of the win at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on Saturday. There is no way that was ever a penalty at the end of the game. If it was only a matter of inches, you could understand but this was a yard outside of the box. Their performance deserved more than a draw.

It looked like two poor teams fighting it out in the Tyne-Wear derby

In the Tyne-Wear derby it really did look like two poor teams fighting it out. Sunderland handled the occasion better in the first half and deserved to take the lead. They could have been a couple more in front. Defoe had a couple of chances and he eventually took the third one. Newcastle could have no complaints at all going into the break 1-0 down as it could have been more.

For the last 20-25 minutes though, Newcastle pressed on. They changed their system a bit and one or two personnel which led to the equaliser. The big winners in the bid to avoid relegation at the weekend were Norwich. It was a fantastic result for the Canaries picking up three points away to West Brom. That’s two clean sheets on the spin for them now as they held Manchester City to a goalless draw the week before. They will come back after the international break full of confidence.

Norwich’s next two home games are against Newcastle and Sunderland. That game against Newcastle is gigantic now. Norwich are three points ahead of Newcastle so even if the Toon win, they could still be behind the Canaries on goal difference, while a defeat would leave them six points behind with only seven games to go.

Benitez was a great appointment for Newcastle but unfortunately he is not a magician and as a fan I have not seen enough to suggest we can relax and that we will be safe. What hasn’t changed after this weekend is that it is still two from three who are in the relegation scrap. Swansea had a big win and I don’t think Palace will get sucked into it. For Newcastle and Sunderland, they might need four wins to survive which is asking a lot considering they have only won six games all season from 30 fixtures.

Roy needs to use upcoming friendlies to experiment

With friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands coming up over the next 10 days, it would not surprise me to see Roy Hodgson field two different teams. I don’t think the Premier League managers would be best pleased if he played their players in both games. I think it is right to experiment. He has to look at different systems as you always need a plan B if plan A isn’t working.

The game against Germany will be a good test for them. We shouldn’t take too much from the game though. If we get a positive result it will be a good confident booster for them.

Augusta Kate ran well but we were expecting a little better

Augusta Kate finished seventh last week in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. We felt she did OK and Willie Mullins was pleased with her, even though we were hoping she would perform a little better. In hindsight maybe we should have run her at Sandown on the Saturday before.

I am not sure if she is going to run again this season or be put away now for the summer. We had a great day and there is still a lot to look forward to with this horse.

Do you agree with Alan’s views? Then why not head to Coral and place your bets on the latest nations in action this international break?

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