The world cup.

Pavros · May 24, 2018

Perhaps Henderson wasn't given the armband because he is not guaranteed a starting place whereas Kane will start (mainly due to lack of alternatives)?

Southgate said he only had about 30% of premiership players to chose from and a lot of them aren't playing regularly. I think this is the main problem with English football at the moment. For instance, who can you list who has been playing better than the players in the squad and on standby? You will be lucky to name 5 in total (Shelvey, Laschelles.......?). I remember SuperMac saying that, when he played for England, there were at least 5 players competing for his position!

BeardedMag · May 24, 2018

MickDundee said:
As a Sunderland fan I’m probably biased, but I thought Jordan Henderson was the logical choice for captain.

Unlike Kane, he’s already captain of his club, and his club are in the European Cup final!

Disagree for obvious reasons :p

BeardedMag · May 24, 2018

Pavros said:
Perhaps Henderson wasn't given the armband because he is not guaranteed a starting place whereas Kane will start (mainly due to lack of alternatives)?

Southgate said he only had about 30% of premiership players to chose from and a lot of them aren't playing regularly. I think this is the main problem with English football at the moment. For instance, who can you list who has been playing better than the players in the squad and on standby? You will be lucky to name 5 in total (Shelvey, Laschelles.......?). I remember SuperMac saying that, when he played for England, there were at least 5 players competing for his position!

That and he is a puppet who says it’s his team when really it was picked by men upstairs wanting to sell strips haha

foxbat · May 25, 2018

Are they doing the new video ref thing this time? I always enjoy watching England but hate it when we get beaten by a team of divers and cheats. I'm hoping video will knock that one on the head.

Chippy_Tea · May 25, 2018

foxbat said:
Are they doing the new video ref thing this time? I always enjoy watching England but hate it when we get beaten by a team of divers and cheats. I'm hoping video will knock that one on the head.

VAR: Video assistant referees will be used at 2018 World Cup in Russia

Video assistant referees will be used at the World Cup for the first time after Fifa formally approved the technology for this year's tournament.

VAR has been trialled in some domestic English cup games this season, and has been used in Germany and Italy.

"We need to live with the times," said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

"We wanted to give the referees tools so they can make better decisions, and in the World Cup some very important decisions are made."

He added: "It's not possible that in 2018 everyone in their living room knows a few seconds after the play whether a referee has made a mistake and the referee doesn't."

VAR was first used at the Club World Cup in December 2016, and trialled in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

The system was described as "comical" and "embarrassing" after Tottenham's 6-1 FA Cup win over Rochdale in late February, when a goal was disallowed and a converted penalty overturned.

The Premier League is not expected to introduce VAR next season, and Uefa has already said it will not be used in the 2018-19 Champions League.

Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue 1 are to introduce it from next season, while the Bundesliga will decide on 22 March.

"I was sceptical at first, but without trying you cannot know what it's worth," Infantino added.

"Without VAR, a referee can make one important mistake every three matches. With VAR, the figures we have seen from the trials that have been held show that a big mistake is made once every 19 matches."

The world governing body's formal announcement comes after the International Football Association Board (Ifab) "unanimously approved" the introduction of VAR on a permanent basis earlier this month.

Ifab is made up of Fifa and the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Each FA has one vote to Fifa's four, with six votes required for a change in the laws.

The body made the decision to approve the technology following the results of independent analysis conducted by Belgian university KU Leuven.

BBC Sport.