KEEP IT CLEAN!

Gareth fires a warning over VAR red cards

GARETH SOUTHGATE has warned his players that on-field discipline needs to be at an all-time high after the introduction of tough new regulations for this summer’s World Cup.

Football lawmakers confirmed that players in Russia could be given red cards for off-the-ball incidents even after play has restarted if they are spotted by the video assistant referee, as revealed by Sportsmail last week. The new regulations came into force on Friday.

That prompted the England manager to call a meeting with his players at the team hotel on Saturday morning ahead of their international friendly against Nigeria.

Asked if Raheem Sterling’s booking for

diving was the kind of behaviour he needed to crack down on in view of the threat now posed by VAR technology, Southgate said: ‘It’s a conversation we had this morning with everybody, for that very reason. ‘Not that we are looking to get away with anything, but if we thought we could, that’s gone. We have to be vigilant in all areas of the pitch.’ Southgate said his players had taken it on board. ‘They recognised that’s going to come in,’ he said. ‘It’s a system everybody is still getting used to and how it’s implemented is going to be key because if you look at any corner, for example, if you go looking for infringements you could find hundreds. How that is going to be interpreted is going to be really important for the consistency in the tournament.’ Southgate also revisited the storm of controversy surrounding Raheem Sterling in the build-up to the Nigeria game. While he admitted he considered dropping the Manchester City forward for reporting a day late for World Cup duty, he then felt the need to ‘protect him’ when he became a target for criticism because of a gun tattoo on his leg. Asked if he had only ruled out axing the City star after the reaction to his inking, he said: ‘Yeah. I felt there’s a fine line. Of course I had a conversation with him around what our expectations were. But equally, I knew if I left him out after everything that has happened there’s a huge story.’