A clean sheet keeps England’s unbeaten run in qualifying matches going and makes sure they remain top of Group F. But Slovenia were the better team tonight and had the chances to win. They let themselves down with some shoddy finishing, however, while England were indebted to some fabulous saves from Joe Hart. After that performance, it’s safe to say that Wayne Rooney wasn’t the only problem. Gareth Southgate has plenty to think about. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
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Full-time: Slovenia 0-0 England
Respect the point.
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90 min+5: Slovenia defenders are now hacking at anything that moves. Walker and Henderson have both been on the end of nasty clumps. The atmosphere is souring.
90 min+2: Smoke is billowing across the pitch. A flare’s been let off.
90 min: There will be five added minutes.
89 min: Lingard and Struna have both been booked.
88 min: Now Gary Cahill is booked for going over the top in a challenge with Ilicic. A poor tackle from an increasingly poor player. Tempers are threatening to boil over now, both sets of players coming together to dispute the rights and wrongs of that foul by Cahill.
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87 min: ROK KRONAVATER is booked for a heavy foul on Eric Dier.
84 min: Nik Omladic replaces Rene Khrin.
82 min: Roughly 82 minutes too late, Marcus Rashford replaces Daniel Sturridge. Moments later, Lingard lets fly from 25 yards. Oblak brilliantly tips it wide. “I reckon Suarez or Ronaldo could push old grannies in the street or dress like Killer Clows and terrorise young kids and they’d still be more likeable than Daniel Bloody Sturridge,” says Kevin Wilson.
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79 min: A loose ball runs to Rooney on the edge of the area. THIS IS HIS MOMENT. TAKE THIS, CRITICS!
He shoots just wide.
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77 min: Lingard prods a pass through to Sturridge, carving open the Slovenia defence. The angle’s too tight for a shot, though. The right option is to pull the ball across goal for Rooney or Lingard. Or so you’d think. Sturridge scuffs a shot straight at Oblak. What’s wrong with him?
76 min: Gary Cahill pings a diagonal ball from right to left, picking out Danny Rose. The left-back’s clever first touch allows him to barrel past his man and into the area, giving him a sight of goal, but he drags a presentable opportunity wide with his right foot.
74 min: Wayne Rooney’s first contribution is to hit the first man with a corner. Oh yeah. Get him off!
73 min: Townsend curls a teasing cross towards the far post, looking for Dele Alli, but it’s headed away just in time. The ball trickles out for a throw, which means it’s time. Wayne Rooney replaces Dele Alli and he takes the armband off Jordan Henderson, who’s still reeling from that backpass a few moments ago.
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71 min: Wayne Rooney will be on soon. Remember him? Welcome back, we’re all so sorry.
70 min: Jordan Henderson plays a dreadful pass back to Gary Cahill, who overcommits himself as he tries to reach the ball before Ilicic. The Slovenian attacker is too sharp for Cahill, though. He’s there first and he’s through on goal. A heavy touch allows Hart to close the angle, though, and the England goalkeeper saves his team-mates again, sprawling at Ilicic’s feet and diverting it behind for a corner. He’s been huge tonight.
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68 min: Cesar is off on a stretcher. Mikha Mevlja replaces him at the heart of the Slovenia defence.
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67 min: Slovenia’s captain, Cesar, is down with an injury and it looks like his evening’s over. Lucky him. “Being an Aston Villa fan, I like to think I have become quite the connoisseur of bad footballing performances,” says Adam Griffiths. “The bar of tolerance is set quite high, but by the gods this shower are clearing it in street shoes. I can only assume that none of them want to go to Russia two years hence.”
66 min: Sturridge has a shot blocked when he could have played in Henderson. That’s Sturridge! “Lifeless, ponderous, plodding, put Rashford on too late,” says Adam Hirst. “This film has been on every week for the last 6 months.”
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63 min: Andros Townsend’s first contribution is to make a bone-crunching tackle. No, it’s not, it’s to cut inside from the right and shoot with his left foot. Oblak pushes it away. It’s the first serious save he’s made for a while.
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62 min: Andros Townsend replaces the disappointing Theo Walcott.
61 min: This game is becoming increasingly ragged. England could lose this out of sheer panic. Andros Townsend is getting ready to come on.
59 min: Rok Kronaveter - what a name - replaces Walter Birsa.
58 min: Lingard crosses, Oblak claims the ball. He’s not having a good game. Up the other end, Ilicic bounces a 25-yard shot a yard past the left post.
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56 min: The corner comes to nothing but Alli collects the ball on the left. His shot is straight at Oblak. “What we need is a manager who can look at the talent pool, make tough choices, select a squad able to win, and set the underperforming on the bench,” says Patrick Sullivan. “Oh wait, our man did that. Bang goes that theory. We’re cooked.”
55 min: Walker tries to slip a pass through to Walcott. It’s diverted behind for another corner.
53 min: All of a sudden, England break four on three. But Alli’s pass through to Sturridge is underhit, allowing Jokic to make a crucial saving tackle. Sturridge aims his best Kevin the Teenager impression in Alli’s direction.
52 min: England have a corner on the right. Henderson’s low delivery isn’t up to much.
49 min: Hart has his critics but he took one for the team there, colliding with the woodwork when he made that save. He was briefly down with what seemed to be a concussion and Fraser Forster was getting ready. But Hart has decided that he can continue after a chat with the physio. He’s got an excuse for feeling groggy. How about his defenders?
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47 min: England are in disarray at the back. Birsa’s corner is flicked into the six-yard box for Cesar, who can’t smuggle it past Hart, the England goalkeeper brilliantly turning it behind. From the second corner, Kurtic, the man who hit the post in the first half, darts to the near post and directs a stunning header towards the top corner. Again, however, Hart somehow claws the ball out, with the aid of the corner of post and bar, before it can cross the line! What a save! That is incredible.
46 min: Off we go again. More England. Good. Good. Good. GOOD. Slovenia are immediately on the attack and should take the lead after some pure magnificence from Illicic. He brings a high ball down on the right side of the area and proceeds to make a fool out of a slew of England defenders. A lovely one-two plays him in on goal but instead of shooting, he cuts it back to Theo Walcott, who makes sure not to score an own goal. Why didn’t he shoot? Corner to Slovenia.
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Half-time: Slovenia 0-0 England
Get Rashford on.
45 min: “I’m considering attempting a power nap during halftime with the hope that I accidentally sleep through the second half,” says JR in Illinois. “This game is not good. Or even interesting.” I’m praying for more internet issues.
44 min: England.
43 min: Walcott breaks down the right. In acres of space, his cross is cut out by the first man. Moments later, Walker balloons a cross behind for a goal-kick.
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40 min: It’s been a good first half for Wayne Rooney.
37 min: Birsa is booked for fouling Lingard.
34 min: Apologies, I’ve just been having some wifi issue. You haven’t missed much. If ever there was a match where that wouldn’t count as a problem, this is it.
31 min: Daniel Sturridge picks up a booking, either for a foul or for arguing too much with the referee’s decision.
28 min: Not much is happening.
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25 min: Ilicic shoots. Throw-in to England. This is good stuff.
23 min: Theo Walcott laces a shot from 25 yards, but it rises over the bar. “Never mind bring back Wayne,” says Phil Sawyer. “Is it too late to resurrect the Gerrard - Lampard axis? Surely, in the words of the 1982 England World Cup squad, this time we’ll get it right . (N.B. It doesn’t matter what England do; they will not get it right).”
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22 min: Elsewhere in this group, Slovakia have taken the lead against Scotland.
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20 min: Eric Dier, who’s currently in the midst of a nightmare, is booked for fouling a breaking Ilicic, who was speeding away after an England attack broke down following sloppy play from Theo Walcott.
19 min: England are showing Slovenia how it’s done now. There have been no rogue backpasses for at least five minutes now. This is how it’s done, lads, watch and learn.
17 min: A free-kick to Slovenia on the left. Birsa sends it in, Stones hoofs it away.
15 min: “This is why you need Rooney!” says Kamau Edwards. “He is the calming influence. These kids are not yet street smart.”
14 min: Daniel Sturridge, who’s looking lively, skips down the right and into the area. He tries to burst past a Slovenian defender but goes down under a light challenge. No penalty, get up.
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12 min: Come back, Wayne, all is forgiven.
10 min: Slovenia should be ahead after a shambolic moment in the England defence! Eric Dier, the replacement for that bloke on the bench, played a blind backpass towards Joe Hart, failing to spot Bezjak lurking nearby. The Slovenian forward gets there well before the England goalkeeper but he looks uncertain, hesitating and allowing Hart to block his attempt. The ball runs to the right and England aren’t out of the woods yet. Eventually, after more harum scarum in the area, the ball’s worked to Kurtic on the left. He cuts inside and slaps a right footer against the inside of the post. The ball rebounds out and it’s stabbed wide by Bezjak, who couldn’t react quickly enough. Joe Hart winks.
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9 min: The England fans have been heard chanting “Justice for Allardyce” and “Sammy, Sammy, Sammy, Sammy Allardyce”. A single tear rolls down Gareth Southgate’s cheek.
8 min: England suddenly find themselves in a mild spot of bother, pushed back into the area as Slovenia exert some concerted pressure. It ends with Birsa slashing wildly over from 18 yards.
7 min: Jordan Henderson loses the ball in midfield. Pah. Strip him of the captaincy immediately.
5 min: KICK OFF.
KICK-OFF: We're underway at the Stozice Stadium. Come on, #ThreeLions! 👊#TogetherForEngland pic.twitter.com/EduWDmgaRP
— England (@England) October 11, 2016
4 min: Alli and Sturridge combine again, the former dinking a lovely pass through to the latter, who’s denied by Oblak after overruning the ball. Nothing comes from the corner but this is a good, bright start from England.
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2 min: Joe Hart gets a touch of the ball at the back and adroitly sends a five-yard pass straight to John Stones, a sequence that has a note of tragedy to it. You see, Pep! You see, he could have done it, if only you’d given him a chance, you brute.
Off we go! England, in red shirts and shorts and blue socks, get the game underway. They’re kicking from right to left in the first half and they’re quickly on the attack, Danny Rose winning a free-kick 25 yards from goal. They take it short and when Rose’s tame cross is only half cleared, Alli dummies and shifts the ball to Sturridge, who curls harmlessly wide from the right of the area.
The camera follows ... you don’t need me to tell you who it’s following ... as the substitutes walk out. He’s having a laugh with Jamie Vardy, presumably about putting wine gums in a bottle of gin and sitting back to enjoy the show. He takes his place on the bench, at which point it’s time for the anthems.
The teams emerge from the tunnel. Captain Jordan has been practising his stare.
Then again, Slovenia’s Kevin Kampl has been branded a “deserter” after pulling out of the squad. He didn’t turn up.
Why is turning up to play for England now something to be applauded? Is this where we are? Admittedly I say that as someone who pulled out of five a side two hours before kick-off last night.
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No More Nice Gareth speaks. The first question is about Wazziesta. “We’ve emphasised all week that it’s got to be a collective thing. There are some senior players and some I expect to emerge in the next couple of years.” He’s so diplomatic.
“Gareth Southgate is the one who finally had the guts to drop you-know-who,” says Shaun Wilkinson. “How long will Gary Cahill be able to play this terribly and still keep his place? How Curtis Davies must wish he was playing crap for Chelsea every week instead of brilliantly for Hull.”
I’d give Rooney a try at centre-back. He could run the game from there, like Paul Warhurst.
Do you still like England? Speak freely.
Speaking of separate live blogs, Paul Doyle has the rest of the night’s action covered here. It’s unlikely to be as thrilling as the England game, though.
The big news is that Andros Townsend is on the bench. We’ll have a separate live blog to take in all the reaction to that story soon.
The teams!
Slovenia: Oblak; Struna, Samardzic, Cesar, Jokic; Krhin; Kurtic, Verbic; Birsa; Ilicic, Bezjak. Subs: Koprivec, Belec, Skubic, Jovic, Crnic, Novakovic, Trajkovski, Mevlja, Kronaveter, Zajc, Pihler, Omladic.
England: Hart; Walker, Stones, Cahill, Rose; Dier, Henderson, Alli; Walcott, Sturridge, Lingard. Subs: Forster, Pickford, Gibbs, Smalling, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Antonio, Keane, Townsend, Rooney, Vardy, Rashford.
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Preamble
Hello. The challenge here is to go as long as possible without mentioning WAYNE ROONEY. Under no circumstances should we talk about WAYNE ROONEY. Do not talk about WAYNE ROONEY until it’s absolutely necessary to talk about WAYNE ROONEY. Let’s talk about crazy clowns instead. Is WAYNE ROONEY a crazy clown? Or how about Brexit. How will Brexit affect WAYNE ROONEY?
Not easy, is it? Because while it would be lovely not to talk about WAYNE ROONEY, it really is very difficult not to talk about WAYNE ROONEY, England’s dethroned skipper. He’s on the bench tonight, see. WAYNE ROONEY has been dropped by England for a competitive fixture for the first time since 1873 and it’s No More Mr Nice Gareth who’s done the benching, the caretaker manager doing what the last bloke in charge was too scared to do (whatever happened to the last bloke in charge, by the way, anyone heard from him lately?) and defying all the cliched predictions that he’d be too sensitive to make the tough calls.
Of course, it wasn’t that much of a tough call Gareth Southgate had to make. In fact, he probably made up his mind that Wazziesta isn’t the top midfielder he and his dwindling bunch of sycophants think he is when he gave the ball away twice in the first three minutes during Saturday’s win over Malta. From a celebrity point of view, saying WAYNE ROONEY isn’t quite what he was is tantamount to suggesting Beyonce should take dance tips from Mark Corrigan. From a footballing point of view, it is confirmation that Southgate didn’t sniff glue before England kicked off against Malta.
England are moving on, the DeWaynification process has begun, and now they’ve got to win a game of football in Ljubljana. So far they’ve failed to inspire in Group F - imagine that! - and Slovenia, who surprised Slovakia on the weekend, should provide them with a tougher test than Slovakia and Malta managed. All that said, WAYNE ROONEY is on the bench. He’s going to score the winner, isn’t he. Then we’ll talk about him a bit more. A lot more. We’ll have a conversation about WAYNE ROONEY.
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST.
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