Tuesday 11 October 2016 23:52, UK
Joe Hart says Wayne Rooney remains England's "leader" even though he was dropped for the goalless draw with Slovenia on Tuesday.
Rooney was left out of the starting line-up in Ljubljana and only came on as a 73rd-minute substitute.
It was Hart who was England's standout player, pulling off a string of saves to help the visitors hold out for a point in the World Cup qualifying Group F clash.
Asked about Rooney afterwards, the goalkeeper told Sky Sports: "Everyone knows Wayne is our leader. Every day no matter what he is doing he leads us.
"Jordan [Henderson] did really well tonight, taking over the role as captain in a pretty blown up circumstance with Wayne not playing.
"Wayne helped him, we helped Jordan, and we move forward as a team. We were always going to do that.
"There are plenty of people in the squad who deserve to play and it's down to the manager who he picks and we support him."
Having won their first two group games, England were largely second best against Slovenia, with the hosts only denied by a combination of the woodwork and Hart's superb goalkeeping.
"We would have loved to come here and get three points but it wasn't meant to be," said the keeper, who is on loan at Torino from Manchester City. "Slovenia executed a good game plan, they sat off us and looked to counter. They played well, we didn't.
"We still thought we did enough to win the game but we have to take the point.
"We are top of the table and our main objective is to qualify for Russia. Three clean sheets, two wins and a draw is something we can build on."
