Mic’d up but p***ed off. And England’s midfield conundrum

James Gheerbrant, Jonathan Northcroft and Gregor Robertson join tom Clarke to give VAR a grilling.Does the mic’d up programme help or hinder the case for VAR in games? The team look at issues around how subjective football is, how effective current VAR is and are there other, better options to use the technology? After an inconclusive but heated debate it’s on to England’s midfield.Bellingham and Rice seem certain starters, but who plays alongside them? Do England have a defensive midfielder, and if not, who plays instead?Finally, Jonny recently voted in a poll asking who are currently the world’s best players…he names his top five. TimelineVAR2’ VAR, are the audio releases helping or hindering 4’ Pain is not worth the gain. It is a really difficult job, but it has become farcical.8’ Running VAR can be exhausting, in the spotlight, no clear right and wrong, walking a tightropePossible clips 11’ the number and detail of incidents can’t be assessed in the time allowed. 15’ modern mania to achieve perfection…in a subjective sport.17’ timing is an issue; it takes too long the flow of the game has been affected.20’ Has the mic’d up programme improved things or further mudded the waters. 22’ sin bins. Good idea or not?  Keeping refs mics on would stop player dissent quickly. 26’ do players influence VAR by appealing and asking refs to check things.  England midfield 31’ who plays alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham.33’ the chemistry of the three is important. Southgate prizes control over everything else. Gregor thinks still Philips.35’ can’t pick Philips or Henderson because of lack of top flight football.37’ Trent Alexander is the answer according to Jonny.40’ James, consider Connor Gallagher.45’ stones, Rico Lewis, Foden Maddison. Jonny think whoever Jude wants Keep Bellingham happy. Best players in the world 49’ Jonny voted for worlds best players. Hard to over look Premier league and England players. Haland, Rodri, Kane, Bellingham.55’ Kane now getting the coverage he deserves. 57’ Messi still the man. What about defenders??  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

The Game is the premier football podcast from The Times, with the finest writers previewing and reviewing all the action throughout the 2023/24 season. Twice a week, Gregor Robertson and Tom Clarke speak to the leading football writers from The Times and The Sunday Times, offering unparalleled analysis of the latest results and commentary on emerging issues. 


On Mondays, Alyson Rudd, Tom Roddy and Tony Cascarino review the weekend's action and on Thursdays Martin Samuel tackles the biggest issues of the week alongside the likes of Jonathan Northcroft and Ian Hawkey.


Subscribe to The Times to enjoy our award-winning sports journalism on your smartphone or tablet. Just search The Times online.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.