"We've spoken about refereeing decisions not going our way and it's part of the game"
Thursday 21 June 2018 16:30, UK
England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold insists VAR gives referees the best chance of making correct decisions despite some early controversies during the World Cup.
A number of decisions have been referred during the opening round of group games in Russia, with England aggrieved that they were twice denied a penalty in their 2-1 win against Tunisia when Harry Kane was wrestled to the ground at a set-piece - even though the video assistants did look over one of the incidents.
However, Alexander-Arnold is still backing the system and says England have the mental strength to cope when decisions go against them.
"Obviously there's more chance of getting the correct decisions in games [with VAR]," said the Liverpool full-back.
We haven't been directly told who's starting and who's not so all the positions are still up for grabs.
"We've seen officials still haven't got every decision that we've seen right but they are trying their best and with VAR you've got the best chance of doing that.
"Obviously you want those decisions to go your way. But we've spoken about refereeing decisions not going our way and it's part of the game that not every decision will go your way.
"We just have to get on with the game and try to ignore the fact we didn't get the two claims we went for.
"The result and the manner we won it showed the lads can put it past them and focus on getting the win and that's what we've done."
A note spotted at England training on Thursday suggested Gareth Southgate was considering replacing Raheem Sterling with Marcus Rashford for Sunday's game against Panama, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek would come in for Dele Alli, who is struggling with a thigh strain.
"We haven't been directly told who's starting and who's not so all the positions are still up for grabs," said Alexander-Arnold.
"Until the manager actually names a team it doesn't matter what's come out. The lads don't focus on stuff like that until it's come out the manager's mouth."
Optimism surrounding England's first opening win at a major tournament since 2006 has been heightened by lacklustre performances from some of the pre-tournament favourites.
Holders Germany lost their opener against Mexico, while Argentina and Brazil also failed to win in the first round of matches.
However, Alexander-Arnold is not getting carried away.
"It's early days and most teams have only played one game - it's hard to compare," he said. "Teams can have off days and teams can have good days.
"We're just trying to focus on ourselves. You can't look at teams that aren't in your group at this moment in time - you're not playing them right now, you're playing the teams in your group.
"We're playing Panama and Belgium and they're the two teams we're focussed on the most."
Southgate suffered a dislocated shoulder while out running on Wednesday, but was still able to hold a scheduled team meeting in the evening.
"He joked about it and put it in the funniest way possible," Alexander-Arnold said. "He said he hopes no one else has an afternoon like he did with the injury he got. He tried to put a smile on everyone's faces."
