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Former Celtic and Chelsea front man Tony Cascarino knows a thing or two about international football having played 88 times for Republic of Ireland. He believes Wayne Rooney's hopes of remaining an England regular are rightly slipping away.

"It's always tough for players to switch position," Cascarino told the Times. "There are two major factors that mean Rooney can't be a midfielder.

"Game intelligence is vital and while Rooney is a clever player, I don't think he has the nous. 

"But physicality is the area where Rooney really falls short. He is often caught out of position and doesn't have the pace he used to when it comes to tracking back."  

So, if Wayne Rooney is dropped, has interim manager Gareth Southgate been brave? Or has he buckled to pressure and lacked faith in the forward?

Let us know at #bbcsportsday.

Does Wayne Rooney deserve to be dropped? If you go by the stats, his performance against Malta was not all bad...

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Good late afternoon one and all, this is Luke Reddy.

Mandeep Sanghera and I are taking over what is an extended Sportsday so we can take in the England news conference scheduled for 18:30 BST.

As if by magic, we will hear from Wayne Rooney, a man we understand has been dropped from England's side to face Slovenia on Tuesday.

It's no big deal. He's only spent 13 years in the side and scored more goals than anyone in the country's history. No big deal.

Image source, Rex Features

Gloucestershire chief executive Will Brown says they want Bristol to be part of any new city-based T20 competition.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is keen to start a new T20 event, which could come in as early as 2018.

The venues for the proposed eight-team event - initially approved in September ahead of a vote by the ECB board later in October - are yet to be decided.

"Bristol has to be part of it, ideally as a host venue for a regional team," Will Brown told BBC Radio Bristol. "We want Bristol on the T20 map. It has to be, in our opinion.

Image source, Rex Features

Two-time major champion Jose Maria Olazabal will make his first appearance on the European Tour for 18 months at the British Masters.

The former Ryder Cup captain, who led Europe to glory in Medinah in 2012, has been out of action since April 2015 due to rheumatoid arthritis.

"Although I'm feeling better, I'm still not 100 percent," the Spaniard, 50, told theEuropean Tour website., external

"It gets a bit painful from time to time but that's just getting old."

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Ipswich's Luke Hyam suffers a setback in his knee injury recovery that is likely to keep him out for at least eight weeks.

Hyam was injured during Town's pre-season friendly against Cambridge and surgery had initially looked likely.

The 24-year-old recovered enough to put the operation on hold, but his symptoms returned and he has had the surgery.

However, striker David McGoldrick and defender Adam Webster have returned to training following injury.

Germany manager Joachim Low has been talking to the media before his side play Northern Ireland tomorrow in a World Cup qualifier.

Some more quotes from Scotland boss Gordon Strachan on Tuesday night's opponents Slovakia and their World Cup qualifying group, which also includes England.

"I've had ideas for two months of what I was going to do (against Slovakia) but suddenly they have changed their tactics so we have had to have a rethink," said Strachan.

"Most of us expect England to win the group, but it a crazy gang here (in the group). We will definitely try to get second. If we can win it, great, but second is the target for us."

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Ian Billing: His exclusion is long overdue. His performances don't warrant selection. There are better players in all the roles they have tried to give him - the only options left are to play him in defence or in goal, but we have better there, too.  

David Bott: Absolutely should never have gone to the last World Cup or Euros IMO can't do it on the big stage. Been good for qualifiers but he's no midfield player so yes he should be dropped.

Marion Branchflower: The poor lad looks shattered he's been playing first class football from 17 they expect too much. Give the lad a break, United and England have had more than their money out of him.

This could be awkward. With Gareth Southgate set to put Wayne Rooney on the bench for England's World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on Tuesday, the pair are set to face the media tonight.

The news conference is expected to start at 18:30 BST and the best quotes will appear on the BBC Sport website soon after.

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Rewind five years, Wasps had just finished a point away from relegation the season before and had apparently come within an hour of going bust.

What a difference five years makes.

Our Newsbeat colleagues have written this on the new/old stars of the Premiership... 

Scotland boss Gordon Strachan is now talking to the media and says Scotland may have to do without captain Darren Fletcher for their World Cup qualifier against Slovakia.

Strachan says: "He is having a fitness test and we will prepare a team with Darren in and one without, but we are fine, we're looking forward to the game.

"Slovakia have changed quite dramatically since seeing them twice in the European Championships. Our players know their system has changed a bit and we will have to be on our toes.

"It is a strange, strange group and the stranger it gets the better for us. Three quarters of our games have been good, professional and I liked them."

Image source, Getty Images

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World Cup and European Championship tournaments have a built-in bias that means teams playing earlier in the group stages are more likely to progress, claim Swiss researchers.

Sides playing first in the first two rounds of games, as Northern Ireland did at Euro 2016, have a better chance of qualifying by 17 percentage points.

Economists analysed data from every World Cup and Euros from 1996 to 2014.

Playing all games simultaneously "would make tournaments fairer", they said.

The analysis, conducted by Alex Krumer and Michael Lechner from the University of St Gallen, also took team rankings, home advantage, seedings, rest hours and distance between matches into account.

Read more here. 

Some quotes from Scotland captain Darren Fletcher, talking before his side play Slovakia in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. Scotland needed a late equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw against Lithuania over the weekend.

"We showed great character to come back from a goal down and it could turn out to be a massive point," says Fletcher.

"We come here confident and if we were to win, it would be massive. We are still right in this group, still fighting and still believe in ourselves."

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Watch highlights as New England's Tom Brady passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns to help the Patriots to a 33-13 win over the Cleveland Browns on his return from his 'Deflate-gate' ban.

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America’s Olympic athletes will no longer pay a so-called 'victory tax' under a bill President Barack Obama has signed into law.

The Internal Revenue Service will now be prohibited from taxing most medals or other prizes awarded to U.S. Olympians.

The U.S. Olympic Committee awards cash prizes to medallists, ranging from $25,000 for gold to $10,000 for bronze. The money has been considered earned income, thus making it subject to what some lawmakers have called the “victory tax.”

Image source, Rex Features

Leeds United boss Garry Monk has been given a one-match touchline ban and a £2,000 fine for using abusive language in the loss to Bristol City last month.

The 37-year-old was sent to the stands during the closing minutes of the 1-0 defeat at Ashton Gate on 27 September.

He admitted a Football Association misconduct charge of "using abusive and/or insulting words towards a match official".

Monk will serve his ban in Saturday's Championship match at Derby.

Watch as Danielle Wyatt and Georgia Elwiss reveal all about their England Women cricket team-mates.

England are currently involved in the second one-day international against West Indies and you can follow the latest developments here.

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2006: Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton was fined £2,000 and warned as to his future conduct by the Football Association after admitting a charge of improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute by dropping his shorts to Everton fans at Goodison Park.