against France, but Gareth Southgate
denied he is in pole position for the
permanent captain's role.
Harry Kane will again captain England for
Tuesday's friendly with France, while Tom Heaton
and Jack Butland will share the goalkeeping duties
at the Stade de France.
Kane was skipper for Saturday's World Cup
qualifier with Scotland at Hampden Park, which
saw the Tottenham striker rescue a 2-2 draw for
England late on after Leigh Griffiths had turned the
game in the hosts' favour - beating Joe Hart with a
pair of free-kicks.
Hart is not going to feature in Saint-Denis but
Kane's leadership abilities will be put to the test
once more, though manager Gareth Southgate
denied the forward is in pole position to wear the
armband permanently.
He told a media conference: "I'm not committing to
a timescale on that. It's been good experience to
develop other leaders, we're seeing that in terms of
the way the group are prepared to contribute when
we're discussing games.
"I'm not in a rush to make that decision, at some
point it's something we should do. It's been good
to devolve the leadership."
Hart has come in for some criticism in the wake of
the Glasgow stalemate for allowing Griffiths to beat
him with near-identical free-kicks in a matter of
minutes.
But Southgate was quick to defend the Manchester
City keeper, who spent last season on loan at
Torino having been deemed surplus to
requirements by Pep Guardiola.
Asked what he said to Hart, Southgate replied:
"They were great free-kicks. Beyond that, coaching
conversations I have with players stay private.
"If we go down that route then it's not the right
thing to do. I go back to the concession of free-
kicks being the starting point. There are many
areas we could have done better."
Heaton will start the encounter with France before
Butland takes his place for the second half.
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