England boss Gareth Southgate set to work with Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford — with the nation desperate for them to click
The Young Lions chief had the chance to give Rashford his bow at Under-21s level after he was omitted from Sam Allardyce’s first squad
GARETH SOUTHGATE last spoke to Marcus Rashford in the home dressing room at Colchester United.
And Southgate watched with growing delight as the Manchester United man hit a superb hat-trick in a 6-1 rout of Norway at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.
Southgate, though, believed it was a case of hello-goodbye.
He explained: “I just said, ‘You’ve enjoyed your week, haven’t you?’.
“I was tempted to say, ‘It was nice working with you!’.”
A month on, and Southgate is set to work with Rashford again.
This time for the next four England matches and probably beyond — with the country desperate for both men to click.
Make no mistake, Southgate will embrace youth.
With Harry Kane ruled out, Rashford is a shoo-in for the squad and probably a starting berth against Malta at Wembley a week on Saturday.
At St George’s Park next week, Southgate will address a room full of familiar faces.
No Kane, but Spurs team-mates Dele Alli and Eric Dier, along with John Stones, Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling are all graduates of Southgate’s England Academy.
And the interim boss, who would also have wanted keeper Jack Butland to be fit, is already considering the possibility of call-ups for Southampton’s Nathan Redmond and Middlesbrough centre-half Ben Gibson.
Southgate has never made any secret of his desire to fill the hotseat, even if the former Three Lions defender always thought it would come much later in his career.
Related stories
Despite his public image as a Mr Nice Guy, Southgate is not usually a guy for turning or making knee-jerk decisions to appease others.
The former Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Boro centre-back is fiercely patriotic.
And more critically, he is both intelligent and eloquent, as well as being someone who understands the media.
He actually once thought he might become a journalist when he ended his playing days in 2006. Southgate will not be caught bragging to an undercover camera.
Many see him as another “Yes” man in the Hodgson mould.
But having spent the last three years following him to some of European football’s bleakest outposts, I can assure you Southgate is certainly no patsy.
Neither is he the puppet or soft-touch he is widely perceived to be.
Beneath his impeccable public politeness and sense of duty is an inner steel and a will to win.
Ask his first Under-21 captain, Andre Wisdom, if Southgate is a pushover.
The Liverpool kid was never picked again after getting sent off in a Euro qualifier in Finland.
Former West Ham starlet Ravel Morrison did not last long, either.
Southgate has also never been afraid to speak his mind, much to the panic of the FA’s media team.
Four years ago, after England went out of Euro 2012 on penalties — and he knows more than most about the anguish of shootout failure when wearing the Three Lions on his chest — he suggested the national team should follow the example of golfers and employ psychologists to help them cope with the pressure of spot-kicks.
Having recognised England’s inadequacies at major finals, the first thing he did after taking charge of the Under-21s was to enter them back into the prestigious Toulon tournament in a bid to give his young stars that valuable experience.
England’s kids got to the semi-finals in the south of France in 2014.
And while the 2015 European Championships brought a group-phase exit — where have we seen that before? — they tasted victory in Toulon this summer, beating hosts France 2-1 in the final.
Not a major tournament, granted — but it was a triumph nonetheless.
Southgate accomplished it by playing his preferred 4-2-3-1 system.
And it would be a major shock if he did not deploy the same formation in his next four games with the senior team.
Three of those four matches are World Cup qualifiers against Malta, Slovenia and Scotland.
Win those, as expected, and the clamour will grow for him to be kept on as boss until after Russia 2018.
Watch ALL the goals from the Premier League before anyone else for FREE plus all the latest news, fixtures and results and live match commentary all on the go with the new Sun Football App – click here to download
