Southgate Defends Rashford’s World Cup Minutes With Inconsistent Criticisms of His Methods

Southgate Defends Rashford’s World Cup Minutes With Inconsistent Criticisms of His Methods

Elijah Odetokun
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:24 PM
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  • Marcus Rashford has rediscovered his goal scoring form for Manchester United after the World Cup
  • Fans have started to question England manager Gareth Southgate for not giving him more minutes in Qatar
  • The English manager has defended his decision, claiming fans are inconsistent in their criticism of the team

Marcus Rashford is arguably the most in-form footballer in the world right now since club football returned after the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup break.

The Manchester United forward has hit the back of the net 10 times in as many games since returning to Old Trafford after a decent personal outing at the Mundial.

Marcus Rashford, Manchester United, England, World Cup, Qatar, Gareth Southgate.
Southgate tells fans to look beyond Rashford's current form while talking of his limited World Cup minutes. Photos by Paul Ellis/Jon Hobley.
Source: Getty Images

As reported by Mirror, he scored three goals at the tournament, the third of which was the 100th scored by England at FIFA's global football tournament, before the Three Lion's exited in the quarterfinals.

Southgate hit back at critics

Rashford was not in form before the World Cup, and it was not surprising that he only started just one of England's five games in Qatar. He was his country's joint top scorer with three goals tied with Arsenal star Bukayo Saka.

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Gareth Southgate is a subject of criticism from United fans who felt their starman should have had more minutes but the English manager did not agree in an interview quoted by Metro UK.

‘I think people are looking at his form post tournament as much as anything. Had Marcus played and the result being like that, they’d have been saying Phil Foden should have played, or Jack Grealish,’ he said.
‘So I’ve got peace with what we did and how we went about it. I also know that’s how the narrative always works after our games,’ he added.

It was expected that the 52 year old will step down as England boss after another major tournament failure, but he's stayed put and recently told Athletic he felt it was right to continue.

Rashford recovers in ice chamber

Rashford continued his goalscoring run in the 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final and ahead of the match revealed his ice chamber recovery, as earlier reported by Sports Brief.

He uploaded the picture on his Instagram account, showing him going beyond the limits to keep up his fitness amid concerns of injuries in the past games.

Erik Ten Hag has made him a different player and urged him to sign a new contract as he is the core of the Manchester United team he is building.

Authors
Elijah Odetokun photo
Elijah Odetokun
Elijah Odetokun is Reuters-trained journalist with three years of experience having previously worked at Daily Times Nigeria, OmaSports and El Futbolero.