Gareth Southgate has revealed he made changes to Marcus Rashford’s training after he missed his penalty in the Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.
A lot has happened in Marcus Rashford’s career since 2020.
Rashford has gone from being a star at Manchester United to being sent on loan to Aston Villa and Barcelona after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim.
There was also a spell before Thomas Tuchel became England manager, during which he was no longer getting picked for the national team. That is no longer the case after Rashford rejuvenated his career at Barcelona under Hansi Flick.
However, Rashford was the seventh most used player during Gareth Southgate’s time as England manager, making 57 appearances.
Rashford is currently in contention to earn a spot in Tuchel’s England squad for next summer’s World Cup, which marks an improvement from when he last played for United.
Gareth Southgate addressed Marcus Rashford’s penalty issue
Rashford was subjected to horrible abuse after missing his penalty in the Euro 2020 final before Italy were crowned European champions.
Speaking on The High Performance Podcast, Southgate has explained how he changed Rashford’s training after he missed his penalty against the Italians.
Interestingly, Rashford was praised for his training standards after the recent international break, so that also suggests that he has come on leaps and bounds.
Southgate noticed that Rashford was trying too hard to perfect his penalty taking. He advised the player to take a calmer approach to his training instead of focusing on penalties against the same goalkeepers when he’d be facing other players in competitive matches.
“So I think one of the things in 2021, Marcus had almost practised too many times,” Southgate said.
“He was trying to be too perfect in practice because the goalkeepers had started to read where he’d go. So if you look at the penalty he takes in that final, he takes way longer than ever before.
“Now, normally people talk about rushed penalty kicks, not taking long enough over the penalty. He actually takes longer. Now he might feel differently about that, but my sense was, and I said to him months later, I think because he had been practising against goalkeepers in training too often, he was trying to be too perfect.
“So he’s looking for the right in that stanchion area and hits the post. So we did, okay, we’re going to take fewer penalties next time. There’s more pressure on each one.
“You can only have three, not eight, because actually they lose focus. And we’re going to take an extra goalkeeper, so that you’re not facing the same goalkeeper every time as well.”
What do you think is Marcus Rashford’s legacy at Man Utd?
Gareth Southgate left Marcus Rashford out of Euro 2024 squad
One of the biggest upsets in Rashford’s career came when he missed out on a place in England’s squad for the 2024 European Championship.
Rashford had represented England at four major tournaments before Euro 2024, but a difficult season at United led to his axe.
England went on to reach the final of the tournament before losing to Spain.
Rashford will be hoping to go all the way at the World Cup, granted he gets the call-up.
