The Manchester United star was an unused substitute on Tuesday night (Picture: Getty)
Gareth Southgate has allayed any injury fears over Marcus Rashford after he was left on the bench in England’s 2-2 draw with Belgium on Tuesday evening.
The Three Lions played out an entertaining contest at Wembley and looked to be heading towards a second consecutive defeat until Jude Bellingham struck in the 95th minute.
With England having been in need of a late equaliser, Southgate brought on Ollie Watkins, Anthony Gordon and James Maddison – with the latter providing the assist for Bellingham’s last-gasp leveller.
Manchester United star Rashford, though, was left on the bench having only been handed a 15-minute cameo against Brazil at the weekend.
There have been suggestions that the 26-year-old has been managing a knock since the end of last month, though Southgate says Rashford was fit but he simply wanted to give Gordon another run out on the left wing after his encouraging display against Brazil.
Asked about the decision not to play Rashford and whether it was injury related, Southgate replied: ‘No, I wanted to see Anthony Gordon again.
‘I thought he had an excellent impact in the first game and I thought that [James] Maddison coming into that area could open things up for us a bit.’
Rashford only played 15 minutes across England’s two friendlies (Picture: Getty)
While Rashford could not get a game, United team-mate Kobbie Mainoo was handed his first-ever England start and caught the eye, though Southgate has suggested the midfield dynamic might have been a little too open.
Asked about the 18-year-old and how the new-look midfield three worked, Southgate continued: ‘His attributes are there for everybody to see. That ability to receive under pressure and ride challenges, to manipulate the ball in tight areas.
‘We were a little bit more open, there’s no doubt about that. We wanted to press aggressively and there were times where we turned the ball over on the edge of their penalty box and we actually had chances we should have taken.
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‘The flipside of that was that we had a little bit of a problem with [Orel] Mangala pulling wide and [Youri] Tielemans in the area that meant that when our centre-backs went in there we were leaving our centre-backs one-against-one and we struggled with that a little bit.
‘So there are things to think about within that.
‘He gives us a different profile of midfield player to anything else we’ve got and we’re really pleased with what he’s done.
‘He’s adapted and adjusted brilliantly, you can’t believe his age really that he’s just taking it all in his stride in the way he has.’
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