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#2 The safe option – Marcus Rashford
Since the end of the 2018 World Cup and the switch to a 4-3-3 system, England have played just one competitive match without Harry Kane in the starting line-up; the UEFA Nations League semi-final loss to the Netherlands last June. In that game, rather than use an outright replacement for the Spurs man – Callum Wilson of Bournemouth, who was in the squad at the time – Southgate shifted Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford into a central spot, with Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho playing alongside him in the wide berths.
Of all of Southgate’s options, this would probably be considered the “safe” one. Not only did Rashford score in that game against the Netherlands – albeit from the penalty spot – but he’s got plenty of experience with England, having 38 caps and 10 goals to his name. Moving Rashford inside would also allow Southgate to play both the United man and Sancho, who has been in great form for Borussia Dortmund this season.
However, there’s a drawback; despite the protestations of some pundits, all of the evidence appears to point to a simple fact: Rashford is not as effective in a central position as he is when he plays as a wide forward. The 22-year old prefers to play off the shoulder of the opposition’s defence rather than with his back to goal like Kane, and the statistics appear to support this, too.
Rashford has 14 Premier League goals in 22 appearances for United this season, but while he’s scored 4 in his 9 appearances as a central striker, he’s managed 12 in 16 games as a left-sided wide forward. And in international action, he was clearly more comfortable playing out wide in his recent matches against Montenegro and Bulgaria than he was against the Netherlands last summer.
Moving Rashford into a central position would solve the issue of whether to start with him or Sancho, but it’d also make England’s system far less threatening to their opponents, and thus Southgate should probably avoid the temptation to play it safe.
