England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted Marcus Rashford has struggled to live up to expectations in a Three Lions shirt.
Recalled to the England setup when Tuchel arrived earlier this year, Rashford has started all three games for which he has been available—injury forced him to miss out in June—but is still waiting for his first goal of the Tuchel era.
Saturday’s 2–0 win over Andorra was hardly England’s strongest showing, but fans still voiced concerns about the performance of Rashford, who also finds himself fighting to win over Barcelona manager Hansi Flick following his summer loan from Manchester United.
While Tuchel praised Rashford’s attitude and behaviour behind the scenes, he confessed the winger’s on-pitch results need to improve.
“For me, he’s clearly a left winger,” Tuchel began. “That’s where we played him today. He had the freedom to go a bit more inside to play not only against the fifth defender in the back five, but to play maybe more inside against the third.
“I think the right side was a bit more active and found the positions a bit better. So I think he suffered from that today. He had an excellent training week, and it was obvious that we want him to start because he trained so well on the left side.
“I can see that he tries. This is, for me, the most important, that he stays positive and he trains at the moment with the right attitude with a smile.
“He struggles a bit with numbers and with ‘wow’ performance in an England shirt.”
Rashford will hope for another chance to impress against Serbia on Tuesday and he seeks to build momentum ahead of his return to Barcelona, where he has been restricted to just one start so far this season.
The 27-year-old’s versatility was hailed as a big reason behind Barcelona’s interest in signing him. Rashford’s first outing came as striker cover but he has fallen behind Ferran Torres in the pecking order and has since returned to the left wing position in which Tuchel believes he is strongest.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Struggles a Bit’—Thomas Tuchel Makes Damning Marcus Rashford Admission After Andorra Win.