Marcus Rashford determined to thrive under pressure and step up for England and Man Utd - 7M sport

Marcus Rashford determined to thrive under pressure and step up for England and Man Utd



Posted Saturday, September 07, 2019 by Express.co.uk

Marcus Rashford determined to thrive under pressure and step up for England and Man Utd
Marcus Rashford determined to thrive under pressure and step up for England and Man Utd (Image: GETTY)

England star Marcus Rashford has felt the weight of expectation since he was a kid at Manchester United.

The pressure is on Marcus Rashford this season – but the Manchester United star insists that is no different from when he was a seven-year-old.

With Romelu Lukaku gone at Old Trafford, the spotlight is very much on the 21-year-old to get the goals to get United moving back in the right direction.

This week is no respite, though. Gareth Southgate confirmed Rashford would be a starter against Bulgaria at Wembley and the striker is expected to weigh in with his share of the goals to take some of the burden off Harry Kane.

That said, handling all these expectations is child’s play, according to Marcus Rashford.

“I think without the pressure in football it wouldn’t be the same, the atmosphere wouldn’t be the same,” he said.

“The pressure is the thing that draws people to the game, and you’re unsure what’s going to happen. That’s what makes the sport beautiful.

“No-one can ever add to the pressure that you already put on yourself. Especially at Manchester United, you have this pressure on your shoulders that you’ve learned to deal with since you were seven, eight, nine years old.”

Success, Rashford has come to realise, is measured strictly in goals. He has scored four goals in his last six starts taking his tally to seven overall.

That may pale into insignificance compared to Kane’s 22 but, by the same age, the Tottenham man had netted only one.

Certainly Rashford makes no qualms about using the England captain as the benchmark.

“It haunts you when you don’t score,” he said. “For me, it’s a big one. When you play well and your team wins, of course you’re very happy, but when you go home, you’re automatically looking back at the game and thinking, ‘Where could you have got your goals?’

“For forwards now, it’s completely changed - they’re all sort of set and focused on the end product. Everybody wants to score as many goals as they can because ultimately they’re the things that help the team.

“So, we use each other’s strengths to make each other better and if you watch training, then you’d see how it all works.

“I could use Harry Kane as an example, he’s one of the best finishers that I’ve played with.

“Whenever we do finishing, in my head, it’s about being as close to him as possible. So if he scores six, you want to score six, if he scores seven, you want to score eight.

“Little things like that are the bits that people never see.”

Raheem Sterling, who already has four goals this season in the Premier League, completes a potent trio of attack-minded players, but despite his infamous tussle at United with Paul Pogba over penalty-taking duties, there will be none of that at Wembley.

“Obviously here it’s a bit more simple because Harry’s record is unbelievable and that’s a way for him to get his goals,” Rashford said hospitably.

“The players, the squad, the staff all support that. So yes, it’s a bit more of a simple topic here.”

Probable England team vs Bulgaria: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Maguire, Gomez, Chilwell; Rice, Henderson, Barkley; Sterling, Kane, Rashford.



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