Gareth Southgate said so. When the England manager announced his squad for the Wembley friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, he made it clear that Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish of the next generation of wide forwards–in particular Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer-were competing for their places at Euro. There was also an important name check for Jarrod Bowen.
When the dust settled on the international window, defined for Southgate by the chaos of injuries and the usual debate about who made her claims or hurt her, it was easy to return to these words. And to deal with another series of it, which did not seem encouraging, especially for Rashford.
It was two exhausting matches for Rashford, a player who, apparently, deals only with the wildest extremes. Southgate preferred Gordon on the left side in the 1-0 defeat to Brazil on Saturday and he liked the way the Newcastle player prevailed on his debut. Minute Rashford came in for him and since he was having problems, his commitments led to a macabre clock loaded with final bad deeds and turnovers.
Southgate threw Phil Foden on the left against Belgium, Bowen on the right, both of which were impressive. At the time of the substitutions, when England led 2-1, Rashford did not receive the call. Southgate introduced James Maddison as number 10, kidnapped the outstanding Kobbie Mainoo and dropped Jude Bellingham alongside Declan Rice in the 4-2-3-1. Then it was Gordon for Bowen, the first went to the left, Foden went to the right, but with permission to move further into it, and Ollie Watkins for Ivan Toney in front.
Maddison and Watkins played a crucial role in Bellingham’s final equaliser, and Southgate was keen to talk about the impact of all the actioning changes, as well as Bowen’s “excellent game”. Palmer was denied participation only because of doubts about his body condition.
So, where Rashford stood after that, Southgate was asked. Was the Manchester United player vulnerable? “Well, I wanted to see Gordon,” Southgate replied. “Marcus went up in the first game. But I wanted to see Gordon [against Belgium] again. I thought Maddison was going to make a difference and Bowen had a pretty good camp as well. So there is competition for places. When I named the team, I said that there is competition for places in these vast territories.
“It’s a bit of a pity that Palmer missed so many trainings that we couldn’t get him into the game, in the stadium he was in, after not found most of the week. We weren’t 100% sure what we would get. While we knew it with Gordon and with Maddison we knew it. I wouldn’t want to exclude Palmer from this equation either.”
Sometimes it can be just as much about what a manager does not say when he is confronted with a direct question. In this matter, Southgate barely dealt with Rashford’s situation. There was certainly a contrast when he was informed that Grealish, who had missed the team due to health issue, had moved away from the table.
“He’s definitely not out of the picture,” Southgate said. “I spoke to him before I named the team. He was back in training, but I did not think that he would be on a body level for these games to be able to participate in competitions. But as I said, when I called this team, Gordon and Bowen are pushing these guys. And Palmer.”