Marcus Rashford: 'England setup better now than under Roy Hodgson'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 02 October 2017

Marcus Rashford insists that the England team are in a better state off the pitch under Gareth Southgate than they were in Roy Hodgson's regime.

Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has claimed that the England camp is in a much better place under manager Gareth Southgate than it was when Roy Hodgson was in charge.

Over the past 19 months, the teenage attacker has become a regular among the United first team, as well as a fully-fledged international.

Rashford was thrown into the pack for a disappointing Euro 2016 campaign, which ended at the last-16 stage, but the 19-year-old feels more at home now that Southgate has taken the reins.

"I think since [the Euros], as a group we've got a new manager, new staff. The players are gelling in a whole different way compared to what we were then," talkSPORT quotes Rashford as saying. "I think the setup and the aim and vision of where we want to go is much better now than what it was.

"Not necessarily on the pitch but off the pitch - around the hotel, everyone feels comfortable and relaxed to be themselves. That's something that I would say is different to last time. Everyone is being themselves and we're starting to understand each other more.

"At internationals, you don't get much time together to understand each other's personalities and what they like to do outside. The more we understand each other, the better the results will be on the pitch. That was from the manager himself, that was one of the things he wanted to install. As players we've bought into it, and hopefully we can get the results."

England will face Slovenia and Lithuania in their final World Cup qualifiers over the next week.