Marcus Rashford's brother appeared to aim a dig at Gareth Southgate for failing to pick the Man United star in his England squad for the ongoing Euro 2024 tournament.
Marcus Rashford's brother and agent, Dwaine Maynard, recently deleted an Instagram story where he appeared to criticize Gareth Southgate after England's draw with Denmark in their second Euro 2024 group match on Thursday.
The Three Lions initially took the lead but quickly saw Morten Hjulmand equalize with a long-range strike.
Despite Southgate introducing Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, and Eberechi Eze, England struggled to penetrate the Danish defence, resulting in a lackluster performance. Maynard suggested Rashford could have made a significant difference, writing on a black background:
"It's hard to sit and watch when you honestly believe your man could make a difference!" read the post, which was swiftly removed from his Instagram story.
14:00 - 04.07.2024
Can England break the 58-year curse at Euro 2024?
Maynard's frustration seems to stem from Rashford's omission from the Euro 2024 squad after a challenging season at Manchester United. Southgate opted for Bowen, Eze, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, and Cole Palmer as his wide options, but they have yet to make a substantial impact, with England's performances falling short of expectations.
Following the draw with Denmark and an unconvincing win over Serbia, Southgate acknowledged that the tournament had not started as he had hoped. However, he expressed confidence that his squad could regain their form.
“It was clearly not what we would have hoped,” Southgate said. “We are not using the ball well enough, and we have to accept if you do that, you are going to suffer at times like we have tonight.”
23:46 - 20.06.2024
‘Declan Rice is overrated’ — former teammate talks down Arsenal and England star
Despite starring for England and Ireland, one of Declan Rice's teammates believes the hype around the Three Lions' star is over the top
Southgate emphasized the need for England to reach a higher level of play. “We know there is another level that we have got to find,” he stated. “We have played teams that are quite fluid in back threes; it's not easy to get pressure on them, and we need to do that better than we have done in these two matches."
“Not keeping the ball has also been a big part of the problem,” Southgate added. “We wanted to get Conor [Gallagher] on; we needed some energy, we needed to press better, and Conor obviously does that very well."
Southgate acknowledged that while Gallagher had shown glimpses of his potential, the team was not yet performing as desired. “He’s had some moments where he has delivered what we hoped he would. We are trying some different things, and at the moment, we are not flowing as we would like. There is a huge amount of work to do,” he admitted.
Reflecting on the two performances, Southgate concluded, “That is evident from the two performances that we have given. We have to stay tight, we understand people will be disappointed with the performances, and rightly so. We have got to make them better.”