Gareth Southgate says England have a "completely different version" of Marcus Rashford at the World Cup compared to last summer's European Championship after the forward scored twice in the 3-0 win over Wales.
Rashford's brace and a goal from Phil Foden ensured England won Group B comfortably and set up a last-16 tie against Senegal on Sunday.
It was the Manchester United forward's first England start since before Euro 2020, which ended in disappointment for England and Rashford when he was one of the players to miss a penalty in the shootout defeat to Italy in the Final.
But the 25-year-old has already found the net three times in Qatar, to sit joint-top of the Golden Boot standings, and Southgate is delighted with his progress.
“It’s been a challenge for him. I went and saw him in the summer, I had a long chat with him," the England manager said. "He had some clear ideas on things he felt he needed to do. You can see with his club he’s been happy in his performances this year. I have to say that’s shown itself on the training ground with us.
“We have a different version completely to the player we had at the Euros. He’s managed to produce those moments tonight, he could have had a hat-trick. It’s great for him, it’s great for us."
Southgate now has a selection headache for Sunday's game at Al Bayt Stadium, with Rashford and Foden likely to be hard to drop for England's first-ever meeting with Senegal but Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka having started the opening two games.
“You need goals from all areas," he said. "It’s a problem for opposition teams if there’s a threat coming from other areas of the pitch. We have talked about that a lot.
“Across the three games pretty much all of our forward line have got off the mark, if not with goals, then important assists. That’s a good place for the forwards to be. It’s competition for places which we need and people have to deliver.
“I thought our forwards were good, our midfield was excellent, they controlled the game, they won so many second balls and pressed really well, which made the opportunities for the forwards.”
“I thought we had complete control of the game in the first half but we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances," Southgate added. "We were a bit out of balance with our midfield attacking.
“In the end, players make those decisions work (swapping them over) and watching lots of games in this tournament, the big players have stepped up and created big moments.
“Tonight, our forward line didn’t do enough of that in the first half but in the second half they really did."
