Maybe Thomas Tuchel is right: three into two doesn’t go. The England boss publicly declared that Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden couldn’t all play effectively in the same lineup, and Thursday’s 2-0 win over Serbia offered some justification of that view.
The final 25 minutes of this game were by some distance the most interesting. Tuchel seems wedded at present to a 4-2-3-1 system, so the formation remained unaltered. But when he made four substitutions with England leading 1-0 through Bukayo Saka’s first-half volley, England fans saw something different.
Kane was withdrawn along with Morgan Rogers, who was selected to start at No. 10. In their place went Foden as a false nine with Bellingham in behind. Eberechi Eze replaced Marcus Rashford on the left flank while midfielder Jordan Henderson was introduced for Declan Rice, allowing Elliot Anderson to push on and affect the game more in the final third.
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The end result was England’s best football of the night. With three minutes left, Bellingham fed Foden, whose lovely flick found Eze. The Arsenal winger’s effort rebounded off the crossbar, but three minutes later, the trio would not be denied. Bellingham drove forward and found Foden who in turn played a perfectly-weighted pass in front of Eze. This time, his first-time effort curled unerringly into the top corner.
Serbia were tiring and chasing a goal that could have kept their qualification hopes alive. Nevertheless, the combination was exciting glimpse of a different dynamic.
Interestingly, Tuchel chose to name-check two players not in the squad — including Brighton’s Danny Welbeck, 34, last capped in September 2018 — when it was put to him Foden could be the “Plan B” to Kane. “It is absolutely an opportunity if Phil stays in this shape and in this form, I have no problem,” he said. “I have some other options in mind that I don’t want to discuss in public. Don’t forget we have [Aston Villa’s] Ollie Watkins, we have Welbeck, maybe more No. 9s. Also very different from Harry.
“So I think we will have options and it will maybe come down to who’s in shape, what do we have already in the squad and how do we want to share the minutes, against which opponent do we play, what do we expect from the match? But it was very good today.”
Tuchel’s prematch assertion that Foden should not be shoehorned into the team as a winger — something his predecessor, Gareth Southgate, did at Euro 2024 — inevitably intensified the scrutiny around the combination he would go with.
For his part, Foden admitted back in January that “the position I was put in on the left was very difficult to influence the game” during the tournament. His use as a false nine for England is a potentially innovative development, something Southgate never pursued. But at club level, Foden has played there for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola before, and on occasion after, striker Erling Haaland’s arrival.
Tuchel, who managed Chelsea for 18 months across 2021 and 2022, had not forgotten. “I had the idea several months ago because I played against Phil in these kind of positions — I had the feeling in the Premier League some years ago, it was really, really tough with his little movements, counter-movements, little runs,” explained Tuchel. “City were so dominant. He had the positions in the pockets, the half-turns. He was shooting, he played a one-two then he did a little run off the ball and assisted. You couldn’t catch him.
“When we made the long list of 50 to 60 players, of course he has outstanding quality and I was hoping to nominate him for the first camp and he had a difficult spell at City. Then he came back. … I wanted to see him close to the opponent’s box, in the middle of the traffic surrounded by a lot of players. I think he did excellent. In matches where we need to unlock a deep opponent, he can always be a choice.”
Kane’s status in this team is unsurpassed. As the country’s record goal scorer, in peak form at Bayern Munich and the principal driver of standards off the field for England, there is no doubt he will start at next summer’s World Cup, barring injury. The role of Kane’s understudy has never been secured by anyone for very long. Rashford and Watkins have been used in that capacity although, in fairness, it is to some extent a joyless task given Kane’s quality and durability. Chances are limited.
But if England are to thrive in the U.S., Canada and Mexico next summer, a deep squad might be required. With Rogers and Kane seemingly first-choice for the moment and Bellingham and Foden supplementing them, there is an intriguing range of options. And that is before Cole Palmer returns for Chelsea.
Out wide, Rashford threatened but faltered in the final third. Eze was a more potent threat. On the opposite flank, Saka produced the game’s outstanding moment of quality until England’s late rally. The collective result was 12 different England players creating a chance against Serbia, the highest number in a single match since records began in 2013. England now travel to Albania with a perfect seven wins in qualifying, 20 goals and none conceded.
Tuchel’s management of this squad continues to be based on merit rather than reputation. The easy call would have been to restore Bellingham to the starting lineup after the furor around his omission from the squad last month, but Rogers has excelled in this qualification campaign to date.
“Morgan deserved to stay on the pitch because he had three fantastic performances with him, and second of all, we didn’t know what was coming if our plan was right with the high press, added Tuchel.
“It would be unfair for Jude to try figure everything out because we changed our way of pressing in the last two camps. Declan [Rice], Morgan [Rogers] and Harry [Kane] did it already in three, four matches together. I figured they could adapt a bit quicker. Once we see the formation, we can give clear instructions to Phil and Jude and bring them from the bench.”
Time will tell, but it is a versatility that could serve England well.
