Perhaps Thomas Tuchel is right: three does not equal two. England The boss announced it publicly harry kane, Jude Bellingham And Phil Foden All the same lineup and couldn’t play effectively on Thursday 2-0 victory over serbia Offered some justification for that viewpoint.
The last 25 minutes of this game were somewhat the most interesting. Tuchel currently seems to be sticking to a 4-2-3-1 system, so the formation remained unchanged. But when he made four substitutions and England went 1-0 ahead bukayo sakaEngland fans got to see something different in the first half volley.
Kane was also taken back with morgan rogersWho was selected to start at number 10. In his place Foden came in as the false nine with Bellingham at the rear. Eberechi Eze Replaced marcus rashford Left back midfielder Jordan Henderson was introduced for Declan Riceallow elliot anderson To influence 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 remaining, Bellingham fed Foden, whose lovely flick found Eze. armory The winger’s effort rebounded off the crossbar, but three minutes later, the trio were not denied. Bellingham passed forward and found Foden, who in turn played a perfectly weighted pass past Eze. This time, his first-time effort went into the top corner without any error.
Serbia were tired and chasing a goal that could keep their qualification hopes alive. Still, the combination was an exciting glimpse of a different dynamic.
Interestingly, Tuchel decided to name-check two players who were not in the squad – including Brighton danny welbeckThe 34-year-old was last capped in September 2018 – when he was told Foden could be a “Plan B” for Kane. He said: “It’s absolutely an opportunity, if Phil stays in this shape and in this form then I have no problem.” “I have some other options in mind that I don’t want to discuss publicly. Don’t forget that we have [Aston Villa‘s] ollie watkinsWe have Welbeck, probably more of a number 9. Very different even from Harry.
“So I think we will have options and it will probably depend on who is in good position, what we already have in our team and how we want to share the minutes, which opponent we play against, what do we expect from the match? But today it was very good.”
Tuchel’s pre-match claim that Foden should not be included in the squad as a winger – something his predecessor Gareth Southgate did at Euro 2024 – has inevitably intensified scrutiny about the combination he will go with.
For his part, Foden admitted in January that “it was very difficult to influence the game with the position I was put in at left back” during the tournament. His use as a false nine for England is a potentially innovative development which Southgate never adopted. But at club level, Foden has played for Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola before and on some occasions even after the striker erling hollandArrival of.
Tuchel, who managed chelsea For 18 months of 2021 and 2022, were not forgotten. “I came up with this idea several months ago because I played against Phil in a situation like this – I felt like Premier League A few years ago, it was really very difficult because of his little movements, counter-moves, little runs,” Tuchel explained. “City was very impressive. He had verses in his pockets, half folded. He was shooting, he played a one-two and then he ran a little away from the ball and assisted. You couldn’t catch him.
“When we made the longlist of 50 to 60 players, of course he has excellent quality and I was hoping to nominate him for the first camp and he had a difficult period at City. Then he came back. … I wanted to see him close to the opponent’s box, in the middle of traffic, surrounded by many players. I think he performed excellently. In matches where we need to unlock a deep opponent, he can always be an option.”
Kane’s status in this team is unmatched. As the country’s record goal scorer, in peak form Bayern Munich And a key driver of off-field standards for England, there is no doubt that barring injury, he will start at next summer’s World Cup. The role of Ken’s student has not been secured by anyone for a very long time. Rashford and Watkins have been used in that capacity, although, in fairness, it is a somewhat joyless task given Kane’s quality and durability. Possibilities are limited.
But if England are to thrive in the US, Canada and Mexico next summer, a deeper squad may be needed. Rodgers and Kane appear to be first choice at the moment and with Bellingham and Foden complementing them, there is an interesting range of options. and that was before cole palmer Return to Chelsea.
Wide out, Rashford threatened but faltered in the final third. Eze was a more potent threat. On the opposite flank, Saka produced an excellent moment of quality play leading up to England’s final rally. The collective result was that 12 different England players created chances against Serbia, the highest number in a single match since records began in 2013. England travels now albania With seven wins in qualifying, 20 goals and not one conceded.
Tuchel’s management of this squad is based on merit rather than prestige. It would have been an easy decision to reinstate Bellingham to the starting lineup after the uproar surrounding his exclusion from the team last month, but Rodgers has excelled so far this qualification campaign.
“Morgan deserved to stay on the pitch because he had three great performances with them and secondly if our plan was right with the high press, we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Tuchel said.
“It would be unfair for Jude to try to figure out everything as we have changed the way we apply pressure over the last two camps. Declan [Rice]morgan [Rogers] and harry [Kane] Have already done this in three, four matches together. I thought they could adapt a little quicker. “Once we see the formation, we can give clear instructions to Phil and Jude and bring them on from the bench.”
Time will tell, but this is a versatility that could serve England well.
