Only a month has passed since England last met for World Cup qualifying, and yet Thomas Tuchel could be forgiven for looking back fondly on a simpler time.
For all the debate surrounding Tuchel’s decision to retain faith in the players involved in his September squad, an approach that meant leaving out Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden, the policy wasn’t exactly difficult to justify.
When the German made his selection for the September games against Andorra and Serbia, Bellingham was still working on his recovery after undergoing shoulder surgery last summer. Foden, meanwhile, was struggling with an ankle injury and had just 15 minutes of club football to his name. Neither man was ready to play, and in their absence England recorded two victories – including a 5-0 victory in Belgrade, which marked the best performance of Tuchel’s tenure – which all but secured qualification for next summer’s finals.
When the German said he would stick with the same players next month, it was hard to argue – even if some questioned the wisdom of overlooking two of England’s most celebrated creative talents. Tuchel’s position was certainly refreshing. Here was a manager willing to ditch big names for the greater good. The contrast with the days when Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello tried to get Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the same midfield was stark.
However, with Bellingham and Foden both fit and in form, Tuchel faces a clear dilemma. England have a surplus of number 10s. Over the past two camps, Morgan Rogers has excelled in this role. Yet it is also the most natural position for Bellingham and Foden, and Tuchel is understandably wary of upsetting the balance of a team that has won all six of its qualifiers so far without conceding a goal. The German’s insistence that the pair cannot play alongside Harry Kane in his favored 4-2-3-1 system has created no shortage of headlines.
What did Thomas Tuchel say about Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry not being able to play together?
“If we keep the structure, they can’t play at the moment [together]” Tuchel said ahead of Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Serbia at Wembley. “They can, but not in the structure, not because of the balance we have developed and not [in] the structure that also belongs to wingers who are specialists in their positions.
“We currently play with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine. Especially in the number 10 position, if you think about Phil [Foden] who could play there, when you think of Jude? [Bellingham]Then you think of Morgan Rogers, who played fantastic for us in this position.
“You’ve got Cole Palmer, you’ve got Morgan Gibbs-White, so there’s a lot of players and there’s a chance we won’t take everyone. Not because we don’t like it, not because they don’t deserve it individually, but [because] we will always do what is best for the team, to win, for balance.
“We will try to maintain clarity, even if it means making difficult decisions. We make difficult decisions in any camp, and this will not change when we go to a tournament.”
Phil Foden and the battle for the England number 10 shirt
The crux of the issue is where to play Foden. As things stand, England’s number 10 belongs to Rogers, from whom Bellingham, one of the world’s best in that role, will try to win back the shirt. Foden, back in the reckoning but far from out of the woods, is at best the third man.
But if the race for a starting place behind Kane is, for now at least, mainly between Rogers and Bellingham (and despite Tuchel’s well-documented concerns about the latter’s attitude, it’s still hard to imagine the Real Madrid man being left behind), where does that leave Foden?
His versatility is such that he can play almost anywhere in midfield or in attack. If that’s the case, it’s obvious The solution would be to shunt Foden to the flanks. However, Tuchel is convinced the City man should play through the middle.
“I don’t see him as a winger at the moment and maybe not anymore,” he said last week. “He should have a central role. I think that best brings out his strengths. We have already spoken to him about this.”
“He will contribute as a nine-and-a-half, ten-and-a-half type position, very fluid. But in the middle of the pitch, to be close to the penalty area and be able to assist and score.”
If that raises the intriguing possibility that Foden could replace Kane as a false nine, it also means Tuchel means business when he suggests Kane, Bellingham and Foden cannot work together.
England’s progress to the Euro 2024 final, where the trio started all seven matches, might suggest otherwise. But while Kane, who would score goals in almost any circumstance, delivered largely consistent performances throughout the tournament, neither Bellingham nor Foden reached the heights of which they are capable.
This was most evident in the final against Spain, where Gareth Southgate shifted Bellingham wide to meet Foden through the middle and was rewarded with peripheral performances from both, leaving Kane isolated. In short, Tuchel probably has a point.
Where else could Phil Foden play for England if he wasn’t at number 10?
With that in mind, it was intriguing that Tuchel also hinted at the possibility of Foden being housed centrally in a number 8 role.
Still, it’s hard to see how that could be anything other than detrimental to the team’s balance sheet, which the German says remains of paramount importance. If Foden were to move into central midfield, Elliot Anderson, who has performed admirably in the No. 6 role, would find himself on the bench, while Declan Rice – who cannot be dropped – would take on the defensive responsibilities of his midfield partner.
At a time when Rice has been liberated for both club and country by the presence of a defensively disciplined midfield partner alongside him – for Elliot with England, read Martín Zubimendi with Arsenal – that seems a step backwards both literally and creatively. The midfielder has already scored three goals and five assists this season. It would seem like a step backwards to stifle his growing influence in advanced positions by redeploying him as No. 6.
This is of course why Tuchel makes the big money. Dealing with such problems is part of life as an international manager. How he chooses to use Foden – a mystery that will deepen if Palmer returns from injury and if Gibbs-White plays his way back into contention – could nevertheless have a defining influence on Tuchel’s tenure in England.
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