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With six wins out of six, an unbreached defense and a World Cup spot assured before the final rounds, England manager Thomas Tuchel can argue he has made the right selection choices.

Yet, in the lead-up to Thursday's Wembley encounter against Serbia, he raised questions when he claimed that three of the country's best players - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - are unable to feature in the equivalent formation.

"Currently, if we stick with the system, they cannot play.

"They can but not in the structure, not for the balance that we developed and not within the framework that incorporates wingers who are essentially experts in their positions. We play at the moment with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From guaranteed positions to competitive roles

Foden and Bellingham have been used in wide positions for England in the past, but his team selections imply that the Barcelona loanee and Bukayo Saka are his primary selections on the wing positions respectively.

The question remains whether Bellingham, Foden and Kane coexist in the lineup?

The previous England manager evidently thought it possible.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane were selected for each England's seven matches at Euro 2024 in Germany, where Southgate's side were defeated by Spain in the final.

In the 16 matches the stars have performed simultaneously, England have triumphed 10 times, shared points three times and lost three, netting 36 goals and allowing 14 goals.

Strategic view: Versatile Foden offers solutions

Tuchel has employed a four-two-three-one setup that changes shape when England attack.

The young midfielder has been the main number 10 because of his strong ball-carrying, strike quality and ability to attack the box when the striker drops deep.

Tuchel has spoken about preferring specialist wingers. The Arsenal and Newcastle stars play out wide weekly and can retain the ball skillfully, challenge defenders, and appear in scoring positions.

Behind this front four, Tuchel employs a double pivot consisting of one defensively strict player and one with more license to join the forward movement.

What solutions exist for the trio?

Foden and Bellingham would be competing with other creative midfielders for the attacking midfield position, with Kane likely to start up front.

Foden could feature as the number nine, which theoretically could enable both Bellingham and Foden to play at Kane's expense.

There is an alternative approach all three could coexist effectively and Tuchel alluded to it this week.

"For Man City, he plays almost like a box-to-box or creative role, so potentially in future we regard him as a central midfielder," he said.

Foden has been deployed in a versatile central position this season.

That has permitted him to contribute from midfield and could position him as the central midfielder, alongside a holding midfielder.

This would then allow Bellingham to play as the number 10 and Kane as the center forward.

Irrespective of whether Tuchel decides to set England up like this at the World Cup, what bodes well is his readiness to exclude star names in the name of balance.