Bellingham, England question answered as Rashford fails, Foden offers solution to Tuchel’s Kane problem

Will Jude Bellingham start for England at the World Cup? Of course he will. But Marcus Rashford may not join Thomas Tuchel in his first XI…

The most obvious example of a tactical injury is likely to be a substitute in England’s World Cup qualifier on Thursday night.

Thomas Tuchel England supporters are not afraid to criticize their team for not going back far enough and the atmosphere was flat at Wembley for the first 20 minutes, although his players gave the home crowd nothing to shout about.

Tuchel England The fans have been spoiled by the style of their recent performances. However, the opening period against Serbia gave supporters flashbacks to the Garrett Southgate era, when their displays in nondescript games often lacked intensity and excitement.

More paper planes flew than remarkable moments for England until Pickford was instructed to force an ‘injury’ break in the game, while Tuchel demanded more from his players. Thankfully, he got the answer he was after.

Immediately after restarting. Later, England produced one of their best moves of the match as Rashford fired on target, while Bokio Saka broke the deadlock minutes later.

From the Serbian point of view, it was really poor, as they usually were all evening. He struggled to clear Declan Rice’s free-kick, eventually falling to Ska. The Arsenal winger then curled a fine volley into a corner.

Along with Tuchel’s rollicking, the change in set-up also gave England a boost. Kane moved deep as Rashford and Saka were encouraged to cause bedlam with their forward runs.

This mainly came through Rashford as Serbia’s back-padding defenders struggled to cope with his pace and power, although he was truly useless in the moments when he popped into promising positions.

Rashford’s shots went straight at the goalkeeper as the rest of us, Tuchel, perhaps leaving the in-form Barcelona loanee wanting more, didn’t get much of a chance to play ahead of Anthony Gordon.

Read: Tuchel gives ‘brutal ultimatum’ to Arsenal star as ‘next Bokiyo Saka’ sparks transfer frenzy

But as for Kane, he further proved why Tuchel and all England supporters will be praying he doesn’t pick up an injury ahead of the World Cup. He is a level above England’s other natural strikers as he somehow manages to be an elite goalscorer who is also a selfless team player.

He is one of the few England players who could be considered guaranteed names on the team sheet for next summer’s World Cup. That includes Saka and the ever-reliable Jordan Pickford, while Elliott Anderson also looks like a certainty alongside new center midfield partner Declan Rice after five starts together.

Bellingham has also been part of that exclusive group, but is he now? Of course he is bloody.

Tuchel used Bellingham to send a message to his team last month, but he is clearly back in the fold after building match fitness and pace at Real Madrid before leaving for England. It’s almost as if there was no reason for all the fuss last month…

Bellingham started from the bench against Serbia, but was introduced in the final 25 minutes as part of a four-man substitute as Tuchel also experimented with Phil Foden in a “nine-and-a-half” role, a wry way of describing a false nine.

Aberchie Eze was another attacking player introduced during this spell, and all three made a huge impact in the closing stages, eventually leading to England’s sensational second goal in the final two minutes.

Bellingham started the move with a pass from deep to Foden before the Man City star delivered a perfectly weighted pass to Eze, who curled home into the top corner with a lovely first-time strike.

Tuchel said before the game that Danny Welbeck was “very close” to a call-upbut his use of Foden and the potential positioning of Bellingham in the same role gives England another striker option and reduces their need to rely on a lesser striker to fill out the squad.

It was far from a perfect England performance, but it was another good night for Tuchel as he was given a clear picture of his team. This was particularly the case in the attack. Bellingham re-established himself, Foden provided a reliable solution to the problem up front, Kane continued to excel, and there was immense quality off the bench to change the game.