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Having secured six victories out of six, an unbreached defense and tournament placement secured with two group games to spare, England manager Thomas Tuchel could suggest he has got all of his big qualifying decisions correct.

Nevertheless, in the preparation for Thursday's Wembley encounter against Serbia, he initiated discussion when he claimed that three of the England's elite footballers - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - are unable to feature in the equivalent formation.

"Currently, if we keep the structure, they cannot play.

"They can but not in the structure, not preserving harmony that we developed and not in this formation that incorporates wingers who are essentially experts in their positions. We currently utilize with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From automatic picks to contested places

The Manchester City and Real Madrid stars have been utilized out wide for England in the past, but Tuchel's selections indicate that the Manchester United forward and Bukayo Saka are his preferred options on the wide areas respectively.

The question remains whether Bellingham, Foden and Kane play together?

Former Three Lions boss apparently believed they could.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane started all of England's seven games at last summer's tournament in Germany, where Southgate's side were defeated by Spain in the final.

In the 16 games the stars have performed together, England have secured 10 victories, drawn three and been defeated three times, netting 36 goals and letting in 14 strikes.

Analysis: Foden's versatility gives Tuchel options

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

The Aston Villa player has been the main number 10 because of his strong ball-carrying, shooting ability and capacity to penetrate the area when the forward retreats.

Tuchel has discussed favoring specialist wingers. Saka and Gordon play out wide weekly and can maintain possession effectively, engage in one-on-one situations, and enter the area to finish.

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

What solutions exist for the trio?

Foden and Bellingham would be battling with Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze for the creative hub, with Kane likely to start up front.

Foden could operate as the central striker, which theoretically could enable both Bellingham and Foden to operate without the captain.

There is an alternative approach all three could play in this system and Tuchel hinted at it this week.

"For Man City, he operates similarly to a central or attacking midfielder, so potentially in future we view him as a number eight," he said.

Foden has been used in a more all-purpose midfield role this season.

That has enabled him to operate from deeper areas and could make him an option as the number eight, alongside a holding midfielder.

This would then enable Bellingham to operate as the number 10 and Kane as the nine.

Regardless of if Tuchel decides to set England up like this at the World Cup, what bodes well is his readiness to exclude star names in the pursuit of tactical equilibrium.