Bellingham question answered as Rashford misses chance, Foden eases England’s Kane problem | OneFootball

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

The most blatant example of a tactical injury you are ever likely to see marked a turnaround in England’s penultimate World Cup qualifier against Serbia on Thursday night.

Thomas Tuchel has not been afraid to critique England’s supporters for not getting behind his team enough and the atmosphere was flat at Wembley for the first 20 minutes, though his players did not give the home crowd anything to shout about.

Tuchel’s England have spoiled supporters with the manner of their recent performances. However, the opening period against Serbia gave supporters flashbacks to the reign of Gareth Southgate, when their displays in nondescript games often lacked intensity and excitement.

There were more paper planes flown than notable moments for England until Pickford was instructed to go down ‘injured’ to force a break in play, during which Tuchel visibly demanded more from his players. Thankfully, he got the response he was after.

Almost instantly after the restart, England produced one of their best moves of the match as Rashford had a shot on target, while Bukayo Saka broke the deadlock a few minutes later.

From Serbia’s perspective, it was really poor, as they generally were all evening. They struggled to clear Declan Rice’s free-kick, with the ball eventually falling to Saka; the Arsenal winger then netted with an exquisite volley into the far corner.

As well as Tuchel’s rollocking, a change in set-up also boosted England; Kane moved deeper as Rashford and Saka were encouraged to cause bedlam with their forward runs.

This mainly came via Rashford as Serbia’s backpedalling defenders struggled to cope with his pace and strength, although he was really wasteful in the moments when he popped up in promising positions.

Rashford’s shots went straight at the goalkeeper as Tuchel, like the rest of us, was presumably left wanting more from the in-form Barcelona loanee, who did not fully make the most of his chance playing ahead of Anthony Gordon.

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

He remains one of the England players who can be considered guaranteed names on the teamsheet, if fit, for next summer’s World Cup. This also includes Saka and the ever-reliable Jordan Pickford, while Elliot Anderson is also looking like a certainty alongside new centre-midfield partner Declan Rice following their fifth consecutive start together.

Bellingham has also been a part of this exclusive group, but is he anymore? Of course he bloody is.

Tuchel used Bellingham to send a message to his squad last month, but he obviously returned to the fold after building match fitness and momentum at Real Madrid before carrying on where he left off for England. It’s almost as if there was no reason for all of that fuss last month…

Bellingham started on the bench against Serbia, but he was introduced in the final 25 minutes as part of a quadruple substitution as Tuchel also experimented with Phil Foden in a “nine and a half” role, which is a woke way to describe a false nine.

Eberechi Eze was another attacking player introduced during this spell, and these three players made a great impact in the closing stages, which ultimately led to England’s sensational second goal in the final couple of minutes.

Bellingham started the move with a pass from deep to Foden after collecting possession before the Man City star advanced and laid off a perfectly-weighted pass to Eze, who curled home into the top corner with a beautiful first-time strike.

Tuchel said before the game that Danny Welbeck is “very close” to a call-up, but his use of Foden and the possible positioning of Bellingham in the same role provides England with another striker option and reduce their need to resort to a lesser striker to fill the squad.

It was far from a perfect performance from England, but it was another really good night for Tuchel as he was given a clearer picture of his squad. This was especially in attack; Bellingham re-established himself, Foden provided a credible solution to the problem up front, Kane continued to excel, and there is immense quality off the bench to alter the game.