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With six wins in six games, an unbreached defense and tournament placement assured before the final rounds, England manager Thomas Tuchel might claim he has got all of his big qualifying decisions correct.

Nevertheless, in the lead-up to Thursday's Wembley encounter against Serbia, he raised questions when he claimed that three of the England's elite footballers - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - cannot play in the same team.

"Currently, if we stick with the system, they won't fit together.

"They might but not within this system, not preserving harmony that we developed and not for the structure that comes also with wingers who are highly specialized 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 the manager's choices suggest that Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka are his primary selections 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 the European Championship in Germany, where the England team lost to Spain in the final.

In the 16 games the stars have performed together, England have triumphed 10 times, shared points three times and been defeated three times, scoring 36 times and allowing 14 goals.

Tactical insight: Foden's flexibility provides alternatives

Tuchel has employed a four-two-three-one setup that transforms formation when England attack.

Morgan Rogers has been the primary attacking midfielder because of his impressive ball progression, strike quality and capacity to penetrate the area when the forward retreats.

Tuchel has discussed favoring specialist wingers. Saka and Gordon regularly feature on the wings and can maintain possession effectively, take their full-back on, and appear in scoring positions.

In midfield behind the attackers, Tuchel plays with a midfield two consisting of a disciplined defensive presence and another with greater freedom to contribute to the attack.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be competing with attacking alternatives for the attacking midfield position, with Kane probably featuring up front.

Foden could play as the number nine, which potentially could permit both Bellingham and Foden to feature instead of Kane.

There is one way all three could coexist effectively and Tuchel hinted at it this week.

"For Man City, he functions as a number eight or 10, so perhaps in coming months we view him as a number eight," he said.

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

That has allowed him to take responsibility deeper and could position him as the number eight, alongside a holding midfielder.

This would then allow Bellingham to play as the attacking midfielder and Kane as the striker.

Irrespective of whether Tuchel opts to structure the side like this at the World Cup, what bodes well is his readiness to exclude star names in the name of balance.