In the 2 matches at the FIFA Days in March, the England team had many new milestones related to individuals. Myles Lewis-Skelly was the youngest player to score in his "Three Lions" debut. In addition, key striker Harry Kane scored his 70th and 71st goals for the national team.
However, after the victories over Albania and Latvia, Thomas Tuchel has somewhat shown dissatisfaction with the performances of Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden.
After the 2-0 win over Albania, the German strategist pointed out some limitations of this pair. In 2024, Rashford was not called up to the national team for the EURO campaign while Foden did not play outstandingly. They are all great talents, so Tuchel needs to know how to exploit them to take advantage.
Tuchel said Rashford and Foden lacked ideas when attacking as wingers. Not only that, their ability to dribble the ball is also not highly appreciated by the 51-year-old coach.
Looking back at the reality on the field, Tuchel has arranged Foden and Rashford's positions quite far from the goal. If we look back at Foden's performance at Man City, the closer he got to the penalty area, the more he took advantage.
Foden is a player with very good personal skills, but his way of walking and dribbling is more suitable for sticking close to the penalty area. Foden's dribbling style is to dribble in a narrow distance, not to push a few more beats and accelerate from a distance. Foden is very good at passing in tight spaces and finishing, but is not good at moving the ball on the right wing before entering the penalty area.
In England, the "number 10" holding the position is Jude Bellingham, so there is no place for Foden like what he has under Pep Guardiola.
There was a time when England's "number 10" position was a dispute between Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. In the end, both the previous Southgate and the current Tuchel chose Bellingham.
Foden is considered a top young talent in English football. At the age of 24, he has won all titles for Man City, in addition to 44 caps for England and 2 EURO finals. Foden is also a versatile player, able to play in many positions but is only suitable when controlled under Pep Guardiola.
For Thomas Tuchel, he clearly recognizes Foden's talent, so if he loses this star, it will be a huge loss for the "Three Lions". Southgate has failed to clear Foden's position, so one of Tuchel's tasks is to do that.
After the victories over Albania and Latvia in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, England will be out for nearly 3 months until the matches against Andorra (7.6) and Senegal (11.6). That is the time right before the FIFA Club World Cup and fans are waiting to see if Tuchel can solve this problem.
