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Having secured six victories from six matches, an unbreached defense and a World Cup spot assured before the final rounds, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel can argue he has made the right selection choices.

Nevertheless, in the preparation for Thursday's domestic match 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.

"At the moment, if we stick with the system, they are unable to feature.

"They can but not in the structure, not for the balance that we developed and not in this formation that incorporates wingers who are essentially experts in their positions. We play at the moment with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From certain starters to fighting for spots

The Manchester City and Real Madrid stars have been utilized out wide for England in the past, but the manager's choices suggest that the Barcelona loanee and Arsenal's winger are his primary selections on the wing positions respectively.

But can Bellingham, Foden and Kane coexist in the lineup?

The previous England manager evidently thought it possible.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane started all of England's seven fixtures at last summer's tournament in Germany, where Southgate's side lost to Spain in the final.

In the 16 matches the three have featured alongside each other, England have triumphed 10 times, tied three matches and lost three, scoring 36 times and allowing 14 goals.

Strategic view: Versatile Foden offers solutions

Tuchel has utilized a 4-2-3-1 formation that changes shape when England attack.

The Aston Villa player has been the primary attacking midfielder because of his excellent dribbling, ball-striking and skill in entering the penalty area when the striker drops deep.

Tuchel has spoken about preferring specialist wingers. The Arsenal and Newcastle stars play out wide weekly and can retain the ball skillfully, take their full-back on, and appear in scoring positions.

Supporting the attacking quartet, Tuchel employs a double pivot consisting of a holding midfielder and another with greater freedom to join the forward movement.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be vying against Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze for the attacking midfield position, with Kane probably featuring up front.

Foden could operate as the main forward, which potentially could permit both Bellingham and Foden to feature instead of Kane.

There is one way all three could play in this system and Tuchel alluded to it this week.

"At Manchester City, he operates similarly to a number eight or 10, so maybe during the next months we consider him as a number eight," he said.

Foden has been utilized as a flexible midfielder this season.

That has enabled him to operate from deeper areas and could position him as the central midfielder, next to a more defensive number six.

This would then enable Bellingham to operate as the attacking midfielder and Kane as the nine.

No matter whether Tuchel opts to structure the side like this at the international competition, what bodes well is his willingness to leave big players out in the pursuit of tactical equilibrium.