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Having secured six victories out of six, zero goals allowed and World Cup qualification secured with two group games to spare, national team coach Thomas Tuchel might claim he has made the right selection choices.

Nevertheless, in the preparation for Thursday's Wembley encounter against Serbia, he raised questions when he said that three of the nation's top talents - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - cannot play in the equivalent formation.

"At the moment, if we maintain the formation, they cannot play.

"They might but not with current tactics, not for the balance that we created and not in this formation that also includes wingers who are essentially experts in their positions. We play at the moment with defensive, central, attacking midfielders and striker."

From automatic picks to contested places

Foden and Bellingham have been utilized out wide for England in the past, but his team selections indicate that the Manchester United forward and the Gunners' star are his primary selections on the wing positions respectively.

The question remains whether Bellingham, Foden and Kane coexist in the lineup?

Gareth Southgate evidently thought it possible.

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

In the 16 matches the stars have performed together, England have triumphed 10 times, drawn three and lost three, scoring 36 times and conceding 14.

Tactical insight: Foden's flexibility provides alternatives

Tuchel has utilized a 4-2-3-1 formation that alters structure when England attack.

Morgan Rogers has been the key creative force because of his impressive ball progression, strike quality and capacity to penetrate the area when the forward retreats.

Tuchel has discussed favoring specialist wingers. The wide attackers consistently operate in wide areas 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 one with more license to support offensive play.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be competing with Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze for the attacking midfield position, with Kane likely to start up front.

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

There is an alternative approach all three could feature together and Tuchel suggested it this week.

"For Man City, he operates similarly to a box-to-box or creative role, so maybe during the next months we view him as a number eight," he said.

Foden has been deployed in a versatile central position this season.

That has enabled him to operate from deeper areas and could categorize him as the central midfielder, alongside a holding midfielder.

This would then allow Bellingham to play as the number 10 and Kane as the center forward.

Regardless of if Tuchel opts to structure the side like this at the international competition, what bodes well is his readiness to exclude star names in the name of balance.