Thomas Tuchel does not care about your fantasy football team. He does not care about Premier League Player of the Year awards, and he certainly does not care about fitting England’s most creative talents into a lineup just to appease the media.
The German manager wants structure. He wants control.
When international managers inherit a squad packed with elite number 10s, they usually try to squeeze them all on the pitch. We saw it for years with the golden generation. Sven-Goran Eriksson infamously shoved Paul Scholes onto the left wing to accommodate Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. More recently, Gareth Southgate struggled to find the right balance with Cole Palmer and Phil Foden.
Tuchel won’t do that.
The early tactical blueprints out of the England camp make one thing clear. Phil Foden and Cole Palmer are facing a massive battle for playing time in the number 10 role. Tuchel prefers a very specific profile for his central attacking midfielder, and right now, Jude Bellingham fits that mold perfectly.
This leaves England’s two most creative spark plugs on the outside looking in.
The Brutal Reality of Thomas Tuchels Tactical System
Tuchel builds his teams from the back. He values positional discipline above everything else. If you watch his Champions League-winning Chelsea side or his Bayern Munich team, the attacking players had incredibly strict defensive responsibilities.
He hates transitional chaos.
In Tuchel's preferred 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-2-1 shapes, the central attacking midfielder isn’t just a free-roaming playmaker. That player is the first line of the central press. They have to plug passing lanes, track back into a mid-block, and possess the physical power to win duels in the center of the pitch.
Jude Bellingham gives him exactly that.
Bellingham is a powerhouse. At Real Madrid, he showed he can play as a crashing late-arrival striker, a defensive box-to-box midfielder, or a traditional number 10. He wins headers. He tackles. He has the engine to run for 90 minutes without dropping his intensity.
Palmer and Foden are different animals. They are artists.
They thrive on freedom. They want to drift out to the half-spaces, manipulate the ball, and create overloads on the flanks. When you lock them into a rigid central defensive structure, you strip away what makes them special. Tuchel knows this, which is why he won’t force them into the middle just because of their names.
Why Phil Foden Struggles in a Rigid International Setup
Phil Foden is arguably the most technically gifted English player of his generation. Under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, he looks like a future Ballon d'Or winner.
But Manchester City’s system is a finely tuned machine.
Guardiola spends years teaching his players exactly where to stand to create passing triangles. Foden knows precisely when to drop into the half-space because Kyle Walker or Bernardo Silva will automatically occupy the space he leaves behind. It’s muscle memory.
International football lacks that repetition.
Without those automated club structures, Foden often looks lost in an England shirt. He wanders. He hunts for the ball. When he plays as a central number 10 for England, he frequently drops too deep, occupying the same space as the central midfielders. This clogs the middle of the pitch and leaves the isolated striker with zero service.
Tuchel demands positional predictability from his attackers. He wants to know exactly where his number 10 will be when the team loses possession. Foden’s natural instinct to drift and find the game contradicts this demand.
The Cole Palmer Dilemma on the International Stage
Cole Palmer’s rise at Chelsea has been nothing short of spectacular. He carries that entire attack on his back. He plays with a relaxed, almost arrogant confidence that makes him impossible to defend in the Premier League.
But his club success comes down to a specific tactical luxury. Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca gives Palmer a completely free role.
Palmer starts on the right but spends most of his time wandering into the center. He takes risks. He tries difficult passes. If he loses the ball, Chelsea’s tactical system is designed to compress the pitch behind him to cover for those turnovers.
Tuchel does not tolerate high-risk, low-percentage play in the central areas of the pitch.
For Tuchel, a turnover in the central zone is a mortal sin. It triggers an immediate counter-attack down the throat of your defense. Palmer’s high-reward style inevitably comes with a high rate of lost possession. While that works when you are the main man at Stamford Bridge, it becomes a massive liability in a knockout tournament like the World Cup.
The Statistics That Prove Bellinghams Dominance
Let’s look at what the numbers tell us about these three players when it comes to defensive output and physical presence.
Bellingham consistently averages more tackles per 90 minutes than both Palmer and Foden combined. His aerial duel success rate hovers around 55%, while Palmer and Foden struggle to clear 30%. In terms of recoveries in the opposition half, Bellingham leads the pack by a wide margin.
These aren't just empty stats. They represent the exact metrics Tuchel uses to evaluate his central attackers.
If you can’t win your individual battles in the middle third, you don’t play for Tuchel. It’s that simple.
Where Do Palmer and Foden Go From Here
This doesn't mean Palmer and Foden are completely useless to the national team. They are too talented to sit on the bench forever.
But their future under Tuchel lies on the wings, not in the center.
The problem is that the flanks are already crowded. Bukayo Saka owns the right wing. He offers the perfect blend of direct attacking threat and elite defensive work rate that Tuchel loves. On the left, players like Anthony Gordon provide genuine, terrifying pace that stretches defenses vertically.
Neither Palmer nor Foden possesses elite, recovery-defying speed. They are slow-down-and-dissect players, not sprint-past-the-fullback wingers.
To break into Tuchel’s starting eleven, both players need to adapt their games.
Foden must prove he can maintain his positional discipline without the ball. He needs to show he can stick to a tactical script even when he hasn't touched the ball for ten minutes.
Palmer needs to become more secure with possession. He has to learn when to play the simple, retaining pass instead of always looking for the killer ball.
How to Apply These Tactical Lessons to Your Own Football Analysis
When you watch England play under Tuchel, stop looking at who scores the goals. Pay attention to the structure.
Watch the defensive shape when the opposition has the ball in their own half. Look at where the number 10 positions themselves. Are they tracking the opposition’s deep-lying playmaker? Are they blocking the central passing lanes?
You will quickly see why Bellingham gets the nod.
To analyze football like a pro, focus on the off-ball movements. Notice how Tuchel handles substitutions around the 60th minute. If England is protecting a lead, expect to see Palmer or Foden stay on the bench in favor of more industrious, defensively secure options.
The era of choosing an international lineup based on star power is officially over for England. Tuchel is running a meritocracy based purely on tactical compliance. Accept the fact that your favorite creative geniuses might spend a lot of time watching from the sidelines.
