England have one foot firmly in the World Cup next summer after wins over Andorra and Serbia, but what did we learn about Thomas Tuchel’s side from this international window?
Five games into the Thomas Tuchel era, there were justified accusations of his England team being dull to watch.
Wins against Albania and Latvia, and two low-scoring victories against European minnows Andorra were hardly inspiring, while the poor 3-1 friendly defeat at home to Senegal in June, the only truly challenging encounter that Tuchel had led his team into prior to this week, justifiably worried England supporters.
However, Tuesday night’s trip to Serbia – 32nd in the FIFA Rankings – posed the first true competitive test for Tuchel’s England, and they passed with flying colours.
Here, we look at the notable discussion points surrounding England following the latest international break, now with just nine months to go until Tuchel leads the team into the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Attacking With Purpose
It’s almost been a year since the announcement was made that Tuchel would be the next England manager, and it’s been a difficult challenge at times for the German.
His first job in international football opened with competitive fixtures against sub-standard opposition, while not having regular contact with the players on the training ground made the challenge a different one to those he had most recently at PSG, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
As well as England had performed under Gareth Southgate, their style of play had become turgid. Attempts to replicate serial winners Spain with heavy possession-based football failed to produce the desired trophy, while it was arguably more down to luck than quality that they reached the Euro 2024 final in Southgate’s last tournament.
England got to the final despite being one of the least exciting teams going forward at the tournament. Only Scotland (0.29), Georgia (0.65) and Serbia (0.65) averaged a lower non-penalty xG per 90 than England (0.66), while only five nations averaged fewer shots on target per 90 than they did (3.1).
Upon his England appointment, Tuchel was keen to stress he wanted his team to replicate the commonalities of Premier League playing styles to help them win a major trophy.
“It needs to reflect the Premier League,” he said. “The Premier League is a very physical league; a very physical, demanding league. It’s a very direct league. I think it should reflect the values of the country and of the strongest league in the world, which is the Premier League.
“So, we will try to implement a direct style, an attacking style, and we will try to increase the rhythm in our game, increase the intensity in our game.”
The best of that style was on show in Tuesday night’s 5-0 win in Belgrade, with England mixing up direct and short passing, posing a real threat out wide and attacking at pace.
It was the 73rd time that England had faced a team inside the top 35 in the FIFA Rankings since August 2015. The Three Lions had not recorded more shots on target in any of those previous games as they did on Tuesday (12), while only once (29 vs Slovakia at Euro 2016 under Roy Hodgson) had they attempted as many shots (24) overall.
They managed this attacking output while completing over 500 passes (536) and holding 70% possession, too.
Tuchel is the first England manager to win his first five competitive matches without conceding a single goal. Not a bad start, though of course this should be taken with a pinch of salt as three of England’s games in qualifying have been against opponents ranked 140th or lower by FIFA, plus Albania at home who were 65th at the time.
The Emergence of Elliot Anderson
Elliot Anderson made his full England debut in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Andorra, but an away trip to Serbia promised to be a much harder challenge for the Nottingham Forest midfielder.
Following an impressive 2024-25 campaign at Forest, helping them to qualify for Europe with a seventh-place finish, the 22-year-old helped England to Under-21 glory at the European Championships in the summer and appeared to be the most likely contender from that group to force his way into Tuchel’s plans.
A somewhat problematic area for England in recent years, Anderson dovetailed perfectly with Declan Rice in central midfield over the two games and stood out in the win over Serbia.
He completed 182 passes in his first two England appearances (107 vs Andorra, 75 vs Serbia), the most by an England midfielder in his first two caps that Opta has on record since August 2008.
Tuchel will need a midfielder of his mould at the World Cup, assuming England qualify; someone who can be a deep-lying playmaker behind Rice. Many thought that player would be Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, but he may have fallen behind Anderson after missing these two games through injury.
Should Jude Bellingham Be Worried?
You would think Jude Bellingham would be one of the first names down on Tuchel’s teamsheet when he’s fit. A big-game player who produces moments of quality in times of need, Bellingham has dug England out of trouble on more than one occasion.
But the performance of Morgan Rogers in Belgrade will have Tuchel excited about another viable option in the number 10 role, with the Aston Villa star creating a match-high five chances for his teammates in the win, including a lovely flick to assist Noni Madueke.
Only Rice was involved in more open-play sequences ending in an England shot than Rogers, and interestingly, none of Rogers’ nine were a shot (five chances created, four build-up involvements).
Tuchel has made it clear that his mission is to pick the best team, not the best players. While Bellingham is obviously on another level to Rogers overall as an individual player, there are some question marks around how much he improves the team.
Bellingham has struggled for consistent form at club level in 2025, too. Since Tuchel took the England job on 1 January, he’s scored eight goals and assisted eight more in 36 competitive appearances for Real Madrid – a goal involvement every 185 minutes. He was averaging a goal involvement every 111 minutes before then (30 goals, 19 assists in 64 games at Madrid).
He is yet to score in four caps (265 minutes) under Tuchel and was substituted just after the hour mark in the 3-0 win over Latvia in March with the score at 1-0, with his replacement Phil Foden helping to increase the tempo and urgency in what was a tepid display up until that point.
Maybe Bellingham’s place in the side isn’t as secure as it once was.
What if Harry Kane Gets Injured?
Harry Kane may be one of the oldest players who still plays for England, but there’s no sign of his importance to the team diminishing.
He is the only player other than goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to start all five of England’s World Cup qualifiers under Tuchel and is the only player to start all six games under the German, having also captained the side in the friendly defeat to Senegal. While nothing new for England, Tuchel might already be relying on Kane a little too much.
The England skipper will turn 33 shortly after next summer’s World Cup, an expanded competition that will require any team hoping to go all the way to play eight matches: three in the group stage and five knockout games. It may be too much of an ask to expect him to play in every one of those matches.
And what if he gets injured? Tuchel’s England haven’t had much practice playing without Kane: he’s only been substituted off once in five World Cup qualifiers so far – with just 14 minutes left of Tuesday’s win over Serbia with his team already 5-0 up and the hosts down to 10 men. The game was completely over as a contest.
Ollie Watkins, who scored England’s memorable late winner against the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-final, is the obvious alternative option. He did well enough after replacing Kane against Serbia, scoring a disallowed goal and winning the penalty that Marcus Rashford converted to make it 5-0.
But he is a very different player to Kane. He likes to make runs in behind – only Bryan Mbeumo (418) made more such runs in the Premier League last season than Watkins (407) – while Kane likes the ball to feet. The Bayern Munich striker dropped deep to receive passes consistently against Serbia, with lightning-quick wingers charging into the space he created. Playing Watkins would require a complete rethink.
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Pace, Purpose and Options Aplenty: Thomas Tuchel’s England Spring to Life as World Cup Comes into Sight Opta Analyst.
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