Manager Thomas Tuchel will have “no problem” using Phil Foden as England’s central striker if Harry Kane is unavailable after the Manchester City forward made a surprise “false nine” appearance against Serbia.
Just after the hour mark, Foden replaced England captain Kane as No. 9 and impressed, setting up Eberechi Eze’s goal in the 90th minute in a 2-0 win and creating another chance for the Arsenal forward, who hit the bar.
Much has been made of England’s lack of backup striker options to record goalscorer Kane in this Three Lions squad heading into the November international break, but Tuchel believes he has another option on deck.
“Absolutely a chance,” Tuchel said of whether Foden would have a chance to play the role if something happened to Kane.
“As long as Phil stays fit and well, I have no problem[playing him as a number nine]. I have some other options in mind, but I don’t want to talk about them publicly.”
Manager Thomas Tuchel has chosen Phil Foden as number nine.
“Don’t forget we have Ollie Watkins and (Danny) Welbeck, who are (probably) more of a number nine and different options for Harry as well.
“We have a lot of options, but it’s probably going to be about who’s fit, what we have in the team and how we’re going to share our time, who we’re going to play with and what we expect from the game.”
Asked if Foden could challenge for Kane’s position if he continues to do well at City, Tuchel said: “Yes, it’s a big ask to challenge Harry at the moment. He’s in the form of his life. His attitude, his work rate, his quality, his finishing rate are just out of control and out of this world.”
“But here too he will probably be Harry’s partner in crime and share a few minutes in a decisive match.
“I came up with this idea a few months ago. Having played against him in these positions, I felt like he was really, really tough in the Premier League with little movements, counter movements, little runs. City were very dominant in these little positions, in the pocket, in the half-turn, and he was shooting, playing one-twos, running a little bit off the ball and making assists, so you couldn’t catch him.”
“When we had a longlist of 50, 60 players, of course it was outstanding quality and I expected him to come from the first camp and then have a difficult period at City.
“And now he’s back at City. In fact, he played a deeper role, almost like a number eight. So we’ll see how this goes. But I wanted to see him close to the opposition box. I wanted to see him in the middle of the traffic, surrounded by a lot of players.”
Foden: The smile is back, the false nine will bring out the best in me.
In his post-match press conference, Foden admitted he had “played well” in his role and hopes the change of position will allow him to get the best out of himself in England colors.
“I thought we did well and created some chances, but we were unlucky not to convert some,” he told ITV Sport. “Overall, I have to be satisfied with the effectiveness.
“I’ll play wherever the coach puts me. I can play multiple positions and I was happy to come out as a false nine. It was fun. Maybe I can bring out the best in me, time will tell.”
“There are quality players on the pitch. I know there is pressure to perform for Man City, but I just have to keep my head down and earn my place. The smiles are back.”
Analysis: Can Foden work up front for England?
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz at Wembley:
Thomas Tuchel’s tactical nous was on display at Wembley.
As England struggled in the first 25 minutes, he moved Kane deeper, forcing Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford further back, and the Three Lions took the lead three minutes after a touchline tactical time-out.
But seeing Foden emerge as a false nine showed just how complicated a path Tuchel can be in his pursuit of success.
It’s actually no surprise that Foden was cast in the role. In fact, he even played for Man City. Over the past four years, Pep Guardiola’s side have played 1,056 league games, which adds up to about 12 90-minute matches.
Phil Foden’s minutes played by position
Tuchel also mentioned the possibility of Foden being used as a number nine in his pre-match press conference.
The problem for Tuchel is that Kane drops deep and Foden is primarily a midfielder, but where is the threat behind the central striker?
Some will point out that wide areas are the place to do this – Saka and Eze, for example, scored against Serbia – but it leaves England’s game plan lacking in depth.
Despite England’s success in this group, they have yet to score the first goal before the 20th minute. It’s not difficult to prepare for and deal with almost a quarter of the match. At the highest level, these periods cannot be taken for granted.
Yes, we played against a low block in some of the qualifiers and that delayed the start of the match, but we still managed to take a 3-0 lead by half-time. Wales were dismantled early on, but they were foolishly audacious against this Three Lions attack at Wembley.
But England will face a better opponent and a better defence. They need something different off the bench. Tuchel name-checked Watkins and Welbeck as more natural No. 9 candidates who could be used as wildcards.
And if they can solve the ‘Plan B’ centre-forward problem through Foden and other players, they will be one step closer to completing the England squad.
