English football is obsessed with No 10s. How do we produce them? How do we use them? How many can we fit onto the pitch at the same time?
This was the problem an exhausted Gareth Southgate effectively gave up on ever solving last summer, forcing Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham into the same patch of grass game after game, like a man who had ripped up the flat-pack furniture instructions and was now frantically trying to force two pegs into one hole.
There has been plenty of attention paid to this question in recent days during new England head coach Thomas Tuchel’s first international break. Would he have some genius solution to the Foden-Bellingham dilemma, a way to have the nation’s two most talented players enhance rather than diminish each other’s game? If Cole Palmer is fit for the next pair of games against Andorra and Senegal in June, then this would become an even more congested area of the field, an even longer queue forming for selection and space.
But when Tuchel was asked about this on Sunday, following his debut win against Albania and before match two with Latvia, he made clear he would not simply be picking the most popular players and hoping they could make it work.
“It’s just not possible we play all these No 10 positions,” he said. “In the end, we need to understand and get the balance right.” He explained that if he simply piled up the No 10s, there would be no space for the wingers he wanted to pick, specifically mentioning Marcus Rashford, who is here this camp, and Bukayo Saka, who is not because of injury.
And if these first two games of Tuchel’s tenure have taught us anything, it is that the success or otherwise of this England team will be decided in large part by how good they are in wide areas. Because you can have brilliant players jostling in the No 10 space but if the opposition are defending deep and narrow, you are going to have to go around the sides of them.
This was the case on Monday at Wembley against Latvia, who were just as happy as Albania had been on Friday to sit in their own half and let England try to find a way around them.
After the 2-0 defeat of Albania, Tuchel had said he wanted more from England’s two wide players for the first 74 minutes of that match, Rashford and Phil Foden. “Both our wingers who started were not as impactful as they can be in club football,” Tuchel said, admitting he was unsure whether the issue was a lack of confidence from those two in terms of taking people on or a lack of good service out to them from midfield.
It was the most interesting talking point to emerge from Tuchel’s debut. Not just because it was the first piece of criticism we have heard from him for his fledgling team but also because it concerned a part of the pitch where England have struggled to find the right combinations in recent years.
Nobody will argue for anyone other than Saka on the right once he’s back from the hamstring issue that’s kept him out since just before Christmas but on the left, you could make a case for Rashford, Foden, Anthony Gordon (who would have played last night but got injured in Friday’s game) or Eberechi Eze (who came on after an hour on Monday and scored).
This game, apart from everything else, was a chance to try again with different combinations, so Tuchel tweaked the team to give his wide players the best possible platform to attack. With Myles Lewis-Skelly pushing into midfield alongside Declan Rice in possession, Morgan Rogers and Jude Bellingham began as tandem No 10s, allowing Jarrod Bowen and Marcus Rashford to play high and wide.
Bowen effectively replaced Foden, who started on the right against Albania and had looked again like he did not quite fit. He has never been a conventional right-winger, even if he often starts there for Manchester City and drifts inside.
Bowen, meanwhile, might not be as gifted as Foden but is more direct than him, as proven by his progressive carries for West Ham so far this season.
On Monday, Bowen was up against Andrejs Ciganiks and spent most of the first half attacking the space outside Latvia’s left wing-back. Bowen’s crossing was not always perfect but he gave England width and tried to find a way around the opposition. He felt like a more natural stylistic fit for that role than Foden.
On the opposite side, it was Rashford again. He started both this week’s games when you could argue he was fortunate to be here at all. He was called back into the squad after a bright few weeks on loan at Aston Villa, with even Tuchel admitting he could easily have not selected the Manchester United forward this time. Rashford looked rusty early on against Albania but more confident as the game progressed. Gordon then got injured late in that game, meaning Rashford started again here.
Rashford looked more confident against Latvia, more willing to attack his wing-back Roberts Savalnieks, and always with the threat of going either side.
Sometimes he would dart down the outside towards the byline, and he might have won a penalty when he drew a tackle from Savalnieks. Often, Rashford would cut back inside and curl in a right-footed cross, while Bowen would dart in to attack the far post. One such time, Bowen was cleaned out by goalkeeper Krisjanis Zviedris, a strong penalty shout, but still denied. When Rashford chopped past Aleksejs Saveljevs late in the first half, many in the crowd jumped to their feet in excitement.
So even if Rashford’s endless curled crosses mostly came to nothing, Tuchel was impressed by how he never stopped trying to make something happen.
“Marcus again showed today, especially in the first half, the hunger and the desire to go again and again and again,” he said. “He was not shy to take the dribblings and was more aggressive in his movements. Not everything fell into place but the most important thing was that he showed this hunger and desire, and the confidence in his abilities.” (This chart below illuminates Rashford’s natural attacking instincts.)
After the break, with England 1-0 up, Rashford and Bowen swapped sides. Rashford kept attacking down the right, stretching the play. When Rogers and Rice overloaded down that side, it led to the latter crossing for Harry Kane to score England’s second.
But the most notable development was Eze replacing Bowen on the left with half an hour of normal time to go. He provided a different threat; more skilful, more precise. When he scored England’s third, jinking past Alvis Jaunzems and Daniels Balodis, then having his shot deflect in off Antonijs Cernomordijs, it felt like a reminder of what he can bring to the role.
Nobody would say these two England performances were revelatory but every opportunity to try to learn things is valuable.
Neither Foden nor Bowen did enough on the right to suggest that Saka will not be straight back in the team in June if he gets fully fit and playing for Arsenal in April and May. England have nobody else who can do what he does.
But on the left?
You can make a case on recent form for Gordon, Eze or Bowen, each of them giving a different interpretation of the role. You could argue Foden needs to be in the team somewhere and that this is the only spot where he fits. You could even hope for a Jack Grealish restoration.
But Rashford is the man in possession of the shirt for the first time since 2023. Even if he is still some way off classic Rashford, he has still been one of the big winners of the past week, simply by virtue of being here, starting both games, and reminding people of his unique threat.
Whether Tuchel backs him or tries someone else will be one of the key issues for the rest of 2025.
Other contributor: Conor O’Neill
(Top photos: Bowen, left, and Rashford; Getty Images)
