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With six wins out of six, an unbreached defense and tournament placement secured with two group games to spare, national team coach Thomas Tuchel can argue he has made the right selection choices.

Nevertheless, in the lead-up to Thursday's domestic match against Serbia, he raised questions when he claimed that three of the country's best players - Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane - cannot play in the same team.

"Presently, if we keep the structure, they are unable to feature.

"They can but not in the structure, not preserving harmony that we established and not for the structure that also includes wingers who are essentially experts in their positions. We currently utilize with a six, eight, a 10 and a nine."

From guaranteed positions to competitive roles

The Manchester City and Real Madrid stars have been utilized out wide for England in the past, but Tuchel's selections suggest that the Barcelona loanee and the Gunners' star are his first choices on the wide areas respectively.

So can Bellingham, Foden and Kane coexist in the lineup?

The previous England manager certainly thought so.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane were selected for each England's seven games at the European Championship in Germany, where the national squad fell to the Spanish in the final.

In the 16 fixtures the trio have played together, England have triumphed 10 times, drawn three and lost three, scoring 36 times and allowing 14 goals.

Analysis: Foden's versatility gives Tuchel options

Tuchel has employed a four-two-three-one setup that changes shape when England attack.

Morgan Rogers has been the main number 10 because of his impressive ball progression, strike quality and skill in entering the penalty area when the forward retreats.

Tuchel has spoken about preferring dedicated wide players. The wide attackers regularly feature on the wings and can maintain possession effectively, challenge defenders, and appear in scoring positions.

Behind this front four, Tuchel utilizes two central midfielders consisting of one defensively strict player and another with greater freedom to join the forward movement.

So how could Tuchel use these three players?

Foden and Bellingham would be vying against attacking alternatives for the number 10 role, with Kane probably featuring up front.

Foden could play as the number nine, which in theory could enable both Bellingham and Foden to play at Kane's expense.

There is one way all three could coexist effectively and Tuchel hinted at it this week.

"With his club, he operates similarly to a number eight or 10, so maybe during the next months we regard him as a box-to-box player," he said.

Foden has been utilized as a flexible midfielder this season.

That has enabled him to operate from deeper areas and could categorize him as the number eight, next to a more defensive number six.

This would then allow Bellingham to play as the creative force and Kane as the center forward.

No matter whether Tuchel chooses to configure the team like this at the global tournament, what seems encouraging is his preparedness to omit established stars in the interest of team harmony.