England vs Andorra: Thomas Tuchel’s experimenting is set to stop as World Cup build-up starts now – even though John Stones could be a midfielder | Football News

Thomas Tuchel has a lot of questions to answer in attack, but those issues are borne out of the fact he has a wealth of talent at his disposal.

The problems he has to address further back in the team – and in particular in defensive midfield – are much more acute, because here he has a real lack of options.

For the first time, Tuchel has said publicly what we sensed in the background – that John Stones is a serious contender to be England’s defensive midfielder – or No 6 – for the World Cup.

“There is not one pivotal, classic, deep No 6,” the England head coach said. “Except maybe John Stones, who fits this characteristic.

“We have top players and we will find the right pairing. We will need to be flexible because anything can happen, someone can be injured.”

And, indeed, Stones has now left the England camp with a muscle injury, and so cannot be tried in that role until next month at the earliest – by which time, Tuchel will have only three more England camps until he has to name his World Cup squad.

Injuries have left Tuchel really hamstrung in trying to solve the defensive midfield conundrum. He called up Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson for the first time on his watch for this international break, only for the Crystal Palace man to be forced out with an adductor injury before the players arrived at St George’s Park.

That means, even if Anderson makes his England debut against Andorra at Villa Park, we will all be wondering where he stands in the pecking order alongside Stones, Wharton, Jordan Henderson et al.

Jude Bellingham is England’s first choice No 10 – with a broad cast of world-class understudies in Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden and Morgan Gibbs-White.

Declan Rice is far-and-away England’s main man at No 8, but it may well be that Tuchel’s search for a solution drags on, well into the World Cup run-in itself.

Will England improve against European minnows?

Tuchel was stung by the poor levels of performance from his players in June (and the pretty woeful results that came with them): a turgid 1-0 win over Andorra in Barcelona was followed by a shambolic 3-1 defeat to Senegal in the home friendly match.

The experimentation at certain times in those games was obvious: Curtis Jones as a makeshift right-back, Reece James at left-back, two No 10s alongside each other as well as two wingers. Henderson was the only deep central midfielder.

We can expect much less experimentation against Andorra this time, and almost certainly for all the World Cup qualifiers to come.

Tuchel has been clear to his players that the real build up to the World Cup starts now. The England boss says he has deliberately trimmed the squad to make it tougher to get in, and to supercharge those that make it, and he has encouraged much more intensity and personal competition between the players who are in the squad.

How will England line-up vs Andorra?

That sentiment has been reinforced by Dan Burn, who is expected to start on the left of England’s central defensive pairing at Villa Park on Saturday.

Unlike many managers, Tuchel talks openly about how he divides his centre-backs into ‘left-sided and right-sided’. That narrows down the competition still further so that in this camp, Jarrel Quansah is competing with Ezri Konsa on the right, while Burn is competing with Marc Guehi on the left.

“Yeah, as the gaffer has divided it up, that’s the way it is,” said Burn. “Marc’s a top, top player – very close to a Liverpool move this summer as well, so I feel that just keeps pushing us as well.

“At the moment we’re in direct competition. People are starting to look around at each other to see who they are in competition with.”

The smart money is on Konsa to start alongside Burn in central defence against Andorra. Tuchel has already confirmed Harry Kane will start up front, and suggested he will go with the strongest possible starting XI he can in Birmingham. That is a pragmatic decision after what happened in Barcelona three months ago.

Tuchel cannot afford another stuttering performance against the minnows of Group K – both for his own reputation and for the momentum and confidence levels of his squad – even though England have a 100 per cent record in qualifying so far, and are four points clear of the rest at the top of the table.

It is clear Tuchel feels this autumn is the key time for him to develop the intensity and identity he wants – in terms of personnel, formation and style of play.

In truth, after two training camps and four international matches, we are yet to understand exactly what ‘Tuchel’s England’ looks like.