Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.Now that the noise around his England squad selection has died down, Thomas Tuchel’s attention turns to the more pressing matter: deciding which of those players actually make it onto the pitch.A clear theme of the head coach’s announcement was that of balance. Rather than pack the group with England’s enviable wealth of attacking talent, Tuchel wanted to spread his options across the pitch. “The squad has a significant number of players that will compete for starting minutes and starting places,” he said.But even with that high level of competition, there are clear first-choice options in most positions. In his 4-2-3-1 setup, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson are the established pair at the base of midfield, while Harry Kane, fresh from scoring 61 goals for Bayern Munich last season, is untouchable up front.Defence also looks fairly settled. There may be room for the odd surprise, but the quartet of Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa and Reece James look the likeliest back four.The real uncertainty lies in the three forward roles behind Kane.Ahead of England’s penultimate World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand tonight, The Athletic breaks down the key dilemmas Tuchel faces in those advanced positions.Reigniting Saka’s sparkThe 2025-26 season marked a career high for Bukayo Saka, as he won his first Premier League title with Arsenal and played in a Champions League final. At an individual level, though, the past two seasons have been challenging, with fitness issues and patchy form preventing him from reaching his peak.The graphic below shows that Saka’s goals per 90 minutes (blue dots), and expected goals per 90 (red dots), have both declined since 2023-24, showing that he is finding and finishing fewer chances.This dip in output is partly down to tactical reasons, with Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta shifting to a more defence-oriented approach (Arsenal scored 20 fewer goals last season than the 91 they managed in 2023-24).But it also reflects Arsenal’s reliance on Saka as their primary attacking outlet. They funnelled 41.7 per cent of their attacks down his flank. The only comparable Premier League attacker in terms of importance was Jarrod Bowen at West Ham. Arsenal’s opponents have quickly wised up to this, regularly doubling or even tripling up on Saka. Last season, 90.3 per cent of his passes were made under pressure, the highest share of any non-centre-forward.The easiest way for Tuchel to relieve that pressure is to make England less predictable by varying their patterns of attack. Overlapping runs from the right-back should also help. At Arsenal, Saka has been at his most dangerous when playing alongside Ben White, whose runs on the outside pull defenders away and give him the room to cut inside and shoot.