There is one man who could save us from the boredom of Thomas Tuchel’s England… unfortunately he’s watching on sofa too

THERE is one man who could ignite England’s World Cup campaign — and Thomas Tuchel’s reign — in Serbia tomorrow night.

And that is a Brummie who was conspicuous by his absence as the Three Lions bored the pants off the good people of Birmingham on Saturday teatime.

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Jack Grealish will be missing again for the crunch trip to Belgrade, but he should absolutely be in Tuchel’s squad.

This qualifier is the first serious test for the German as England boss — the Serbs are a huge step up in class from the human training-ground mannequins of Andorra.

Indeed, this will be England’s biggest match in the two-year spell between last year’s Euros and next summer’s World Cup. And they do not seem ready for it.

As so often in the past, they lack the individual flair needed to unlock stubborn defences.

There are so many Englishmen who can operate as a playmaking No 10 and yet suddenly there seems a lack of options to take that role in Serbia.

The absence of Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer through injury and Phil Foden, who is suffering a confidence crisis, meant Eberechi Eze was employed as the No 10 against the minnows of Andorra in Saturday’s turgid 2-0 victory.

It meant Marcus Rashford played in Eze’s most obvious position on the left wing.

As Tuchel did at least admit — during an overly positive post-match press conference that bordered on delusion — neither Rashford nor Eze impressed.

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One of the Morgans — Rogers of Aston Villa or Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest — is likely to occupy the No 10 role against the Serbs. Rogers, in particular, is currently out of form.

But the best solution, either as the attacking midfielder or on the left flank, is Grealish.

The Everton loanee had already produced a bravura performance to christen the club’s new stadium in the 2-0 win over Brighton last month before Tuchel named this England party.

And after he was omitted by Tuchel, Grealish followed up with another man-of-the-match performance in the Toffees’ 3-2 win at Wolves last Saturday.

The 29-year-old has four assists in two Everton starts.

Rashford, 27, has not managed any for Barca and was substituted on his first LaLiga start with his team 2-0 down against Levante — before they staged a comeback without him.

Sure, Grealish is in the early stages of his revival after being starved of regular football at Manchester City but he is already showing his uncommon ability to unlock defences.

But he produced a couple of excellent England displays under Lee Carsley’s temporary charge last autumn — even while he was being largely frozen out by Pep Guardiola.

There is no way Villa Park on Saturday would have been quite so dismal had former Aston Villa hero Grealish been playing against Andorra.

This is a recurring theme — Gareth Southgate was often accused of overlooking crowd favourite “Super Jack” and Guardiola clearly stopped trusting him at City too.

Jack the Lad is a throwback of a footballer, who likes a night out, yet he is not a disruptive influence and he is supremely popular among England players.

When Grealish was omitted from the Euro 2024 squad, there were mutinous mutterings among the players, which were extremely rare during Southgate’s eight-year reign.

Southgate was so often accused of shackling his players. The dreaded “handbrake” was a near-constant complaint.

Yet he did not revert to route-one football and long throw-ins, as Tuchel is threatening to do.

Tuchel already appears to have his firm favourites, of whom Rashford is one.

Yet after his own fallout at Manchester United, followed by a reasonable loan spell at Aston Villa, Rashford is struggling badly at the start of his Barca loan — in stark contrast to Grealish on Merseyside.

Other Tuchel favourites are Newcastle’s 6ft 7in Dan Burn — who has started three of the four qualifiers in which England are yet to concede a goal — and veteran Brentford midfielder Jordan Henderson, 35, who may well start in Belgrade.

These two fall into the “good bloke to have around the camp” category rather than players you could imagine in a World Cup-winning team — which is Tuchel’s extremely optimistic stated aim.

Reece James, who won the Champions League with Tuchel at Chelsea, is another obvious favourite and the Blues right-back — along with debutant Elliot Anderson — were the only two England players to seriously impress against Andorra.

But this has led to Trent Alexander-Arnold being left out of Tuchel’s squad — another player often controversially overlooked by Southgate who is getting the same treatment under the new regime.

Tino Livramento, a sub on Saturday, and the currently injured Ben White both appear to be ahead of TAA and 96-cap Kyle Walker in Tuchel’s pecking order.

England will look a whole lot better when Bellingham, Palmer and Bukayo Saka are all fit but injuries will always be part of an international manager’s lot.

Would Grealish make the starting eleven if all of England’s players were fit and fully firing? Perhaps not.

Yet for now, his omission looks like a glaring error. And in the hostile environment of Belgrade’s Rajko Mitic Stadium tomorrow, Tuchel may well be punished for it.