Jude Bellingham MUST start for England - but World Cup hopes hang almost solely on Harry Kane: Winners and losers after Thomas Tuchel's star men are badly missed in friendly defeat to dark horses Japan

During the autumn camps, Jude Bellingham's place in the England setup came under question, both from the general public and Tuchel himself. The Three Lions boss famously said: "We are not collecting the most talented players, we are trying to build a team. Teams win trophies, no-one else."

Tuchel then decided to lean on Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers as his preferred choice in the No.10 role, citing he was more accepting of a supporting role rather than standing out as the main talisman. Yet these two March matches have proved England need Bellingham's star power and everything that comes from it.

When Bellingham represents the Three Lions, he always strives to be involved one way or another, for better or worse. If he has a bad game, he still has the decency to work his socks off and be involved rather than merely slink into the background. Barely anybody in the final third wanted to stand up and take some responsibility across the games with Uruguay and Japan. It was fitting that the first song played over the Wembley speaker system at full-time on Tuesday was 'Hey Jude'.

The clamour to see Bellingham will only ramp up now that the world has seen what England look like without him, and rightly so.

At the other end of the spectrum, Harry Kane is the first name on the England teamsheet whenever fit. Alas, this was a pair of results that only amplified how much the Three Lions need their captain.

Against Japan, Tuchel started with Phil Foden as a false nine, dropping deep to create a bit more space for runners, though this was baffling considering Rogers and Anthony Gordon were playing as orthodox wingers, while No.10 Cole Palmer was also having to retreat into midfield to get on the ball. Dominic Solanke came on in the second half to provide more of a physical presence in that space but touched the ball only seven times.

Post-defeat, Tuchel was asked whether England do indeed lean too heavily on Kane to get them going. "Well, why would Argentina not rely on [Lionel] Messi or Portugal not rely on Cristiano Ronaldo? This is totally normal. Key figures left camp for us and we saw that a bit. We lacked a punch," was his fair assessment.

The two headline names omitted from this camp were Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins. Both must have been feeling pretty vindicated watching on from home.

Newcastle's Tino Livramento and Arsenal's Ben White, welcomed back in from England exile, were given the chance to impress at right-back, with Tuchel claiming he was fully aware of what Alexander-Arnold could bring to the team. Similarly, Solanke and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were the natural strikers deployed over the two games, but yielded zero goals and only three shots between them.

Maybe the solutions that Tuchel needs were in the squad he inherited all along. Maybe some of the top-line talent who were more regulars under Sir Gareth Southgate didn't need to be overlooked this month. Alexander-Arnold and Watkins aren't even starters, more so first-reserves in their positions for Reece James and Kane, respectively, and yet they have strengthened their cases to make this summer's squad by doing nothing at all.

The city of Manchester had four representatives in England's starting XI to face Japan - Palmer, Foden, Nico O'Reilly and Kobbie Mainoo. They were among the four worst performers across both teams.

Palmer and Foden started in a frontline that made little sense on paper, and even less so in reality. They don't exactly have great track records while wearing an England shirt, though on this occasion that wasn't all their fault, rather how they were made to play. Still, neither had it in them to rise above the tactical tweaks and take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Meanwhile, Carabao Cup-hero O'Reilly didn't have the same impact back at Wembley, with reservations continuing over his ability to actually defend in the left-back spot. Ahead of him on the left-side of midfield was Mainoo, who partnered Elliot Anderson, wanted by Manchester United. The Red Devils' homegrown hero was clearly the inferior of the two players in the pivot, however, and has shown little over the course of this camp to show he should unquestionably be on the plane for the World Cup.

Whenever the World Cup rolls around, Japan are often a team to create intrigue. They are often one of the best sides who are made up of players plying their club trade on three or four continents, blending some more familiar names with more obscure ones yet still retaining their competitiveness.

English audiences are very much aware of Kaoru Mitoma and the threat he possesses. If someone was going to score for Japan at Wembley, the Brighton winger seemed the most likely bet.

But even beyond Mitoma, Japan were a credit to themselves and were deserved winners under the arch, with Stade Reims left-back Keito Nakamura in particular impressing. The Samurai Blue were everything that England were not - compact when defending and forceful when attacking. The visitors came to London all willing to fight for one another in order to claim their first-ever victory against England.

Japan shocked the big boys in 2022, beating both Germany and Spain in the group stages, eliminating the former. There's every reason to believe they're still capable of causing such upsets.

The records keep on tumbling for Tuchel. He has overseen England's first-ever defeats to a team from Africa (Senegal) and now Asia. That's only slightly facetious because those are true, factual stats.

In total seriousness, Tuchel's Three Lions record now looks decidedly mixed. Nine wins, one draw and two losses is barely par for the course considering their opponents have been: Andorra twice, Serbia twice, Latvia twice, Albania twice, Wales, Senegal, Uruguay and Japan. The Football Association's decision to extend his contract to 2028 without even taking on this World Cup is in danger of appearing even more baffling than originally thought.

Southgate had his flaws as England boss, yet there was no denying he had created a culture that allowed players to thrive and consistently perform at an international level not seen since 1966. But stand-in captain Marc Guehi may have let slip that the pressure of old is returning, telling ITV: "It's not easy putting the shirt on."

Tuchel is one of the best tacticians in world football and should be able to learn from this month's experiences. Whether he can enact a plan in time to win the World Cup is a different and much more complex question.