Moving to a three-man defence at the 2018 World Cup was widely acclaimed as a masterstroke by Gareth Southgate. The jury is still out, however, on whether returning to a similar shape will prove equally effective when it matters most.
As a disciple of former Three Lions boss Terry Venables, Southgate is perhaps inevitably drawn to a back three in the search for greater stability and optimum balance, and there have been signs that Southgate's 3-4-3 system can cause the best teams problems, not least in the second half of Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Belgium.