Adam Lallana has claimed that the 3-4-3 formation adopted by Gareth Southgate in England's friendly with Germany "could possibly be the way forward".
The Three Lions performed well in Wednesday's meeting at the Westfalenstadion but ultimately fell to a 1-0 defeat, being denied a draw by a Lukas Podolski strike.
Lallana was happy with the way the tweaked system worked, which echoes a formation quickly sweeping the Premier League in various guises, with first-and-second place Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur among those to go with a three-man backline this term.
"Credit to the boss. He was obviously the one who wanted us to play that way - he felt we had the personnel to fit in and it worked," he told reporters.
"A lot of the lads are playing three at the back at their clubs and in the short time we had to work on it, he utilised the time really well so we had a good few sessions to work on it.
"It could possibly be the way forward. Football evolves and goes around in circles but I think the way that we adapted, considering we didn't have long, worked well."
England return to action at the weekend with a World Cup 2018 qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley Stadium, as they look to move further clear at the Group F summit.
Daniel Lewis
