Norwich City's Championship run may have come to an end, but one tactical tweak added a positive to the Canaries' 3-2 defeat to Preston.
When the same line-up to as the one responsible for a drab and uninspiring draw at Reading was announced, confusion was rife amongst City fans. The reality after kick-off, however, was entirely different.
What was clear immediately was that Josh Sargent had moved from the right-wing role he occupied at the Select Car Leasing Stadium. The American's first action was to charge through the centre of the pitch and challenge North End's centre-backs.
What quickly became clear was that Dean Smith had opted for a narrow midfield, with a strike force of Sargent and Teemu Pukki centrally. Many immediately diagnosed the system as a diamond 4-4-2, but the Norwich head coach highlighted a slight difference post match.
"We went 4-3-1-2," he said. "Some people will call it a diamond, but it was a lot flatter in our midfield three than the diamonds I've seen, especially when I've played cards.
"We just felt that getting Sarge (Sargent) and Teemu up front together and AJ (Aaron Ramsey) in behind them would get them in the best positions for this game. Other games, we'll change.
"For eight players on the pitch it makes no odds, because they're still doing the same jobs. Perhaps it gives our full-backs licence to go on and give us the width when we need it.
"I thought the game should have been over after 20 minutes, and everybody would be saying well done for changing it."
Perhaps Smith would have received more credit for the tweak had his side seen out the victory, but there was still a noticeable improvement from that trip to Berkshire.
The Canaries produced almost as great an expected goals (xG) total in the first half hour of the Preston game (1.05) than in the entire Reading fixture (1.08), as well as having three more shots on target (four v one), and their strikers having five times as many touches in the penalty area (five v one).
Smith's assertion that the 4-3-1-2 was a solution designed for the Preston game is bad news for fans of the system, but perhaps its effectiveness in the opening salvos will provide some motivation to reuse it.
An encouraging factor for the 51-year-old was that he saw no hindrance in the inversion of left-back Sam Byram, in spite of the fact that narrow midfield systems often require extreme width from full-backs.
The injury Byram sustained at Carrow Road may take that option off the table in any case, with Kenny McLean proving an able and natural deputy in the second half.
Where the system could really thrive, however, is in the presence of the soon-to-return Dimitris Giannoulis. Even in the drab opening day defeat to Cardiff City the Greek was able to send 73.68pc of his accurate passes forward, while only half of Byram's did the same.
That ability to quickly make the most of the wide space created by a narrow midfield formation could be crucial in its future effectiveness, and Smith will wait in baited breath for Giannoulis' return if he hopes to make it a success.
Perhaps a deterrent in that pursuit could be Aaron Ramsey's disappointing performance against Ryan Lowe's side.
The 19-year-old had been a star of Norwich's recent success, but his inability to find a single pass into the Preston penalty area didn't suggest a formation designed to get the best out of him, despite Smith's post-match claims that Ramsey had been a key part of the change.
If the England under-20 international is to prove his suitability in this system, he'll have to up his output when it's next used.
When that may be is unclear, especially given the juxtaposition of its effectiveness in the opening period on Saturday and the result it produced.
In any case, tactical flexibility can only be a good thing, and Smith may actually have stumbled upon a big positive in a mess of catastrophic defending and individual errors.
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