After England went out to Argentina at the World Cup this summer, Thomas Tuchel landed on possession as the problem. Taking the ball, controlling the game, keeping it under pressure, he said, is not in England's DNA the way it is in Spain's or Argentina's or Brazil's. It was a blunt diagnosis from a manager who had just watched his side lose.
Whether he is right is arguable. What is not arguable is where that habit is formed, and the Football Association has just changed it. From last month, the smallest format of the game in English youth football is 3v3.
What actually changed
For a long time children of every age played 11-a-side on full pitches. That ended in 1999, when the FA brought in mini-soccer for under-10s so that young players would touch the ball more often. Until the end of last season the smallest version of the game, the one under-sevens start on, was 5v5. Now it is three against three, with no goalkeepers and no referees.
It came out of two years of work with Liverpool John Moores University, in which the FA analysed more than 400 games from under-six to under-14 level. "All of the research done demonstrates that those players having more touches of the ball are more engaged in the game," said John Folwell, the FA's head of grassroots coach development. He added that with no keeper and no substitutes, nobody is standing on the touchline or in goal watching friends play.
The coaches are not all sold
A few weeks in, the people running Sunday mornings are still working it out. BBC Breakfast visited Collingham FC in Nottinghamshire, where under-sevens coach Michael Bland described the logistical reality: three pitches running at once, and all it takes is one parent being at work for a volunteer to be watching three games and nine children by himself. He also raised self-officiating, and teaching children what a safe tackle looks like without a referee to explain it.
Mick Goodwin, a youth coach since the 1990s, had a different worry. He thinks one dominant child can take over a game of three, leaving the weaker players with nothing, and said he has already seen the best player shooting from the halfway line. He is not against the idea. He just thinks it needs finessing.
The children at Collingham were less conflicted. More open goals, more chances to score, easier to dribble past two defenders than four. One parent, Dean, said his son had previously spent his Sundays in goal and was now learning to pass, block and defend.
Goalkeepers, and the longer wait for an answer
The obvious objection is that removing goalkeepers for a year cannot be good for goalkeepers. Folwell accepts the trade-off and argues it is small. The 3v3 format lasts 12 months before children move to 5v5 at under-eight, and in the meantime they are still blocking, sliding across and getting between the ball and the goal, while improving with their feet, which modern goalkeeping demands anyway. He pointed to England's Hannah Hampton, who played outfield for a long time before going in goal.
England are not doing anything unusual here, either. Germany, the Netherlands and Norway already use 3v3 at that age, and the format is spreading. Nobody will know whether it worked for a decade. That is the nature of grassroots reform, and it is also why it rarely gets argued about until a national team loses a knockout tie.
Background: The FA reduced the smallest youth format from 5v5 to 3v3 for under-sevens last month, with no goalkeepers and no referees. The change follows two years of research with Liverpool John Moores University covering more than 400 games from under-six to under-14. Goalkeepers return at under-eight, when children move up to 5v5. Germany, the Netherlands and Norway already use the format.
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