But what do most coaches do when their team's reduced to ten men? They take off an attacker. I don't think it would necessarily be any different even if both sides started equal but a man down. Formations would be 4-4-1 or 3-5-1. It's possible that everyone would play the way Man United and Rangers did in Europe this week, when both teams won magnificently by nil goals to nil.

It's not 11-a-side that's made football more negative, it's the absolutely all-important imperative of repeating Champions League qualification to mainatain projected revenue streams, and the overall dominant philosophy that results matter more than style.