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Football tactics are complex chains of reasoning. Football tactics have a chaos theory element. Football tactics must always return to certain key tenets of space and movement. Very bright people are employed to stare at this seeking the tiniest margins of influence. But sometimes you do wonder about the obvious things.

For example, the great innovation of the past 15 years has been the way teams attack “between the lines”, as embodied by inside-forwards, false nines and their many shades. We remember the story of Pep Guardiola’s late-night phone call to Lionel Messi back in May 2009, babbling about switching his role to “the Messi zone”.

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This wasn’t new: Hungary were doing the same thing to England’s rigid lines 66 years before. But it created a trend and pretty much all elite teams are now geared to attacking that area between midfield and defence, between full-back and centre-half. This is how the best players torture defences. Between the lines: this is the weak spot.

So, just a thought. Why are there still lines? Why, if between the lines is such a problem, are we still offering up a flat back four, a three, a deep five? Why do defences still set up like they’re expecting an attack based on the previous 120 years of linear orthodoxy? It’s as though two decades after the invention of the musket the French infantry is still insisting the answer to this game-changing ballistic weapon is brighter battlefield tunics and a more inspiring trumpeter.

And yes this kind of “child’s eye” tactical pub-chat sounds more convincing when it comes from, say, Johan Cruyff, who had the advantage of being a genius, seer and visionary. And no doubt most managers would