Ainsley Maitland-Niles has a fair skillset and may well develop into a serviceable player, but there is currently no consensus on what his best position is. The one thing we can all agree on after Thursday night is that he isn’t a left wing back.

In the first half, Nacho Monreal took up a fairly wide position in the back three to allow himself space to build play from deep in an area the Cologne players wouldn’t look to pick him up in. However, the knock-on effect of this is that Maitland-Niles didn’t know whether to hug the touchline or step inside where Monreal was stationed to provide an option and also draw the right-sided midfielder to give Nacho space should he want to travel with the ball or play a one-two, resulting in the youngster looking lost at sea.

To his credit, he fared a lot better when moved to central midfield after Arsenal’s half time adjustment.

After adjusting their distribution of players, Arsenal looked more at ease against what Cologne had to offer them. They moved the ball better and always looked the more likely to score the game’s next goal. Everyone looked happier doing what was asked of them and there was suddenly a sinus rhythm to what had been a flatlining performance.

This upturn of fortunes is categorically not an argument for scrapping the 3-4-2-1, but rather an argument in favour of adapting your formation and tactics based on what the opposition present you with.

Next, why wait until half-time?