They say necessity is the mother of invention and even in defeat against Fulham, Mark Robins and Stoke City may have found a way forward.
Stoke are without something approaching a full team through injury and that has played a major part in the collapse of their promotion challenge.
But despite only having a couple of training sessions in which to implement it, Robins' decision to turn away from the 4-2-3-1 he's predominantly used this season almost helped his team to an FA Cup upset.
With the run of results they've been on, the 3-4-2-1 they deployed felt like something fresh and the Potters certainly have the personnel to play it.
They've always had an abundance of good centre-backs and Eric Bocat looks more comfortable in a wing-back role than he does as an orthodox full-back where his defensive deficiencies can be exposed.
He was excellent going forward throughout the game against top-flight opposition.
The change necessitated the selection of top scorer Sorba Thomas in a deeper role but ahead of him Bae Jun-ho and Lamine Cisse were lively.
Aaron Cresswell came in to offer quality distribution out of the back three and an extra defender behind him could liberate Tomas Rigo in midfield.
Stoke haven't got the depth to rotate their wing-backs, particularly with Junior Tchamadeu out injured, but with only 14 league games to go, the new formation looks like a legitimate short to medium term option.