The last time England beat Germany they played three at the back and ended up having medals placed around their necks.

It was a little over four years ago, at Canada 2015, and the win secured a third-place World Cup finish but there is currently an even more compelling case for Phil Neville switching to a formation that might just enable him to marry philosophy with practicality.

Neville’s predecessor, Mark Sampson, outwitted Germany’s then coach, Silvia Neid, by deploying a midfielder, Jo Potter, out of position at the heart of England’s backline.

It proved a highly successful, one-off gamble but, in Arsenal’s Leah Williamson, Neville possesses precisely the type of talented, natural sweeper in the making that teams are often built around.

England’s coach could do with pulling a tactical rabbit from the hat when Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s Germany come calling for a high stakes friendly at a sold-out Wembley on Saturday.

Neville, remember, remains “under pressure” following a dismal run of results stemming from the Lionesses’s France 2019 semi-final defeat against the USA and could do without another stumble in a showpiece fixture celebrating the burgeoning growth of the women’s game.

Before last month’s narrow, and somewhat fortunate, victory away to lowly ranked Portugal, England had gone five games without a win, recording four defeats along the way. Their coach bridled when it was pointed out that a similar sequence, albeit in a different context, cost Hope Powell the job in 2013 but it has been evident for a while that all is not quite right.

Tellingly, the Lionesses seem to have forgotten how to defend crosses and set pieces and frequently appear ridiculously vulnerable to diagonal balls into the penalty area. Far too many soft goals have been conceded of late and, for a supposedly remodelled passing side, possession is regularly forfeited much too cheaply.

Neville tends to fluctuate between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 but a potentially more secure 3-5-2 or, possibly, 3-4-3 would permit him to not only make the most of the hitherto underused Williamson – who, significantly, has looked elegantly assured in a back three and central midfield at Arsenal – but truly showcase Lucy Bronze’s attacking qualities in a new right wing-back role.

Such a framework might offer England the shape and structure to control games in a manner they have found so elusive in recent months. With some slightly flattering wins airbrushing a few blemished World Cup performances during the summer, the only game en route to the final four that they genuinely dominated was the quarter-final demolition of Norway.

Otherwise, they oscillated between convincing 20-minute cameos and passages of alarmingly slapdash stuff, with Ellen White’s goals and Jill Scott’s dynamism camouflaging numerous deficiencies.

Phil Neville has shown a worryingly thin skin in the face of criticism in recent months. Photograph: Tess Derry/PA

After the Lionesses lost the third-place play-off to Sweden in Nice an apparently throwaway remark from Bronze rang alarm bells. “Phil’s said himself he’s not the best coach with the best tactics,” said Lyon’s right-back. “But he’s helped us become a better team.”

It sounded suspiciously like damning with faint praise yet the idea appears to be that Neville’s blend of welcome emotional intelligence – like all the best managers he prioritises properly understanding his players’ psyches – and big-game nous is leavened by his assistant Bev Priestman’s mastery of the small print. “Phil’s man-management’s world class, so you have to allow him time to concentrate on it and not get bogged down in details,” Priestman says. “It means he can get the best out of everyone.”

Unfortunately the balance does not seem quite right at present and England’s manager is clearly not coaxing optimal performances out of certain players he privately believes have started to cruise a little.

By way of further complication, the previously very likable Neville has developed a strangely thin skin when confronted by mild, largely constructive, journalistic criticism of the sort he once claimed would be “healthy”.

In mitigation, the disappointment of losing a third successive major tournament semi-final evidently exerted a hefty psychological toll but England are also suffering from a lack of natural wingers. Although Beth Mead, Nikita Parris and Toni Duggan occupy wide attacking roles, they are converted central strikers and there are ersatz moments when it shows.

Philosophy is a particularly sensitive sphere. Neville’s interlude living – and briefly coaching – in Valencia has clearly exerted a profound influence on his thinking and he has repeatedly reiterated he will “live or die” by the team’s patient, build-from-the-back, passing principles. Pragmatism has become a dirty word.

Yet suspicion mounts that this England side are infinitely more suited to a hybrid, faster, slightly more direct style, offering them scope to tailor tactics depending on the opposition. The current approach certainly does not flatter the Euro 2017 top scorer Jodie Taylor, a specialist in accelerating on to early passes.

Admittedly, stylistic transitions take time and require patience but perhaps evolution rather than revolution is called for? As the Lionesses joke about Neville’s love of training-ground rondos, the nagging fear remains that imposing a Spanish passing dogma on the class of 2019-20 is not exactly playing to their strengths. There is a fine line between idealism and zealotry.

Five years ago England faced Germany in another Wembley friendly – their first fixture at the national stadium – and lost 3-0. Sampson made the mistake of trying to outplay Neid’s then all-conquering side and experienced an epiphany.

It led him to rip up an originally expansive blueprint and replace it with the often direct, counterattacking, sometimes defensive, invariably varied, gameplans that eventually left the Lionesses dancing with joy at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.

Maybe, just maybe, going back to the future and road-testing a back three at Wembley might form the first element of a creative compromise that ultimately enables Neville to locate his inner alchemist and turn bronze into gold.