Belgium manager Marc Wilmots appears to have changed his mind about Tottenham pair Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld and will play both in central defence in their final pre-Euro 2016 friendly.
Vertonghen, 29, and Alderweireld, 27, have been mostly used as full-backs by their national side despite forming a strong central defensive pairing for Premier League runners-up Spurs.
With Belgium losing the likes of captain Vincent Kompany, Zenit St Petersburg's Nicolas Lombaerts and Club Brugge's Bjorn Engels to injury, Wilmots has repeatedly been asked about his use of Alderweireld and Vertonghen.
And, having watched Jason Denayer and Thomas Vermaelen play in the heart of Belgium's defence in a 1-1 draw with Finland on Friday, the coach has now decided to change his approach for Sunday's friendly against Norway in Brussels.
"I never said I was unhappy with Thomas Vermaelen," Wilmots told a news conference on Saturday. "I found they both had a good game.
"I think I'm a coach who plays attacking football so I need men who are quick and can play one on one and very high up the pitch.
"What I noticed was the lack of communication between the two... I have a kid of 20 who's beginning to be coached and a player of 31 who's more concerned with his physical problems.
"It's the first time that they played together and I found they lacked communication between them. That doesn't mean they had a bad match because we only gave up one chance.
"Since then I said to myself I had other solutions at right-back. I think Toby is someone mature who's grown, who likes to direct a defence and has done it at Tottenham.
"I think it's the best solution for Belgium to put Toby Alderweireld back as the right-sided centre back.
"I think that 70 percent of defending is talking, communicating, when do you leave you leave your man... talking with your midfielders... If I had two months with a club I could sort it out.
"But here I had three days. So I have to find the best solution as quickly as possible."
Wilmots' decision was made easier as Vermaelen is unfit to play on Sunday; Denayer will move to right-back and Oostende's Jordan Lukaku, younger brother of Everton forward Romelu, will start at left-back.
Wilmots also revealed he has been getting his strikers to work on their finishing after watching them pass up a host of chances against Finland before Romelu Lukaku's late equaliser.
He said practice, rather than words of encouragement, would help their success rate and it would have the added benefit of testing Belgium's keepers too.
"Maybe you watched training yesterday and what we worked on -- finishing for all the strikers for half an hour," Wilmots said. "Why? Because the best way to finish chances is to practice.
"I hear a lot of players saying they never do it with their clubs. That's a shame. Because, honestly, I did half an hour after every training session.
"That's why I leave a quarter of an hour or half an hour free afterwards because it's with these crosses, these volleys, these crossed runs to the front post... if you don't work on them, you're not ready.
"If you only get one ball that comes to you, there's a good chance you'll miss. If you've already got 45 before, and 45 times you say 'I could improve that' you'll come up with the right finish at the right moment."