Just when England seemed to have it all worked out, Sarina Wiegman must go back to the drawing board.
Lauren James's suspension is the latest headache for the head coach, who is being tested like never before in her career.
"I've never experienced so many problems," said Wiegman yesterday, after the Lionesses scraped past Nigeria on penalties to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
"[But] that's my job, to think of things that can happen in a game, in a tournament. You try to turn every stone and think of a solution if things happen."
Wiegman has already had to deal with several issues to reach this stage. Before the tournament, she lost captain Leah Williamson, playmaker Fran Kirby and star forward Beth Mead to injury.
Then Keira Walsh injured her knee in their second group game, forcing the Lionesses to shift from their usual 4-2-3-1 formation to a 3-4-1-2.
It worked wonders against China, when James scored two goals and set up three more in a 6-1 win, but her suspension leaves Wiegman with a problem.
Ella Toone is the obvious replacement for James, but she is short of form and has not started since the opening game against Haiti.
Jordan Nobbs is another who could fill the No10 role, but she has not played a minute all tournament.
A left-field solution would be to drop striker Alessia Russo deeper, although that would have the feel of too many moving parts.
Nigeria did an excellent job of nullifying the Lionesses, and there is a debate over whether Wiegman even sticks with her new 3-4-1-2 system.
The main beneficiary of the tactic against China was James, but her absence weakens the argument to stick with it in Saturday's quarter-final.
Nigeria kept James quiet all game, deploying midfielder Halimatu Ayinde to follow her wherever she went. It led to James's frustration eventually boiling over and she was shown a red card after her stamp on Michelle Alozie.
James was not the only player who struggled.
Walsh, miraculously back fit after being carried off on a stretcher against Denmark 10 days earlier, was not able to exert her usual dominance in midfield.
Credit must go to Nigeria for keeping her quiet. They were defensively excellent, but Walsh also felt a victim of the England formation.
The Barcelona midfielder likes to drop deep to pick up the ball, but with three centre-backs behind her she was denied the space to do so.
England ended up going long a lot more, trying to get strikers Lauren Hemp and Russo down the channels, and Walsh was often bypassed.
The 26-year-old is an intelligent footballer and could undoubtedly learn to play with a back-three, but a return to England's usual 4-2-3-1 formation seems to make sense.
Walsh came off yesterday complaining of cramp, but she expects to be fit for the quarter-final and reverting to a back-four would allow her the space to dictate the pace of play.
Wiegman has so far made six changes to her starting XIs at this World Cup, more than she has in any of the three major tournaments she has coached at.
After being viewed as someone who is reluctant to make changes, the 53-year-old has shown she is happy to tinker and tweak things based on who is available.
Despite a host of problems, Wiegman has navigated England this far and underlined why she is regarded as one of the best coaches in the world.
She has passed every test thrown at her since taking over the Lionesses in 2020, but things could be about to get tougher as she prepares for a quarter-final without James.
