Gary Neville says England players have had no influence over the formation head coach Steve McClaren will use in today's European Championship qualifier against Macedonia.
McClaren was reported to have decided to scrap the idea of playing 3-5-2 - which he has experimented with in training this week - and reverted to the more accustomed 4-4-2 system after i ntervention by squad members.
But Neville is adamant whatever line-up England use at Old Trafford is down to McClaren and his backroom team as they search for a third successive win in their group.
The Manchester United defender said: "We haven't had any input this week on how we will play or what we will do against Macedonia.
"Of course, we are talking to the manager and the coaches regularly about things which occur in training sessions.
"But, regarding people saying we will influence what system we will play, that isn't happening - and hasn't happened. I don't understand where that has come from."
Neville believes it is important to experiment with systems and McClaren reverted to 3-5-2 for the final half-hour of the win over Andorra last month. He said: "I am comfortable with the idea of flexibility, with the idea of a manager who knows it is prudent to play a different system if there are difficulties tactically in a game.
"It's something that happened under Glenn Hoddle, Terry Venables etc. Manchester United went to Benfica last week in the Champions' League and played 4-3-3, whereas most of the time we would play 4-4-2.
"It doesn't mean to say we will always play that, but we know we can switch to different types of formation within matches."
The perception is that England are playing with more freedom under McClaren than his predecessor Sven-Goran Eriksson and his opening three games in charge have yielded ten goals with none conceded.
