Without trying to generalize the world of football, the trends that we are looking at in today’s game has brought us a more static and strategic game. Many football fanatics are in awe of “De Zerbi Ball”, Guardiola’s use of half spaces and short passes, Maresca’s incredible work at Leicester and now Chelse, and Xabi Alonso ingenious tactical contributions in Germany.

However, the tendency is that we can’t see the forest for the trees. We focus on the build up play, we draw lines on the tactic board that many times doesn’t make much sense and we encourage teams that risk it all in their own penalty area.

Don’t get me wrong, it is, indeed, very impressive and interesting. I prefer to watch this football a whole lot more rather than the classic kick-and-run style of the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

But it does take away focus from a part of the game that has always been there and will always be there: scoring goals. The best coaches in the world do also put a lot of emphasis on how to break down a low defensive line, which runs to make and how to get to the most dangerous areas of the pitch, but we tend to see less of those tactical analyses.

But Why?

Why that is I am not too sure. Maybe it is harder to pick out, or maybe it is just not as interesting for people to look at as it is to see the goalkeeper feeding midfielders with passes, or an outside back acting as a central midfielder.

Anyways, I find it very interesting to watch these teams in the final third. How they use runs and numerical superiorities to break up the defense, how they arrive at the end line to put balls into the box, and how these patterns can be applied to teams of lower level and with players of less talent, players like me.

As the outside backs in today’s game are located more centrally on the pitch and act as central midfielders more than wide runners, we tend to see them less and less arriving at the end line for crosses. The data shows us that the majority of goals in the big leagues are scored in the box, and many of them come from crosses. I don’t, however, see enough focus and effort of freeing up space and time to put in crosses of quality.

Visualization

This visualization below (done by Paul Riley) demonstrates from where all goals were made in the Premier League 2019/20. I have included this illustration to further emphasize the fact that in order to score a lot of goals we need to get the ball in the box. If we can create enough time and space on the ball, while close to the penalty box, I believe that the chances of scoring will be higher.

There are many ways to get to the end line and no tool is necessarily better than the other. It depends a lot on the characteristics of the players playing, their tendencies and their relationships on the field. Personally I do have favorites though; first the overlap and second, the underlap.

The overlap feels to me as it is as old as time itself, and likewise, at times, forgotten. Watching my own team’s training sessions, training sessions online, and other teams training I see that exercises such as 2v1, 3v2, and 4v3 are constantly used. Unfortunately, it seems as there isn’t really any more thought put to the exercise. This can drive me crazy at times.

The concepts that could be taught in these exercises seems to be left for the players themselves to figure out. But, I will come back to these exercises later on.

2. Why the overlap?

The overlap is the perfect weapon to give our players enough time and space on the ball to put a good cross in the box, whether it is high, low, a cutback, on the penalty spot, or the first or the second post. The overlap relies on numerical superiority and well-timed passes and runs. There are mainly two situations where the overlap is very effective: counter attacks and in untangling a low defensive line.

2.1 The counter attack

In counter attacks we often rely on the decision-making of the individual with the ball. I believe that if we instill a pattern in our counter attacks, they can become much more effective. When Mo Salah takes off running on a counter attack, he doesn’t need a pattern. He is faster than everyone else and the few times he isn’t, he’ll beat them on the dribble anyway.

Less talented players on lower levels of football can, however, benefit from a rehearsed pattern. It lets them rely less on their creativity and decision-making in the moment when they have a template of what they can and should do when their own imagination isn’t there for them.

The premise of the pattern is to create a numerical superiority of 2 to 1. Whether the situation is a 3 vs 2, 4 vs 3, 2 vs 2, or 5 vs 5, the most effective and “easiest” numerical superiority is 2 vs 1.

We are twice as many players as the opposition. In the clip below, we have a decent example of how we can create a 2vs1 in a 3vs2 situation. I don’t think it was executed to perfection by any means, but as it results in a goal and it is relatively clear in this video what I am explaining, it works.

Video explanation

This is a counter attack where Bayern Leverkusen scored recently. There are a couple of things that are important in this video. First, we recognize that it is a 3 vs 2 situation. The overlap has already been initiated early on by Wirtz, who we can see on the right flank. Now, the first key action in executing this correctly is that Xhaka is driving towards the closest defender.

This is going to free up our player overlapping. If Xhaka were to drive towards the center space between the defenders, it would change our numerical superiority from 2 vs 1 to 3 vs 2, which we do not want. As he is driving towards the defender, the defender is eventually going to have to choose, either to open up the outside channel for our player overlapping, or to close this channel and lead Xhaka towards goal or towards our third player.

Second key action is our third player that we see on the left flank. This player will not touch the ball in this sequence, even though he will in many other scenarios. However, he plays a crucial role in maintaining our 2 vs 1. By staying wide, as he does, he is forcing the second defender to stay with him wide. If the second defender were to drift towards Xhaka, well then this player would be left open. So once again, it is key for this player to stay wide.

Photo Breakdown

The third important moment; the timing of the pass and the run. In this action, I believe that Xhaka pulls the trigger too soon. If the timing of pass is executed well enough, the player overlapping will have enough advantage and time on the ball to play a good ball with his first touch, or even go towards goal.

In this sequence, Xhaka could’ve waited out the defender one second longer, which would’ve put Wirtz in an even better position to pick out a pass on his first touch. But as the sequence results in a goal, we have to admit that it was done well enough.

The end justifies the mean…at times.

The second scenario, that we don’t see in the video, would be that the first defender closes the pass to our overlapping player. Depending on the situation and the distance towards the goal this would allow us to do one of two things: either we go straight for goal or we create a new 2 vs 1 against the second defender.

If the 1st defender chooses to close the overlapping channel, it will force the second defender to slide in and defend the player on the ball. Now the open player is our wide man. The same guidelines apply to this situation.

2.2 Untangling a low defensive line

This is where the overlap becomes even more effective in my opinion. Teams today like Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, even Liverpool this season, face more often than not teams that fall back to their own box and defend with at least 5 defenders.

In order to break down such defensive line, there are several tools that can be used, and one of them is the overlap. Numerical superiority can be utilized many in different ways. Through the overlap, through the underlap, through overload, through isolation, and so on.

What makes the overlap so attractive to me is the simplicity of it and the fact that even on the highest levels it seems quite hard to defend when executed correctly.

The following video shows several overlaps that are executed well:

In these clips, we see the three key moments that I mentioned earlier: numerical superiority, a timed run, and finally a well-timed pass. We are not guaranteed goals when these three moments are executed well together, but we are guaranteed enough time and space on the ball to pick out a good pass or a good shot.

The clip showing Arsenal’s Ben White overlapping Saka is my favorite as we can clearly see the low defensive block of 5 defenders that they’re facing and how this overlap create a lot of uncertainty in the defense and gives White enough time on the ball to pick out a clear cutback pass.

3. Practice

As I mentioned earlier, these concepts need to be practiced repeatedly in order for them to work during a game. The timing of the run and the pass isn’t something that can be learned from a tactic board—it has to be developed on the pitch through repetition. Some players might pick it up quicker than others, but all players, regardless of their level, are capable of adding this to their toolbox.

The exercise most commonly used around the world is the transition exercise, where we focus on 2v1, 3v2, or 4v3 situations. Here, we can work on all the points I have mentioned throughout the text.

However, it is crucial to communicate clearly and specify the objectives of the exercise; otherwise, it can devolve into chaos. In the video below, we have two excellent examples of the movements that should be practiced and later applied in game situations.

The ball is played wide, and the overlap is executed. The key is that the wide player receives the ball and drives toward the defender at the correct angle. If the central player doesn’t pass the ball wide and instead takes on the defense immediately, we end up with a 3v2 situation rather than a 2v1. The angle at which the wide player drives the ball enables him to capitalize on all three options this situation provides: passing to the overlap, passing to the third wide player, or taking a shot.

Conversely, when the ball isn’t played wide and the central player has possession, the angle of attack often limits him to only two options instead of three.

The video below provides a great example of this.

When the ball isn’t played wide, the defender can screen one of the wide players, turning it into a 2v2 situation. The significant difference here is that the defenders gain control instead of the attacking players, which is something we want to avoid.

In the Toolbox: The Overlap

In Focus: Imanol Alguacil