The Overlap

By Ethan Keogh

In my opinion, one of the most effective attacking tools and most difficult things to defend is the overlap. When a team attacks, the main thing they want to do is make the opposition players make as many difficult decisions as possible and the overlap creates one of these situations. I think if you ask most if not all top level coaches what is the most ideal attacking situation they would say having some sort of overload - 2v1, 3v2 etc. When you can create an opportunity where you have an overlap in a 2v1 situation it is almost impossible to defend. Usually these situations arise where an attacking winger dribbles at a defending full back, and the overlap is provided by the attacking full back, however it could happen anywhere on the field. Let's take a look at the details of this 2v1 overlap situation.

Attacking 2v1 Overlap

What are the important details in a 2v1 overlap? Decision making and Timing. The player on the ball needs to decide what is the best decision for that given situation and when to make that decision. As the attacking winger dribbles at the defending full back they ultimately have two main decisions - Pass to the overlapping teammate or continue dribbling. So how can the players make the best decision every time? The answer lies in the opposition players' movement.

Decision-making

I hate when coaches say that you HAVE to do a certain action in a certain situation because every situation is different and there are an infinite number of ways to reach the same goal but this concept that I will be talking about is a good framework to base your decisions on. When the attacking winger is dribbling at the defending full back, the best time to play your overlapping teammate is when the defender gets sucked towards the ball. The defender gets attracted to the ball, leaving more spaces in behind. The timing of this pass is vitally important but that will be covered later. If the defending player decides to drop off and follow the overlapping run then that is a fantastic opportunity for the attacking winger to continue dribbling inside. This simple situation has a simple solution yet so many players get it wrong.

Timing

Timing is everything! For me timing is the most important concept in football. A player can make the right decision but at the wrong time which then makes it the wrong decision. For example, in the overlap scenario I outlined above, if the dribbling player makes the pass too early or too late they are giving the defending player more of an opportunity to win the ball which now takes away the advantage of creating the 2v1 situation in the first. The timing of the decision is crucial. In the situations outlined above, it's important to remember that it is a lot more dangerous to play the pass too late than it is too early. When you play the pass too early at least the person playing the pass is goal side of the situation, whereas when you play it too late, the overlapping player is ahead of the ball and the passing player is now ahead of the ball. The chance of a dangerous counter is much more likely in this situation.

Timing can be instinctual for some players but it can also be improved upon through repetition. If a player practices the overlap 100 times they will find, through trial and error, when the optimal time to make the pass is.

Defending 2v1 Overlap

Defending a 2v1 overlap is probably one of the most difficult situations to defend in football. There really is no “Correct” decision because no matter what decision you make, you are giving one of those two attacking players an opportunity to move forward however the first objective for every defender in this situation is to Slow the Attack. The defending player ultimately has two options, drop off following the overlapping player or step up and try to win the ball from the attacking winger who is dribbling at them. For me, in every defensive scenario a player needs to decide what is the most dangerous option right now? The answer to that question is the scenario you prevent! If you know that the attacking dribbler is really effective at scoring when they cut inside and your center back teammates are pretty good at defending crosses then your decision is to prevent the winger from cutting inside. This scenario is about preventing the opposition from getting a great opportunity instead providing them a good opportunity. It sounds kind of crazy saying that providing the opposition with a good opportunity is a good thing but in this situation it is a good thing.

Slowing the attack

When defending a 2v1 overlap or any numbers down situation really, your objective is to slow that attack down as much as possible while also trying to identify an opportunity to seize on any errors. The longer you can delay the attacking players from making a decision, the more time you give your teammates to recover into a strong defensive position. This process of slowing the attacker down can be a little bit of a passive process at times as you feel like you are just letting them get closer and closer to your goal with little resistance but on the flip side of the coin if you dive in and miss the ball you risk giving the opposition an even easier opportunity.