The underlap has quietly won the argument

The overlapping full back was the defining run of a decade, and defences have learned to make it the cheapest one to concede.

There was a period when the overlap was the whole plan. Winger comes inside, full back goes outside, cross into the box, and defences genuinely struggled with the width because the covering midfielder had to travel a long way to deal with it.

Defences do not struggle with it any more, and I think the reason is embarrassingly simple. The overlapping run ends in the one place the modern low block is most comfortable defending, which is wide and deep, facing a player whose only remaining option is a cross from near the byline into a box containing five or six defenders. That is not a chance. It is a lottery ticket with a bad price.

The underlap is a different proposition because of where it finishes. A full back running inside the winger arrives between the opposition full back and centre back, roughly in line with the edge of the box, facing goal with the defence still turned. From there the pass is a cutback across the six yard line, which is the single most productive delivery in the game because the receiver is running onto it and the goalkeeper cannot come.

The cost is real and it is the reason the overlap survived so long. Running inside means abandoning width, and abandoning width lets the opposition squeeze. It also puts a defender in a central area, which is a horrible place to lose the ball. That is why sides that underlap heavily either have a midfielder swinging out to hold the touchline or accept that they will be narrow and simply overload one side.

What I find revealing is how quickly the same logic spread to teams with no interest in possession football. Even direct sides now prefer the run that arrives at the corner of the six yard box over the run that arrives at the corner flag.

The old argument that overlapping stretches a defence still has something in it. Do it once and the covering midfielder has to respect it for the rest of the half, which is what creates the inside lane in the first place. So the honest answer is that the overlap is now a decoy with occasional intent.

Which is a demotion, not a retirement. It is still the run that makes the good one possible, and it will keep getting applauded by people watching the ball rather than the space it opened.