The overload: football tactics explained

Overload. Not just an underrated banger from the Sugababes in 2000, or an Arthur Hailey novel from 1979.

These days when most of us hear the term overload, we think football. As a tactical component it is basic, but it is what every coach and manager is wanting from their team when they are on the attack.

Let’s take a look at why everyone is chasing the overload and why it has become so important.

What is an overload?

Boiled down to its raw state, if the team with the ball is outnumbering the team without the ball in one area of the pitch, that is an overload. Teams that are able to consistently form overloads through their own attacking manipulation of the ball, will generally be able to create a lot of goalscoring opportunities.

But they can also be established by playing through an over-aggressive press. In addition we can also have a defensive overload. This, as you might guess, is when there are more defensive players than attackers in one area of the pitch.

Although the classic overload tends to be though of as an overlap into the penalty area, they don’t always occur in the final attacking third. For example, one of the simple and most effective overloads in the game for a team playing with a back four, is for the two centre halves to split wide. This allows a central midfielder to drop into the backline and receive the ball.

Most teams won’t aggressively press all three players, therefore the team with the ball has created a numerical superiority and begin to build-up from defence. When you’ve got both the ball and overload, it would take a genuine mistake, i.e a sloppy pass, to lose possession.

A common misconception is you need lots of players to create an overload, but it often simply to be a 2 v 1 situation that proves the most effective. And this is helped by close partnerships in your team.

Gary Neville and David Beckham were a prime example of this for Manchester United and England. It wasn’t always a case of Neville simply overlapping his best mate. The duo were expert at working closely together on the pitch, knowing when it was the right time to a double up on one opposition player and keep the ball moving.

What the pros and cons of focusing on overloading?

The pros are obvious with this one. If you can create an overload, you have almost certainly created some uncertainty in the opposition defence. Likewise if you’ve created a defensive overload, the player on the ball can be rushed into a mistake or panicked into making the wrong decision.

To focus on attacking overloads, they often lead to chances in the final third. You can be Pep Guardiola or Sam Allardyce. Whatever your managerial philosophy, every coach that has ever existed wants chances in the final third.

You can also progress up the pitch quickly, break lines and pull out the opposition defence. So everyone wants overloads. But what should you risk to get them?

If you commit to creating overloads, you need technically excellent midfielders and ball-playing defenders. Let’s go back to example of a midfielder dropping between the centre-halves.

The midfielder doing this needs to be able to play on the half-turn and also be comfortable receiving the ball in tight spaces. This might sound simple, but doing it at the top level against top quality opponents capable of performing a high press, it isn’t easy.

There’s a time to chase overloads. Sides will have to shift players out of the team shape to create one. That makes you vulnerable to a counter-attack if the overload doesn’t end with a goalscoring opportunity.

Once the ball is turned over, the opposition could look to exploit there own numerical advantage. Always look for movement to create overloads. But don’t risk it by throwing kitchen sink too early.

More tactical explainers

We have several tactical explainers to help you understand more about football.

When it comes to midfields, we have pieces on what a box midfield is, how double-pivot midfields function and explainers on the No.10 and the No.6, as well as attacking and defensive transitions.

We also have explainers on what gegenpressing is, what target men are how inverted full-backs work and what ‘between the lines’ means, along with explainers on overlaps and overloads.