The Rangers full-back trend that can help overcome low-block challenge

The 2010s was dominated by the overlap as teams increasingly used their wide defenders in attack. While still commonplace, the 2020s has seen the evolution of the underlap.

Full-backs are more technical than ever given they are required to contribute offensively and as the popularity of wingers has risen worldwide, likely in response to increasingly-organised defensive structures, it’s become commonplace to see full-backs move inside the pitch and invert their position. 

Take this example from Rangers’ 4-0 defeat at the hands of Ajax on matchday one of the Champions League.

In this scenario, Rangers have 11 men behind the ball and look to be in a strong defensive shape. They’re compact and their positioning is staggered in case Ajax look to play between the lines.

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Ajax need to move the defensive block and create space, they do so using a rotation. Their right-back, Devyne Rensch, moves inside the pitch while Steven Berghuis comes short.

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The coordinated movement is made quicker than Ryan Kent and Glen Kamara can react, allowing Berghuis to receive the ball and find Kudus, who reverses play into Dusan Tadic on the right-wing.

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Berghuis can continue his run and wins the corner that will provide the game's opening goal.

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Football is full of fine margins when seeking to break down a defence. The role played by Rensch in this move is indirect but vital.

He starts here in a conventional right-back position.

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Rotating infield confuses Rangers' man-marking scheme and opens up the passing angle to Tadic by keeping Borna Barisic pinned. If Rensch doesn't move infield Barisic can focus his full attention on Tadic and perhaps prevent a corner.

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This is a small example of how an opponent dismantled Rangers’ defensive shape with the help of an underlapping full-back run. Could we see a similar tactic deployed at Ibrox?

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This was a move James Tavernier increasingly made last season. However, without a consistent option wide on the right aside from the captain, he’s been unable to invert quite as consistently.

The only time Giovanni van Bronckhorst has opted to play with touchline-hugging wingers, enabling full-backs to influence the game infield, came during a 3-1 win over Queen of the South in the League Cup earlier this season. The game showed how the tactic can make an impact against deep defences.

Take this example. Adam Devine (right-back), Rabbi Matondo (right-wing) and Steven Davis (centre-midfield) have formed a triangle on the right. Matondo’s width is stretching the pitch and Davis’ position is pinning the defence deep.

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As the ball is worked from Devine to Davis, the veteran midfielder moves away from goal and is followed by his man. Leaving a gap Devine can exploit following Matondo’s forward pass.

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He cuts the ball back into the path of Scott Arfield who doesn’t get a clean connection on his shot.

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We can see another example closer to goal minutes later. As the ball is worked wide to Matondo, most people would expect Devine to go around the winger (red line) but he opts for the underlap (white line).

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This enables him to get on the ball in a closer proximity to the goal and splits through the defence as opposed to going around it. This time Devine tests the keeper instead of cutting the ball into the path of Robbie Ure.

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One final example comes from the opposite flank, Ridvan Yilmaz’s cross to set-up Arfield's goal.

As Kamara moves the ball left, Yilmaz sets off on his run. When the ball reaches Fashion Sakala, pinned to the touchline and stretching the opposition, the Queen of the South right-back isn’t tight.

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This is another positive of the underlap, it’s difficult for defences to prevent. Queen of the South’s right midfielder is forced to track Yilmaz into the defence while their right-back is unable to stay tight to Sakala as Kamara moves play wide, because of the space it will leave in the defence.

Sakala plays a ball around the side that Yilmaz runs onto and after a deft piece of skill, the Turkish international assists Arfield. 

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The underlap unsettles defences because so many aren't primed to defend these penetrating, central runs from deep. The combined countermovement of a winger going wide, stretching the defence, and full-back exposing the central space can therefore provide a deadly combo.

If Rangers can find a solution to unleash Tavernier infield and Yilmaz sees game time soon, this tactic could prove a useful tool when facing deep defences.