When England fullbacks Rico Lewis and Trent Alexander-Arnold switched sides positionally, it got me thinking: when the opposition doesn’t press, a fullback could move at speed, almost like an overlap on the wing, to help overload the opposite wing.

When the opposition doesn’t press the defenders, the game becomes a bit stale and predictable. Teams will then look to create movement within the half-spaces or middle of the pitch; they’ll rotate central or have wingers invert to open up space central.

There are two areas where the opposition allows there to be space: on the wings and at the back.

The natural move is to work the ball through the wings, where the space forward is, where the opponent wants you to move the ball.

The way in which the opposition presses Rico Lewis will be different from how they would press Trent Alexander-Arnold. Rico Lewis operates more like a pocket-playing midfielder, playing one-touch passes. Lewis’ marker would want to stay close to him. Trent normally likes to take at least one touch before playing the next pass. His marker wouldn’t need to mark him as close; they can mark Declan Rice closer because they’re anticipating that Trent won’t play a pass on his first touch.

The first potential option is to have both fullbacks switch to the opposite side of the pitch. They can either move into the midfield (Rico Lewis), coordinating movement with the midfielders (Declan Rice moves back to cover out wide right), or do a straight swap of positions out wide (Trent Alexander-Arnold), with the midfielder ahead holding their position central (Jack Grealish).

When the fullbacks switch sides, the opposition midfielders on either side have to adjust their marking assignments, and how tightly they mark Rico Lewis and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

That could disrupt the pressing triggers for the opposition, opening space central.

The second potential option is to have one fullback hold position and have the other fullback switch to the opposite side of the pitch.

There’s space between Angel Gomes and the two center-backs for Trent Alexander-Arnold or Rico Lewis to switch sides at speed. One stays on their side while the other switches positions to the opposite side.

Declan Rice rotates back wide right to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold as he switches to the left side of the pitch.

Now England can overload the left wing and work the ball through three diagonals while maintaining appropriate cover at the back.

Those are two options not often seen because most fullbacks from before were not capable of playing in midfield or on the opposite wing, but things are changing.

England interim manager Lee Carsley recently said:

Most fullbacks now were wingers; most center-backs can play central midfield.

And I would argue most fullbacks now can play in the midfield. I think their versatility might be underutilized because you rarely see them switch to the opposite wing, unlike the striker, wingers, or midfielders. Modern defenders are more versatile.

Switching sides might cause the attacking team to be more defensively vulnerable when they transition to defense because the fullbacks might not be used to defending on the opposite side of the pitch, but in games where the opposition is inferior, the risk to reward seems favorable for the attacking team.

I think this can create space in ways not normally seen.