Commentary
Working on your crosses? Don't bother
- by Paul Gardner , Feb 22, 2010
By Paul Gardner
When David Beckham was flying high with Manchester United 10 years ago, he presented his admirers with something of a problem. Even they could
recognize that he was far from being the best player in the world, he wasn’t that fast, his heading and tackling were nothing to write home about and he couldn’t dribble worth a damn
either.
How to describe him in the glowing terms that he surely warranted as a good-looking superstar? The press solved the problem by anointing Beckham “the best crosser of the ball
in the world.” This was a category and a title that had never been heard of before, but it went over well in Britain. Which was logical, for the Brits have always had a sort of mystic
relationship with the cross.
In the 1940s and 1950s that was the way you played the game, you had two fast and tricky wingers who would race toward the goal line, over would come a tempting
cross and then ... just at the right moment! -- the burly center forward would come charging up, to meet the ball powerfully with a thunderbolt of a header that ripped past the goalkeeper for a
breath-taking goal.
Sounds great -- and actually, I’m not exaggerating that much, things often did happen that way. The name typifying that sort of play was Tommy Lawton, who scored
many a superb goal just like that. But Lawton has gone, he died in 1996, and the robust simplicity of the game he played has gone with him.
You don’t see many goals like that these
days ... and yet, strange to relate, the British obsession with the cross is as strong as ever. This makes little sense to me, because I am convinced that most crosses are dealt with pretty easily by
modern defenses.
A definition is required. I’m treating as a “cross” any aerial ball that is played from the flanks into the penalty area from within a distance of say 30
yards back from the goal line -- farther out than that, it is hardly a cross, more of a long forward ball. I’m also including corner kicks and free kicks -- provided they are played in the
air.
The vast majority of the crosses it seems to me are speculative -- they are not aimed at a specific teammate, they are lofted into the penalty area in the hope that they will find a
teammate. Nothing more complicated than that -- put the ball into “the mixer” and hope for the best.
So I have done some research into this matter, checking up on myself to see
if I’m getting this right. Admittedly, rather primitive research, but it’s a start. I chose a couple of games from this past weekend, one from Spain (Barcelona vs. Racing Santander), one
from England (Everton vs. Manchester United), and went through them looking for crosses.
The stats are admittedly slender -- observations on just two games -- but what they reveal is
emphatic -- so much so, that they astounded even me -- and I was more or less ready for them.
| Game (Crosses) | Crosses causing danger | Crosses resulting in goals |
| Barcelona 4 Racing 0 (17) | 3 (17.6%) | 0 |
| Everton 3 Man. United 1 (63) | 6 ( 9.5%) | 0 |
The enormous difference between the use of crosses in the Spanish and English games is surely significant. If it be argued that the choice of Barcelona, with its intricate passing game, skews the results, I would argue that it is a fair comparison of one of Spain’s top teams against ManU, one of England’s.
There is also the stunning news that despite 80 (repeat, eighty) crosses, not one of them led to a goal being scored. Two of the goals (Dimitar Berbatov for ManU, Dan Gosling for Everton) did come from balls played into the area -- but these were ground balls, much closer to being accurate passes.
Everton
and ManU used the cross 63 times, which works out pretty nearly at once per minute of actual playing time. Yet it has a zero success rate, and registers only a 1 in 10 rating on "causing danger." That
makes it sound hopelessly dumb.
But, who knows, maybe the carpet bombing of aerial crosses merely makes the ground ball more effective when it comes as a sudden surprise. Could be, I
suppose. Though I’m far from convinced.
No doubt I should take a look at more games -- some Italian, some German, some Argentine. And some MLS. But before I get into that, there is
another factor involved in the above statistics which cries out for an explanation.
Obviously, Everton vs. ManU is one of the great traditional derbies of British soccer, and I’m
treating it as a prime example of the British game, and why not? Well, here’s why not. The reasoning begins to crumble when you realize that the majority of the players involved in that
game were not British.
Of the 22 starters, only 9 were British. Four of the five subs used -- for short periods -- were British, making it 13 out of 27 players who were British,
still below 50 percent.
How is it that players from Argentina, Spain, Russia, Ecuador, South Korea, Bulgaria, France, the Netherlands and South Africa can so far subdue their natural
playing style that they produce a “typically British” helter-skelter derby game bristling with crosses?
There is the fact that both coaches are British. Scottish, actually. But
surely, they can’t have that much influence, can they?
Very interesting read, thanks. First, I guess I didn't know the definition that a cross had to be a ball received in the air, I always took it literally as a ball sent "cross" the field into the box. Fair enough, but that leads me to want to see a further classification of scoring opportunities (cross, ground "cross", breakaway, etc.) and their relative success rates. Would be a fascinating set of statistics if captured over a higher number of games.
Forgot I had one other comment, might be obtuse, but is it possible that developing crossing accuracy also helps with set piece accuracy? Thinking of Beckham, hitting a lot of crosses may have been what helped him become such a set piece expert?
So, basically we can cut 15yrds off the field on either side ? You have to remember, soccer is NOT a game where results are supported by "stats" Shots on goal, etc ! Respectfully this is the old "american mentality" that will ruin the game ! Crosses are a very important part of the game weather or not they result in a goal and on top of that one of the most appreciated (when scored from) from a fans standpoint!What we (USA) must realize is not everything that we are not good at as a whole needs to be changed ! I.E. Rugby to Football, Netball to basketball, and Cricket to baseball ! all these may have worked for us but i truley believe if its not broke dont fix it !
The obvious line of reasoning that is not accounted for is that (for example) my teams conquer the flanks and prove dangerous from there specifically to open up the central regions of the field; so that we can attack more directly, but only after drawing out the opponents central strength. If there were no successful flank attacks one could organize a defense which severely clogged the center and payed no attention to the outside whatever. This would result in very few successes from a more developed, central attack, which you claim is the only place successes are happening.
Another point that might be considered is the level of play. For a veteran, well trained professional defender, you have a point, but for a college or high school team, there is nothing that will make defenders have a moment of pause quite like forcing them to defend a whipped in cross while they are recovering and facing their own goal.
Cheers.
Look at Rooney's recent form (including 2 against West Ham today) and you'll see lots of headed crosses. Valencia, Nani, Park & others have been feeding Man Utd's scoring machine a steady diet of delicious crosses of late.
Paul - Good stuff. One need look no further than Arsenal to see team not equipped to take advantage of an attack designed on crosses. Even with players who are strong in the air, a cross into the mix will more likely result in giving up possession. Possession soccer dictates passing and control of the ball with crosses mixed in - not the central attacking option. I would classify a true cross as a ball thrown into the mix and not a pass directed to a teammate.
Can't pass up a chance to point out that crossing is not a lost, useless art. Today's League Cup final saw Rooney head home the game-winner off another pin point cross from Valencia. Paul surely doesn't let facts get in the way of making his point.
Nearly two weeks on and another headed goal from Rooney...this time off a Neville cross. Good thing Sir Alex doesn't read Paul's columns!!