The Fine (or Not) Art of Crossing - Missing from the Game or a Thing of the Past?

[Gone to seed]

Saw this article in the Grauniad this morning https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/dec/08/crossing-in-football-like-swearing-and-mixtapes-just-isnt-like-it-used-to-be

Was reminded in the Nostalgia Thread about the once devastating impact of crosses (e.g Speedie's second goal against the Barcodes, an unstoppable flying header from a Hendry cross). Just wondered whether anyone else has an opinion about the fine art of getting down the flanks and delivering the ball into the goal area? The 'Great' Rovers sides from my memory always had wingers capable of storming down the flanks and delivering deadly ammunition for our (generally prolific) strikers (think Noel the King of Ewood Park, Windy Miller, Handbag, Graeme Le Sausage meets Garner, Speedie, Shearer, Kuqi, Rhodes etc)..

My view, for the little it is worth, is that a good cross will always unsettle the defenders and goalkeeper, putting them on the back foot or creating hesitancy and doubt about whether to come for the cross. The Guardian take appears to be that crosses are no longer a viable weapon in the armoury, with Arsenal delivering over 40 against Spurs at the weekend to no avail (they also mention a United game under Moyes (yes, that really did happen!) where they had 81 crosses against Fulham). You do need a strike force that has enough guile and guts to get on the end though, so if your overpaid heroes are doing anxiety about head trauma, you can likely forget it (they have the right to enjoy their lovely full-sleeve tats later in life, just the same as ordinary folk, ya know)..

What are your thoughts? 

[philipl]

Crosses remain a devastating weapon especially if you are able to get defenders turning and facing their own goal.

So effective that with the higher fitness levels and ability to substitute half a team, defenders getting out to block potential crossers far more than they used to IMO.

I would also suggest the science of blocking balls has improved dramatically- players seem to be far more effective in selecting the right body part to optimise chances of a non-handball block. The lighter balls means a block is no longer risk of injury as used to be the case.

Plus a cross is pot luck finding your own player whereas a pull back pass finds your own player more often than not. With the emphasis on possession and the improvement in average players' ball retention skills has meant crossing is more discretionary compared with the old fashioned getting down the touch line to the by-line and swinging it in every time.

[simongarnerisgod]

crossing is still a vital part of the game,it appears less so these days because of the tippy tappy no end product that goes on in the premier league,though if you can deliver an accurate  cross to a striker who is anticipating and get the defence turned round it`s still pretty handy to have,the two clumsy oafs from burnley wood and barnes are especially adept at it  and in the past lee chapman was brilliant at it,if there was a good cross coming over chapman would invariably get on the end of it,it`s a real weapon to and it`s a mystery to me why more teams don`t have a big man up front

[Exiled in Toronto]

9 hours ago, philipl said:

Crosses remain a devastating weapon especially if you are able to get defenders turning and facing their own goal.

So effective that with the higher fitness levels and ability to substitute half a team, defenders getting out to block potential crossers far more than they used to IMO.

I would also suggest the science of blocking balls has improved dramatically- players seem to be far more effective in selecting the right body part to optimise chances of a non-handball block. The lighter balls means a block is no longer risk of injury as used to be the case.

Plus a cross is pot luck finding your own player whereas a pull back pass finds your own player more often than not. With the emphasis on possession and the improvement in average players' ball retention skills has meant crossing is more discretionary compared with the old fashioned getting down the touch line to the by-line and swinging it in every time.

You make a key point there Philip about possession being seen as much more important these days, plus teams are much better drilling in fast counter-attacks, so hit and hope crosses are perhaps seen in the same way now as keepers booting the ball upfield - just a good way to give the ball away and not get it back again for five minutes.

[LeftWinger]

I don't think they are as big a part of the game as they used to be - due to the change in formations.

Gone are the days of the old-fashioned winger getting to the byline and whipping a cross in for one of the two strikers in the middle.

I miss the days of Ripley beating his man and Shearer thumping a header home or Bentley creating a bit of space and putting it on Santa Cruz' head.

[Gone to seed]

Thanks for the contributions, gents. I think my main aim in starting the thread was to explore whether the art of crossing the ball has become irrelevant in the modern game - as I noted in my initial post, Arsenal lumped 40 plus crosses into the box against Spurs, all to no avail. I think the reference to United and Fulham (81 crosses) was a similar story (I stand to be corrected of course..).

There is something very exciting about a well delivered cross being met either with a boot or header (for the time being at least until the H&S brigade get their way), and it is something of a mystery to me why we don't see more wing play and crosses these days. It certainly wrong-foots defenders and gets a crowd going (yeah, I know, crowd - what's one of them then?)

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by WIR Second Coming
I'm just a Bat geordie fastard..

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just lumping it in from wide positions is just wasteful. I like to see were a player ( usually a winger but not always ) can get around the back of the defence and get the opposition playing facing their own goal. Then not every cross has to go high. Armstrong has spanked a couple of really good balls pulled back all along the ground into the back of the net recently.

[bazza]

Jason Wilcox was the best crosser of a ball I've ever seen at Rovers. The only one we have at the moment is Harry Chapman.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, bazza said:

Jason Wilcox was the best crosser of a ball I've ever seen at Rovers. The only one we have at the moment is Harry Chapman.

The best Rovers crosser I've seen, and I've seen a few - Alan Shearer, especially off that right wing.

[oldjamfan1]

12 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The best Rovers crosser I've seen, and I've seen a few - Alan Shearer, especially off that right wing.

Simon Garner was similar, a terrific crosser of the ball. Maybe its because him and Shearer knew exactly where a centre forward would want the ball delivered?