Highest crossers in the League, but can't score from headers............

This is an interesting stat that we are the highest crosses in the league. We are also high up with regard to through balls and corners. Clearly we do not have an issue with our midfield creativity, and certainly not the wingers or fullbacks

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_cross.

As we know we have an issue scoring (14th in the stats). However we should delve into this a bot more. We have not scored any goals from a free kick, we have not scored any goals from a counter attack, we are 13th for goals in the box, 15th for goals out the box and most concerning 19th with goals from headers.

So what does this mean, and how can it be addressed. We are smashing in crosses but we can't score them??? Is this because the quality of the cross is poor? Is this because we have no Target Man to receive the crosses, hold the balls, head them in (that was Pele's job) or do the forwards we have like to have the ball at their feet and play it into the net???

I really think this is the crux of our problem. My simple resolution would be a target man (which I don't think any of our strikers are). Do we have any options in this area, do who could we sign to be that player.

It's sometimes down to numbers in the box and sometimes down to just rank bad execution.

Yesterday we got in behind down the left loads of times and put in a number of rubbish crosses. We are nowhere near as "defensive" or "boring" as a lot of poster on here make out.

This has bemused me all season. We sold our only real natural striker with presence in that regard(pelle) and yet all we seemed to want to do was slowly work the ball out wide and cross it into players unsuited to win headers in the middle, even when we did get sufficient numbers into the box. While the lack of a target man is a problem, i'm not overly a fan of the approach either.

Gallagher did well on loan at blackburn. Not sure if he might provide some presence option off the bench next season.

Reminds me of Barney Ronay's article a few years ago. The paradox is that for all the pretty triangles, we're relying on a pretty primitive means to get goals.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/14/david-moyes-manchester-united-crosses

We stack the odds against successful crossing when the build up play is so slow and sides have time to regroup (unless we're willing to overload and commit the fullback, difficult if, for instance, Redmond holds his run when Bertrand advances as seems to be the plan). Never mind the actual quality of those crosses and the (un)willingness to commit players in the box.

This is an interesting stat that we are the highest crosses in the league. We are also high up with regard to through balls and corners. Clearly we do not have an issue with our midfield creativity, and certainly not the wingers or fullbacks

 

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_cross.

 

As we know we have an issue scoring (14th in the stats). However we should delve into this a bot more. We have not scored any goals from a free kick, we have not scored any goals from a counter attack, we are 13th for goals in the box, 15th for goals out the box and most concerning 19th with goals from headers.

 

So what does this mean, and how can it be addressed. We are smashing in crosses but we can't score them??? Is this because the quality of the cross is poor? Is this because we have no Target Man to receive the crosses, hold the balls, head them in (that was Pele's job) or do the forwards we have like to have the ball at their feet and play it into the net???

 

I really think this is the crux of our problem. My simple resolution would be a target man (which I don't think any of our strikers are). Do we have any options in this area, do who could we sign to be that player.

We are a team of shortar5ses (Austin apart). I thought it was grossly unfair yesterday for Stoke to send out a team of giants against us.

Doesn't matter how tall your players are if you cross it along the ground. If we did more of that I'd be only too happy to see lots of crossing.

We are a team of shortar5ses (Austin apart). I thought it was grossly unfair yesterday for Stoke to send out a team of giants against us.

That is a fair point actually, although arguably more telling in defence than attack. I said before the match, "I bet they score a header".

Doesn't matter how tall your players are if you cross it along the ground. If we did more of that I'd be only too happy to see lots of crossing.

Yeah we were saying that all game, again.

That is a fair point actually, although arguably more telling in defence than attack. I said before the match, "I bet they score a header".

It's been noticeable for some time an our academy products have not exactly been banging their heads on the doorframe. Having Virgil in defence masks a lot ot deficiencies.

We also knew it would be a header and that Crouch would be the scorer. Makes you wonder why Cedric was left to pick him up.

I think we have too many players that either don't anticipate, gamble or attack the ball from crosses.

I think we have too many players that either don't anticipate, gamble or attack the ball from crosses.

Is that because they are not very good at it or because they have been told by the manager not to?

Is that because they are not very good at it or because they have been told by the manager not to?

the former I would guess players like Davis and JWP have a long noble history of not being able to score going back several seasons...

Our quality of cross has been appalling more often that not this season. The cup final it was fantastic. But I can't remember a season when I have seen so many of our crosses go straight out for goal kicks.

Our crossing on the whole has been terrible. Cross the ball all you want but if it's sailing over everyone's head then what can the strikers do about it?

Our crossing on the whole has been terrible. Cross the ball all you want but if it's sailing over everyone's head then what can the strikers do about it?

Indeed. Cedric's crosses in particular seem to be more often overhit than not, and have a wafting, looping trajectory rather than being flat. As for the OP, I'm not sure how any of the stats he's quoted prove that we don't have a creativity problem unless the fullback booming it in against a packed defense is what passes for creativity these days.

It always appears to me that we don't attack crosses, particularly at the near post. Although Gabbiadini was doing that during his scoring spree, but seemed to have lost it when he came back. Pelle used to make those runs a lot, too.

It's pretty obvious, but if you've only got one target for a cross, he can easily be marked. And if there's no-one attacking the near post, the defence can cut crosses out there, and that has been happening a lot. The near post run also pulls at least one defender out of the middle.

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We don't have a target. There have been times this season where we've hit it long and you just say to yourself...wtf is the point? It's aimed at Redmond, Tadic and co - they're not going to win it. The team needs to remember that Pelle has gone, we don't have a focal point up there anymore.

I think the club have tried to change the profile of the side into a smaller, tricky, technical kind of team - but in my eyes, that's what you get in Spain, that won't work here. I'd love to see us get a towering powerful midfielder to partner romeu and a tall, powerful centre forward. We'd instantly become more of a threat with crossing then, and we probably wouldn't miss as many balls in the middle of the park as we do now - Romeu is kind of doing the work of two DM's.

How high are our crosses, then?

Are our strikers tall enough to deal with them?

This has bemused me all season. We sold our only real natural striker with presence in that regard(pelle) and yet all we seemed to want to do was slowly work the ball out wide and cross it into players unsuited to win headers in the middle, even when we did get sufficient numbers into the box. While the lack of a target man is a problem, i'm not overly a fan of the approach either.

Gallagher did well on loan at blackburn. Not sure if he might provide some presence option off the bench next season.

nice observation,we are too damn slow to play the final killer pass.

How high are our crosses, then?

 

Are our strikers tall enough to deal with them?

Not as tall as the defenders whichever team we play against.

This ain't rocket science chaps. You sell Pelle, Mane and Wanyama. Austin gets injured, then so does your best and tallest player. What do we expect?

Any assessment of this season that excludes Pelle, Wanyama, Mane, VVD and Austin is, well, weird

Yes, tactically we play a game that suits having a big striker who can hold the ball up to allow the midfield to get near him and is good in the air to threaten the goal from all our crosses. We had one, we let him go. We don't have one now yet we've played this way for most of the season. It's mind bending....

This is an interesting stat that we are the highest crosses in the league. We are also high up with regard to through balls and corners. Clearly we do not have an issue with our midfield creativity, and certainly not the wingers or fullbacks

 

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_cross.

 

As we know we have an issue scoring (14th in the stats). However we should delve into this a bot more. We have not scored any goals from a free kick, we have not scored any goals from a counter attack, we are 13th for goals in the box, 15th for goals out the box and most concerning 19th with goals from headers

.

You can't mean the bit about no goals from a counter attack. 'Not enough goals' maybe, but ask almost everyone on this board for their most cherished moment of the season and the answer will be Shane Long's goal at Anfield.

You can't mean the bit about no goals from a counter attack. 'Not enough goals' maybe, but ask almost everyone on this board for their most cherished moment of the season and the answer will be Shane Long's goal at Anfield.

Agreed, but that was in the Cup, not the League where the stats are taken from.

We don't get enough bodies in the opposition box to support the isolated striker......................................bloody obvious all season!!

Wouldn't say its down to bad crosses, we don't have any strikers/midfielders who are good in the air, and generally we're crossing in to 1/2 players in the box.

It's been noticeable for some time an our academy products have not exactly been banging their heads on the doorframe. Having Virgil in defence masks a lot ot deficiencies.

 

We also knew it would be a header and that Crouch would be the scorer. Makes you wonder why Cedric was left to pick him up.

TBF given his lack of height (even in comparison to most other full backs) it's quite pleasing to see that he's only been absolutely done all ends up by a ball to the back stick once in two seasons. When Evra started at Man U he got found out about 5 times on his debut alone.

It always appears to me that we don't attack crosses, particularly at the near post. Although Gabbiadini was doing that during his scoring spree, but seemed to have lost it when he came back. Pelle used to make those runs a lot, too.

 

It's pretty obvious, but if you've only got one target for a cross, he can easily be marked. And if there's no-one attacking the near post, the defence can cut crosses out there, and that has been happening a lot. The near post run also pulls at least one defender out of the middle.

 

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Austin made a load of near post runs on Sunday. Unfortunately the ones where he actually got the ball were all wide of the near post from where a lone striker really can't do much other than play it back out wide, and of course plenty of the runs didn't end up in the cross coming at all. When you've only got one runner in the box against a set defence it's pretty easy to defend as you've said. The main fault for me is the lack of penetration into the box by the midfielders when the ball is out wide - no overloading for the defence to cope with and not much finishing ability even if they get there and have a shot. Boufal and Redmond are probably the most technically proficient finishers in the midfield and the former often doesn't give himself enough time to finish. As mentioned elsewhere, Davis and JWP are not good finishers and their strengths lie elsewhere.

I'm surprised it's not been discussed before but we've only got one attacking tactic: get the ball out to the wings and lob in high crosses to the opposition's central defenders and goalkeeper. Then try to get the ball back and repeat ad infinitum. Managers of other teams know that now so it makes us incredibly predictable and easy to defend against. If we had a Peter Crouch or Pelle it might make some sense but with our height-challenged team it makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm surprised it's not been discussed before but we've only got one attacking tactic: get the ball out to the wings and lob in high crosses to the opposition's central defenders and goalkeeper. Then try to get the ball back and repeat ad infinitum. Managers of other teams know that now so it makes us incredibly predictable and easy to defend against. If we had a Peter Crouch or Pelle it might make some sense but with our height-challenged team it makes no sense whatsoever.

No we don`t and if that`s your view you don`t watch much and would struggle to understand if you were explained different..

No we don`t and if that`s your view you don`t watch much and would struggle to understand if you were explained different..

As I'm a season ticket holder and also a PhD holder, I doubt that I'd struggle to understand our tactics any more than you appear to. There is a reason why we put in more crosses than any other team in the league and that's because that is just about our only tactic. There may have been a little variety earlier in the season (not much) but in the last few games that's all we tried to do. By the way, I'm not calling for Puel to go. He seems a nice enough bloke and I really hope he learns to try something different. With Les Reed making the decisions, it could very well be a case of our of the frying pan into the fire if Puel were replaced.

As I'm a season ticket holder and also a PhD holder, I doubt that I'd struggle to understand our tactics any more than you appear to. There is a reason why we put in more crosses than any other team in the league and that's because that is just about our only tactic. There may have been a little variety earlier in the season (not much) but in the last few games that's all we tried to do. By the way, I'm not calling for Puel to go. He seems a nice enough bloke and I really hope he learns to try something different. With Les Reed making the decisions, it could very well be a case of our of the frying pan into the fire if Puel were replaced.

You said one tactic not that we cross a lot only the second part is true

As I'm a season ticket holder and also a PhD holder, I doubt that I'd struggle to understand our tactics any more than you appear to. There is a reason why we put in more crosses than any other team in the league and that's because that is just about our only tactic. There may have been a little variety earlier in the season (not much) but in the last few games that's all we tried to do. By the way, I'm not calling for Puel to go. He seems a nice enough bloke and I really hope he learns to try something different. With Les Reed making the decisions, it could very well be a case of our of the frying pan into the fire if Puel were replaced.

I am not sure it's the tactic. The slow build up allows the other team to get their defence set so the only option is to go out wide for space.

Players like Tadic and Boufal struggle to create, again IMO, due to that slow build up, which means they either go wide or are crowded out just outside the box.

According to the premier league stats we didn't score one counter attack goal in the league all season.