Crossing

[JJ_Blue]

What is it with Chelsea football club and our inability to cross the ball?

The majority of Free kicks, corners and crosses are terrible and rarely beat the first defender or are over hit.

When we rarely get into a position behind the away side and crying out for a top quality ball in the box we end up fluffing it.

We have Ba who thrives on balls into the box but we rarely feed him. When we do he scores!

Our play is too central and the away sides just flood central midfield.

Last night FSW should have gone 4-4-2 and bought either Ramires/Oscar off. Marin should have come on as he is a tricky player who uses the width (what we was crying out for last night)

The pattern of our play is so predictable making it relatively easy to play against. It's very Barca-esque in terms of short passing except we end up going nowhere.

[CunningStunt]

Is this a joke??? Mata is arguably the best crosser of a ball I've ever seen. Lamps is also quality and hazard puts in goo crosses a fair bit. 

[ForeverCarefree]

Moses adds a lot of balance to the attacking front three.

 

What I like abut him is that his first thought seems to be to get to the byline and either cut the ball back or cross it rather than come inside and go central. 

 

I would like to see Hazard do this more often because he has the ability to beat his man but his first thought does seem to be geared towards going towards goal. 

[JJ_Blue]

Is this a joke??? Mata is arguably the best crosser of a ball I've ever seen. Lamps is also quality and hazard puts in goo crosses a fair bit.

I think your joking. Mata rarely beats the first defender on his delivery. If you were at the game or watched it on TV you would have noticed that last night. He may whip in 1 out of 7.

I agree with the Moses point. He uses the width and takes people on which is what we need when things are closed off in the middle.

Hazard, Mata and Oscar seem more intent on cutting inside and playing short 2-5 yard passes instead of using the width.

We were desperate for width last night but never used it.

Edited January 17, 2013 by JJ_Blue

[CunningStunt]

I think your joking. Mata rarely beats the first defender on his delivery. If you were at the game or watched it on TV you would have noticed that last night. He may whip in 1 out of 7.

I agree with the Moses point. He uses the width and takes people on which is what we need when things are closed off in the middle.

Hazard, Mata and Oscar seem more intent on cutting inside and playing short 2-5 yard passes instead of using the width.

We were desperate for width last night but never used it.

 

You are talking absolute crap regarding Mata.

[JJ_Blue]

Very educated response highlighted with all those factual elements which make my point utterly void.

[bjd]

Id agree the crossing in general is poor. The amount of times a corner or a free kick in a dangerous position often fails to beat the first defender is far too high and its not good enough.

 

Mata is the best of a bad bunch but still has a long way to go before id call him consistent.

 

For the record the best crosser of the ball at the club (with both feet) is Paulo. Sadly he gets little chance to show that talent these days.

[nonotnowjim]

Far to often we are not clearing the first man at corners. Hazard has been one of the most guilty. He often tries to whip in a fast corner to the near post, but often fails to clear the opposition marking that space.

 

Mata is good at deadballs, specifically freekicks, one of the best, but his corners have been substandard this year.

[CunningStunt]

Its pretty hard to find videos or stats specifically focussing on set pieces by one player. I watch every minute of every single Chelsea game and I'm extremely confident in my belief that Mata is the best crosser I've seen in a Chelsea shirt

[ForeverCarefree]

Its pretty hard to find videos or stats specifically focussing on set pieces by one player. I watch every minute of every single Chelsea game and I'm extremely confident in my belief that Mata is the best crosser I've seen in a Chelsea shirt

His assists tally since joining the club helps give some weight to this.

[JJ_Blue]

Mata is the best in a Chelsea shirt i don't disagree however his delivery is not good enough consistently. We need players who can constantly deliver top quality crosses into he box for our forwards to get on the end of.

We are trying to hard to play like Farca meaning we don't cross the ball we would rather play our way through with short passing through the eye of the needle and its not good enough. We are not Farca and nor will we be. They are a unique blend of players we should be playing to our strengths not to how another team plays.

[JJ_Blue]

Forevercarefree to be honest the majority of assist he has are not from crossing.

I am not debating a single player but his crossing is the best of a bad bunch but is far from being good enough.

His free kicks, on goal, are top draw but generally ones into the box are easily cut out or over hit.

I'm not knocking Mata because he is by far our most influential player but for us to break teams down we need more width and better crossing into the danger area.

[Bluehatter]

We don't cross the ball anywhere near enough for my liking. Last night was crying out for a 442 with marin and hazard crossing for ba and torres. Same old 4-2-3-1 narrow with no width.

[Guest RFC_CFC]

Crossing is poor but we tend to try and open up teams through the middle which if not working sees us out of ideas.

We need to go 4-4-2 at times like last night and just hammer balls into the stirkers.

[ForeverCarefree]

The problem with crosses during open play, with the exception of Ba, Torres and Lampard who is there to aim at in the box? 

[bjd]

Its pretty hard to find videos or stats specifically focussing on set pieces by one player. I watch every minute of every single Chelsea game and I'm extremely confident in my belief that Mata is the best crosser I've seen in a Chelsea shirt

 

 

Hell of a statement that. Not meaning to sound pedantic but how long have you been following Chelsea?  its just id be interested to see how that dictates your statement.

Edited January 17, 2013 by bjd

[CunningStunt]

Mata is the best in a Chelsea shirt i don't disagree however his delivery is not good enough consistently. We need players who can constantly deliver top quality crosses into he box for our forwards to get on the end of.

We are trying to hard to play like Farca meaning we don't cross the ball we would rather play our way through with short passing through the eye of the needle and its not good enough. We are not Farca and nor will we be. They are a unique blend of players we should be playing to our strengths not to how another team plays.

 

I'd argue that because Mata play's in the middle his opportunities to cross are more limited than Moses or hazard. He's also not as good at beating players as those 2 so the only time he crosses from open play (generally) is from deep. Add to this the fact that all our players have only had Torres to aim for and you can understand why they don't cross it.

 

I think Mata's crossing in the last few games has actually been below his usual standard but they're still good. He put a nice one in last night to Ba on his wrong foot. I think he tries not to cross in open play most of the time because it just looks like long ball football and we've been drilled since at least the summer to try and play through teams.

[CunningStunt]

Hell of a statement that. Not meaning to sound pedantic but how long have you been following Chelsea?  its just id be interested to see how that dictates your statement.

 

Since early 90's. Lampard is the only one that comes close I think. And I agree it is a big statement, which I haven't just made up. I've been paying attention to Mata's set pieces all year and he's exceptional. I'm extremely confident in this view which is why I'm so amazed that more don't agree.

Edited January 17, 2013 by CunningStunt

[Guest RFC_CFC]

I don't see Mata as a fantastic crosse of the ball tbh.

he's a hell of a player but that's not an area I think he excels in.
 

Last night he struggled badly with his cross or lofted balls into the box.

[Bluehatter]

I agree with cunning! I think mata is a great crosser of the ball but he doesn't do it enough. 

[bjd]

Since early 90's. Lampard is the only one that comes close I think. And I agree it is a big statement, which I haven't just made up. I've been paying attention to Mata's set pieces all year and he's exceptional. I'm extremely confident in this view which is why I'm so amazed that more don't agree.

 

Interesting, i think perhaps your view is clouded because he is the best of a bad bunch at the moment, but i respect what youre saying.

 

Off the top of my head some of the best crossers of the past 20 years would be Wise (though i recall his corners were awful to start with), Dan, Duff, Belletti, Le Saux, and ive already mentioned Paulo already All of which id have above Mata. Sure there is plenty more.

[CunningStunt]

I forgot about Le Saux. His crosses from open play were exemplary. 

 

However I think the game has moved on in the last decade. Crossing has declined due to the balls becoming more difficult to control, so seeing someone with the quality of Mata is a rare sight. There are very few elite crossers any more, but Mata is definitely one of them imo.

[big blue]

I think we get excellent delivery from corners, cahill, ivan, and jt, must have over 10 goals between them.

cole is really poor crosser though, but I think the problem is we dont put enough quality balls in from behind the oppositions defence.

its takes us that long to reach the byline were usually just putting in balls in front of defenders tp head clear.

[JJ_Blue]

I'm talking crosses from a wide position. A cross isn't a ball over the top of defenders into a players run.

We don't get a ball out wide for a player to run onto and whip a dangerous cross into the box.

I think his vision is exceptional but not his crossing.

[JJ_Blue]

There are many exceptional crossers of the ball in the EPL imo. I don't really rate him as a footballer but Downing can cross a quality ball in, Shaw of Saints for 17 is a very goo crosser of the ball etc.

Mata has the ability but not consistent enough and also add to that the fact that we need out and out width on both sides, you can't just rely on one side to cross as that is easily defended.