Crossing Style
Balanced
- A balanced crossing strategy.
- No strong preference.
The team are not instructed to favour a specific type of cross. Instead, the team will decide for themselves which is the best cross for the situation, or based on their own preferences.
Positive Feedback
- A flexible crossing strategy.
- Allows players to judge the situation for themselves.
Negative Feedback
- Loses the benefits of specialising in a specific approach.
Floated Crosses
- Add elevation to crosses.
- Use team's aerial advantage.
Encourage the team to play high crosses with backspin into the box. This means that the ball will hang in the air for longer, which should allow the team's taller aerial threats to have a better chance of winning the header.
Positive Feedback
- Plays to the strengths of taller aerial threats.
- Harder for opponents to get distance on clearances.
Negative Feedback
- Opposition goalkeeper has more time to come out and claim the cross.
- Less pace on the cross means less power on the resulting header.
Whipped Crosses
- Hit crosses with pace and spin.
- Cause chaos in the box.
Encourage the team to play crosses with a lot of pace and spin into the box. Whipped crosses can be harder and more unpredictable for the opposition defenders to react to.
Positive Feedback
- Less time to react to the cross.
- Easier to generate power on headers.
Negative Feedback
- Whipped crosses are more difficult to perform accurately.
- Shots can be more inaccurate due to the pace of the ball.
Low Crosses
- Hit crosses along the ground.
- Play the ball to feet.
Encourage the team to play crosses along the ground. Crosses will be aimed to a teammate's feet in an attempt to create a higher quality shooting opportunity than you would typically get from a header.
Positive Feedback
- Creates higher quality shooting opportunities.
- Plays to the strengths of attackers with good off the ball movement.
Negative Feedback
- Crosses have a higher chance of being intercepted.
- Resulting shots have a higher chance of being blocked.