Incredibly low cross completetion, tips to improve?

[Cummins]

Evening all,

I've been working on a standard 4-4-2 (standard) formation and I'm noticing and INCREDIBLY low cross completion rate considering I've got two up front.

Set-up is:

GK - GK(D)

DL - FB(S)

DR - FB(S)

DC - DC(D)

ML - W(S)

MR - W(S)

MCL - DLP(D)

MCL - CM(S)

STL - DLF(S)

STL - Poacher(A)

Mentality - Standard

Team Shape - Flexible (considering swapping to fluid as I have a reasonably large gap between MC / ST a lot of the time)

Two recent games for example vs very weak opposition (bottom of the table):

Game #1- Total Crosses 53 // Completed: 9 (~17%?)

Game #2 - Total Crosses 47 // Completed 2 (~4%?)

Important stats for 3 main strikers I rotate (or what I think is important) NOTE: PLAYING IN CONFERENCE SO 8=ACCEPTABLE 10=DECENT 12=GOOD FROM MY EXPERIENCE

Turner: 176cm / Heading 10 / Jumping 10 / Anticipation 10 / Off the Ball 12 / Acc 14

Knowles: 178cm / Heading 9 / Jumping 11 / Antipicaption 9 / Off the ball 11 / Acc 9

Burdett: 183cm / Heading 6 / Jumping 7 / Anticipation 11 / Off the ball 12 / Acc 9

So Burdett is probably a little weak in the air but with using mixed crossing, surely some of them will be going to feet too? Perhaps I should consider switching to low crosses?

Important stats for wingers:

MR Crossing 10 / Technique 10 / Anticaption 9 / Decisions 9

ML Crossing 11 / Technique 12 / Anticpation 5 / Deicions 10

From what I can see in the games it seems to just be a mix of poor crosses (some poorly executed, some way too early) and them just being defended against effectively.

Any insight on improving this as I'm not really sure how to amend it. Perhaps a more attacking role in the CM to support and help get on the end of crosses? Perhaps lower tempo so the wingers hold onto the ball a little longer though this could cause my MCs to hold onto the ball for too long I assume?

Any other issues / flaws you can see in the tactic you are welcome to mention too, trying to keep the tactic simple and watch for issues.

[Cummins]

Any thoughts from anyone? I'm going to try and change up my tactics a little today and see if I can fix anything I guess!

[RTHerringbone]

Both the full backs and wingers are presumably contributing to those poor crossing stats, so it might be worth analysing if it is just a Winger issue, or if the full backs need a separate course of action. Do you use any Team Instructions?

Both the full backs and wingers in Support are likely to hit early crosses rather than getting too far up field to make the delivery, which further affects accuracy. Is crossing an intentional part of your strategy? You mention that the conversion rate is low (it definitely is in the second game, not so poor in the first - that's just two games, do you have a wider sample to get a view of what your real average is?) but is the absolute number you attempt part of the plan? Your Roles imply that it is the plan, so perhaps you need to try to alter a few things.

You could deploy an Attack Duty here or there on the flanks to encourage them further forward before making the cross. Your strikers don't really have a great deal of height, so you will struggle to get on the end of aerial balls, so resorting to low crosses might make use of their decent Off The Ball movement. I'd also see where the strikers tend to move, as you could use the Cross Aim options to target favoured areas.

[summatsupeer]

I would watch the crosses back and see what the defensive situation is like. Ideally you want crosses to go in when the defenders are running at there own goal. If they are able to setup and everyone is just standing around waiting for crosses I would expect a lower success rate unless you have a dominating forward.

[Cummins]

That makes sense I guess. Follow up question if you can, in a DLF-S / AF-A combo, I'm assuming the majority of my cross completion will be aimed at the AF-A? Or would the DLF-S charging from deep end up converting more crosses? I'm just trying to weigh up wether I need to put slightly more focus on heading/jumping for one of the players than I currently have.

[RTHerringbone]

That makes sense I guess. Follow up question if you can, in a DLF-S / AF-A combo, I'm assuming the majority of my cross completion will be aimed at the AF-A? Or would the DLF-S charging from deep end up converting more crosses? I'm just trying to weigh up wether I need to put slightly more focus on heading/jumping for one of the players than I currently have.

Neither will take precedence unless you have asked one or the other to be targeted. However, if both wingers are on Support then they will be pinging in crosses early so by default, the AF (A) will typically be further advanced and so indirectly becomes the focal player. Watch a few crosses back via the Prozone tool and you'll get a clearer idea of who is where, when crosses are delivered.

[ajsr1982]

Looks like you really need to analyse what's happening with your crosses in the analysis screen.

Ideally, when the cross comes in, I'd want the following.

- One striker, probably the most advanced one, hitting the front post.

- Two players attacking the middle. Probably the DLF and a central midfielder. Not the end of the world if it's only one of them, I guess.

- The other winger looking to get in at the back post or beyond.

Is that happening? If you're hitting early crosses from deep, probably not, is my guess. You can tweak the wingers and the CM to do this with 'Get further forward' and 'Cross from byline'. 'Look for overlap' could also help to slow the play up and get full backs crossing from more advanced positions.

I'm not so sure about the use of the Poacher. I may well be wrong here, but my understanding is that he's the Michael Owen type of forward that plays on the last man and is therefore better supplied with through balls.

None of your forwards are that tall. 183cm is six feet, I believe. Crossing is an inevitable part of football, but is that the best way to supply your team? Turner looks like he would thrive more on through balls. Is it actually worth turning down the crossing?