Maybe with Becks on the wing and even then, we generally don't have enough bodies in the box

With Valencia, then no chance

wing play isnt the problem, our strikers are crap at attacking crosses and our wingers are crap at delivering them

This is the problem

http://livelifeunited.com/david-moyes-tactics-philosophies-analysing/

comment by Screen (U8522)
posted 20 seconds ago
wing play isnt the problem, our strikers are crap at attacking crosses and our wingers are crap at delivering them
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Not the strikers fault.
When you have to suffer pathetic cross after pathetic cross from your wingers it kind of gets to the point where you're just thinking what shall I do, shall I run into the box and hope he lands it on my head, shall I run to the corner flag because I know how bad this guy is, shall I sit on the edge of the box or shall I just not bother doing anything because he isn't gonna reach any of us with his crossing.

He still live great wing play, unfortunately we don't have the wingers or midfielders to allow it.

Terribly inefficient way of scoring goals.
Have a look here:
http://www.nessis.org/presentations/vecer.pdf
"Crossing in soccer plays a significant role in scoring, about 15% of all goals scored in the recent seasons of the English Premier League are the result of open play crosses. However, crossing from an open play is hugely inefficient, only 1 open cross out of 91.92 leads to a goal on average"

Works better with excellent crossers of the ball which we haven't had for some time. Fergie couldn't build a team without the tactic. Guardiola's teams only cross as a last resort.

It's not getting any harder, crosses will always be a part of the game. The problem is we don't have the quality to whip in a decent ball or play the type of football that allows us to have numbers in the box on the end of balls.

Just imagine being a striker having Valencia on the wing.
49/50 times he balloons it off the field or hits the first man.

What do you do?

I still love*

Guardiola's teams only cross as a last resort.



Everybody says this, but everytime I've seen Bayern this season they've crosser quite a lot.

This is a cross:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6QyPrwDwko

Valencia gets to the byline and hammers a cross at just below chest height as hard as he can.
Young cuts in and loops the ball towards the corner flag (Without looking).

I think Pep has upped his game to include a Plan B, he now has the physical players to compete with on crosses should the other team park the boss around the edge of the box. He also has more players willing to shoot from distance.

*Bus,

RVP would love those kind of passes Benched.

Who needs to beat players when you can do what Beckham can?

The art of a cross is getting it between defender and keeper. The best players are able to bend the ball around the defender, Becks never had to beat a man in his life.
Our wingers cross the ball in straight lines, usually when the defence is no longer running towards its own goal so the defenders are equipped to both clear it and watch the runs of the strikers.

Crossing a football really isn't very hard. It's just amazing his many professional footballers cannot manage a decent cross.

I used to love our wing play in the early 90's. (A young) Giggs , Sharpe, Kanchelskis all leaving the opposition full-back for dead. Sharpe was the only one though who could deliver a pin-point cross while still running at full tilt. Giggs had improved as he got older. We could play that way due to a strong midfield of Ince, Keane, Robson, Scholes. With our midfield today You cannot play that way as it get easily over-run if we lose the ball

Would like us to have the Full Backs overlapping and smashing them along the Goal Mouth from time to time instead of just hoofing it in the air, trouble anyway is we hardly have anyone in the box.

Crossing (from wide areas) must be the least efficient way of scoring