Chelsea need more than Tammy Abraham on the end of Reece James’ crosses

Reece James is becoming Chelsea’s best source of accurate crosses into the penalty area, but too many of them are sailing through because only Tammy Abraham seems interested in connecting.

Reece James is a striker’s dream, particularly the target man style of striker of which Chelsea nominally have two: Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud. James’ crosses are so good because they do not pass through just one useful point. Yes, James can accurately hit a single stationary target, but that is of no use outside of a training ground populated with mannequins. The weight and trajectory of James’ crosses take the ball through a continuous series of useful points, at any one of which a teammate can apply a touch to send the ball into the net.

But Tammy Abraham seems to be the only one of James’ teammates eager to do so.

Abraham is usually the only Chelsea player in the right areas of the box to connect with a cross. The wingers stay wide and only come inside when they are dribbling towards the top corner of the box (Willian) or towards the goal line to set up a low-angle shot, cutback or low cross (Callum Hudson-Odoi). Mason Mount stays closer to the top of the box. N’Golo Kante is often the next best player besides Abraham to put a finish onto a cross, but his height often precludes this.

Abraham can obviously only cover one part of the box, and therefore only one segment of the path of James’ cross. He opts for the centre of the box, near the penalty spot, as most strikers do and should.

But because Chelsea have no one else driving towards the goal as James lines up the cross, they have no chance of catching the goalkeeper or defence out with a run towards the near post for an early header, or lurking at the back post for a header or tap in.

Olivier Giroud has made near-post runs throughout his career. If he came on as a substitute he would provide a major challenge for the opponent’s defence. After getting a handle on the timing and placement of the James-to-Abraham link-up, Giroud would shift the point of contact and shave a few milliseconds off when the cross became a shot. That’s enough of a disruption to let him continue scoring late goals as a super sub, if Frank Lampard were to ever bring him on.

Or, if Lampard played Giroud and Abraham together, they would stretch the opponent’s defence as Chelsea would have two centrebacks moving in opposite directions, threatening to hit the same cross from different places and times.

The other two-striker option would be Abraham and Michy Batshuayi. Batshuayi would be there for rebounds and knock-downs from Abraham’s initial contact. As he has always done, Batshuayi could patrol the top of the six-yard box ready to knock in any loose balls.

Similarly, Abraham should have someone covering behind him at the back post. Mason Mount would be the most likely candidate, as he plays on the left in the shadow striker role. He should be waiting for anything from James that gets past Abraham.

Another option would be to send one of the centrebacks into the box, particularly late in the play. Against Newcastle, Chelsea often had Jorginho and Cesar Azpilicueta as their deep coverage as the centrebacks pushed up towards the box or lingered on set plays.

Chelsea are making it easy for their opponents to defend against Reece James’ crosses: all the opponent needs to do is cover Tammy Abraham. This reduces James’ crosses to the training ground plays where he just needs to ping a mannequin from 30 yards, which devalues his passing. By having players running onto a larger segment of the path of his crosses, the Blues will have more opportunities to score from less defended and less predictable positions.

Using a different striker, an additional striker or directing other players to find their best spot to connect with a cross will complete the offensive edge James brings to the side.