Why have Chelsea fans villainized high-volume crossers?

Chelsea fans, but also general football fans, have derisively referred to Hakim Ziyech as cross and inshallah*. This is to mock Ziyech’s seemingly frequent crossing, which isn’t actually as frequent as one might think and it is definitely not as frequent as it should be. The way crossing is regarded in the fanbase is as though it’s an inferior way of creating chances—which is wrong. Some of the most creative players and highest assisters are superb crossers of the ball.

There are a few reasons why crossing is extremely useful in football. Firstly, it’s the most direct way of getting the ball into an area of the pitch where most goals come from: the 18-and-six-yard boxes. Secondly, it bypasses several players. The best crossers are able to get the ball over the heads of opponents while dropping it at a level their teammate(s) can reach.

Crossing is such a tricky part of football because there are several times you see a player make a very good cross, but it misses its target by a hair’s width. This is why crosses have such a low percentage of completion because it’s only called a cross when it’s done in a specific context. For instance, balls played are only recorded as crosses when they’re played from a wide area aimed at a teammate to someone in front of the goal. This is also why crosses are collected separately from long balls and why they need to be. There’s no reason expert crossers should be villainized.

There are few creative players who create plenty of quality chances without crosses, they are the exception though, not the norm. Due to the nature of crosses, the best way to utilize them is to attempt more of them. On average, the fewer crosses a player attempts, the lower their crossing success. This is actually opposite to long balls, where an individual’s percentage is likely to be higher the fewer they attempt. Most of the most creative players in Europe’s top five leagues this season are very good crossers of the ball, and they make many crosses per game. This is partly because they are most likely on set pieces, but also because they often take the opportunity to cross when they see it.

In Europe’s top five leagues, 17 players have created 15 big chances or more at the time this piece is being written. Of those 17 players, 14 have a crossing accuracy of 20% or more, with three having exactly 15%. Of the three players that have a 15% crossing success rate, two of them are forwards. Being a forward is relevant because forwards aren’t going to get into many crossing positions, as it is often them the ball is being crossed to.

The best creators in Europe’s top five leagues being decent-to-superb crossers of the ball shouldn’t be a surprise. Of the 14 players with crossing accuracy of more than 20% or more, seven attempt more than five crosses per game. This proportion probably gets bigger if you reduce the number of big chances required to be included in this study. Of these seven players who attempt more than five crosses per game, four of them have completion rates between 28% and 36%. For crossing, that is relatively high. Those rates are the highest out of these 17 players who have created 15 big chances or more.

This shows that the best crossers attempt more crosses and complete more than others, as well. This should come as no surprise. The other important thing to note is that in every top five league, crosses are a constant source of quality chances.

This does not mean that players will not create clear-cut chances if they do not attempt many crosses. However, it is only players from certain types of teams that can create plenty of clear-cut chances from non-crossing situations. Thomas Muller and Kylian Mbappe have created the joint-most big chances in Europe’s top five leagues (21). They also both play in teams that are extremely dominant and have superb off-the-ball movement. They, admittedly, do not attempt many crosses per game. Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dimitri Payet rank joint-second (18). Of those three, Alexander-Arnold and Payet attempt more than seven crosses per game.

At Chelsea, crossing seems to be frowned upon. The Blues have some very good crossers of the ball at their disposal but, for whatever reason, these players do not attempt nearly as many crosses as they should. One explanation for this is that the manager, Thomas Tuchel, has discouraged it, as it means you lose the ball more. However, Chelsea’s counter-pressing is so effective that it’d almost certainly win the ball back before too long if it does lose it.

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No one at Chelsea has created up to 15 clear-cut chances in the league this season. When you consider that the Blues do not have superb off-the-ball movement, it means crosses would be a perfect source of clear-cut chances for them, especially considering that their two main center forward options are Romelu Lukaku (6’3) and Kai Havertz (6’2).

It gets more interesting though. At Chelsea, the top four best crossers of the ball are also ranked in the top four in terms of big chances created. Mateo Kovacic is the only player that is not in both categories, as he ranks second in clear-cut chances created and he is not among the top four crossers in terms of volume attempted. Is it a coincidence that the players who cross the most in the team are the players who create the most clear-cut chances?

A strong case can be made that Chelsea creates most of its clear-cut chances from crosses. It was mentioned earlier in this piece that there are players who can create plenty of clear-cut chances without plenty of crosses, but they are likely to either be forwards or players who play in teams with excellent off-the-ball movement. Other teams, however, usually need to create more from the wings, hence, crosses.

Four players lead the crosses attempted chart for Chelsea: Marcos Alonso, Mason Mount, Reece James and Ziyech. Of those four players, Alonso ranks first for crosses attempted per game (5.5), while Mason Mount ranks first for percentage of crosses completed per game (29%). In both categories though, Ziyech ranks bottom. This further proves that fewer attempts in crosses usually accompany lower percentages. From the data presented, Ziyech is the worst crosser of those four, however, from previous seasons, Ziyech had gathered a reputation of being a superb crosser of the ball. Therefore, it begs the question: what changed? It’s simple, he stopped doing it, or at least he started attempting a lot less of it

In Ziyech’s last three seasons at Ajax, he averaged 28% (2019/20), 31% (2018/19) and 29% (2017/18) crossing accuracy. He also averaged 8.2, 8.1 and 10 crosses attempted per game respectively. Unsurprisingly, he created the most clear-cut chances in all those seasons for his side, as well. Is it therefore a surprise that as he has started crossing much less, he has had a lower success rate and is creating fewer chances?

Many said he would not be able to replicate his chance creation at Ajax when he arrived at Chelsea, but they may have been correct for reasons they did not expect. Ziyech is not replicating what he did at Ajax not because he cannot, but because he has not been allowed to. It’s obvious that crossing works in the Eredivisie just as well as it does in Europe’s top five leagues. It is no coincidence that the player with the highest crossing accuracy at Chelsea has created the most clear-cut chances. Big chances are one thing. General chances are another, and it should not come as a surprise to anyone that of the top five Blues on the chances created list, four of those players are also the players that top the crosses-attempted list. Crosses are clearly a rich source of chances for Chelsea, why the team doesn’t do it more often is baffling.

Crosses are an extremely important part of chance creation for any team. Sometimes, it’s the best avenue to create chances. The narrative that Ziyech would not be able to do whatever he was doing in the Eredivisie to create chances has been soundly proven to be a false narrative. Several players have done that to create chances in Europe’s top leagues, especially the Premier League.

*- This generally means ‘cross and hope for the best’, insinuating that the crosses have no real purpose and are just done for the sake of it.