How Arsenal, Liverpool & Bayer Leverkusen Are Using Crosses To Create More Chances & Goals - Tactical Theory

Since last season, Arsenal have been consistent in creating goals from crosses.

This season (not including the game vs Leicester last weekend), Arsenal have already scored 11 goals from crosses, which means they're just seven goals away from matching last season's total.

Their 0.5 assists per game this season are the same as last season's, making them the league leaders in both campaigns.

While Liverpool might not be as prolific as Arsenal, they also just scored again from crossing situations during the last Merseyside Derby, making that goal their eighth from crosses.

Liverpool are also seven goals away from matching the 15 goals they scored in the last Jürgen Klopp season.

In Germany, one thing that has stayed the same for Bayer Leverkusen since last season is their knack for scoring from crosses.

They've already scored 11 goals this way, putting them among the top teams in the Bundesliga.

The Number Of Crosses Has Increased In Recent Years

It's interesting to look at this trend because crossing isn't usually the best way to create chances.

In 2014, Jan Vecer wrote that, on average, only one open cross out of 91.47 leads to a goal, and writing for The Athletic Tom Worville, said the average cross from open play creates a goal just once in about 76 crosses.

The popularity of crosses has also declined.

Eight years ago, on Stats Perform Garry Gelade wrote that the number of crosses in top European football declined from around 17.5 per match in 2010/11 to 15 in 2016/17.

The Premier League also had some dips, from 17.8 crosses per 90 minutes in the 2020/21 season compared to 17.2 in the following season.

But the last two seasons show that numbers recover.

For example, this season, the Premier League has 17.5 crosses per 90 minutes, an increase from 17.3 in the previous campaign.

If we talk specifically about crosses into the penalty area (18-yard box), we can also see the numbers increase to 1.91 per 90 minutes this season compared to 1.86 last season.

The Premier League isn't the only league experiencing this—the Bundesliga has seen a similar increase.

The number of crosses to the penalty area per 90 minutes has increased from 2.2 last season to 2.3 this season, and the overall number of crosses per 90 minutes has jumped from 17.8 to 18.

There must be some reason why Arsenal keeps making crosses as one of their main ways of scoring goals, while Liverpool has also made more crosses to the penalty area this season.

Also, what makes Leverkusen consistent in creating goal opportunities through crosses, and why has the number of crosses increased in the Premier League and Bundesliga?

It seems like teams know that using crosses as one of their main ways to create chances is worth trying if they can apply certain strategies that make their crossing more efficient.

This tactical analysis will analyse the crossing trends in the Premier League and Bundesliga to discover the secret recipes behind the success of many crosses.

Eliminate Outnumbered Situations In The Opponent's Penalty Box

If we look at the crosses from teams like Arsenal or Liverpool, we'll see that they're really good at creating situations where they've got the same or even more players in a certain area of the opponent's penalty box.

If they know there are two opponent players to cover that area, they'll put two or more players there, so there'll be more targets for the cross.

With more targets to receive that cross, there's also a higher chance of that cross becoming a shot.

Liverpool has the highest success rate of crosses in the Premier League and the highest number of successful crosses per game.

Arne Slot's men do this by always creating a numerical advantage in the opposition's box.

We can see the same pattern if we look at Arsenal's goal below.

When they cross, they often create a 3-on-3 situation in the opposition box.

Werder Bremen are a Bundesliga team that often demonstrates this situation since they score the most goals from crosses and have the highest success rate for crosses.

They love to eliminate numerical inferiority in the opponent's box when it comes to crosses.

Especially since they know they don't have many tall attackers, they create the advantage by having more targets.

Cross As Close As Possible To The Penalty Box

Not every team has a Trent Alexander-Arnold, which means not every team has a player who can deliver accurate crosses from any area of the pitch.

So, they have to create situations where the crosses are more dangerous.

Many teams are now trying to get their crosses as close to the box as possible, with players often sending the ball in from the edge of the box or very close to the edge of the box.

Why? So, the crosses can be both more dangerous and more efficient.

Tom Worville, in one of his articles for The Athletic, made the same point four years ago when he found that this type of cross was the most likely to lead directly to a goal.

Look again at Arsenal's crossing zones graphic below.

You can see that their players are very often sending crosses close to the edge of the opposition box, especially on the left wing.

Combine this with the number of players in the opposition's box and you can see that Arsenal are consistently creating dangerous crosses.

Arsenal Crossing Zones Map

In the Bundesliga, we can see the same pattern from Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen.

They are often known as a team that likes to maximise the use of half space, and from their crossing data, we can see that they also consistently send crosses from half space near the penalty area.

Bayer Leverkusen Crossing Zones Map

Given the number of crosses from this area and the fact that Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong are two of the players with the most crosses in the league, we know that Bayer Leverkusen can repeatedly create chances from crosses.

Remember: No team in the league has scored more goals from crosses than Xabi Alonso's boys.

To The Six-Yard Area

As mentioned before, Liverpool are increasing their crosses into the penalty area.

It is also interesting to see that Liverpool really often target the small box inside the penalty area when sending crosses.

Head coach Arne Slot seems to realise that they can create more chances by sending more crosses close to goal—it's not rocket science to know that the probability of scoring is higher when the shot is taken closer to the goal.

Look at Liverpool's Crossing Zones graph below, and you will see that they often look to cross into that small box (and succeed).

In fact, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, and Mohamed Salah are among the league's top performers in terms of crosses into the penalty area (including the six-yard box).

Liverpool Crossing Zones Map

Liverpool are also among the teams that have scored the most goals from inside the penalty area in the Premier League this season.

Creating chances closer to goal is one reason they are now the most prolific team in the league, and their attack always looks dangerous.

VfB Stuttgart is a great example of this in the Bundesliga.

Their left full-back, Maximilian Mittelstädt, is the player with the most crosses into the penalty box in the league.

He's done 22 so far this season, which works out at 1.38 per 90 minutes.

One of his assists for a cross targeted in the 6-yard box and tapped in perfectly by Ermedin Demirović against Werder Bremen.

This is typical of his crosses, which have become a trademark of Mittelstädt's work for Stuttgart.

Players like Mittelstädt obviously help Stuttgart create more chances closer to the goal.

In the Bundesliga this season, only Bayern München has scored more goals in the penalty area than Stuttgart.

So,

a similar idea to Arne Slot: to make the team's attack more dangerous by consistently targeting the 6-yard box.

Far Post Merchant

When teams deliver crosses, it's common to see them targeting the far post, which actually makes a lot of sense.

The player there, who acts as a target, often ends up in the defender's blind spot, making it tricky for the defenders to defend against the cross.

Arsenal often uses this scenario when delivering crosses, making Gabriel Martinelli the target.

He usually ends up in the far post when he plays on the right or left because he can move smartly behind the opponent's defenders to receive the ball in a free position.

On another wing, we can also see Bukayo Saka crossing to far past zones, often sending the ball where Martinelli is ready to receive it.

This is a good combination: one of their wingers is sending the ball to the far post, and the other is there and ready to receive it.

Bukayo Saka Crossing Zones Map

The far post area can be easily overloaded, as the defending team often puts their defender in the centre or near post (to make it close to the crosser).

One example of this was when Bayer Leverkusen tried to overload Bayern Munich's far post to receive the cross, and they actually scored from it.

If you're Liverpool, and you've got a player like Mohamed Salah, who's really good at receiving the ball and taking any chance, it's also a good idea to keep bringing the ball to the far post when he's in the opponent's blind spot and can receive the ball freely.

Conclusion

Crossing became less popular at some point, but recently (at least for the last two seasons), it's made a comeback as one of the main ways to create chances.

The numbers have gone up in at least two of the world's most popular leagues, the Premier League and the Bundesliga, especially since loads of top teams, like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Bayer Leverkusen, have also been using it and successfully creating goals from that situation.

Nowadays, many teams can make the most of crosses by creating or developing certain moments or ideas.

Teams know how to deal with the numerical disadvantage in the opposition's box and how to create overload in the far post, using that area as the target, as it's in the blind spot of the opponent's defenders.

Crossing near the opponent's box is a great way to create chances, and many top teams use it.

The penalty area is still a hot target for crosses, and sending the ball as close to the goal as possible always increases the chance of a chance.

There are loads of ways to create chances from crosses, which is why it's worth trying.