Crossing to a specific player.

Are we ever going to see this small, simple but wholely effective addition to the game?

The crossing attribute is made more or less redundant without aiming for a specific target, so what is the point of not having it? I don't play with a target man, and don't want to. I do, however, have one player on the team who is comfortabley better than everyone else in the air, and yet the best I can do is to ask for crosses to a specific area of the box and hope he's there.

Realistically, a manager would ask for crosses to be aimed towards this player. It should be such an obvious addition to the FM games and I'm getting tired of it being constantly overlooked for more superfluous, and in some cases pointless additions to the game. What's the point of having agents and player celebrations in 3D while you can't even aim a cross in to your centre forward?

I hope the makers remember what made this series so great, and it certainly wan't 3D goals and new weather features. There are still issues regarding the tactical set-up and actually playing a football match which should be prioritised ahead of such trivial additions.

Surely the option to use the palyer you are talking about as a target man with balls supllied to head will give you exactly what you are looking for?

Surely the option to use the palyer you are talking about as a target man with balls supllied to head will give you exactly what you are looking for?

Exactly - it has been there for years.

The problem is more with the match engine. Fm09 actually did it okay - fm10 less so.

Anyway, the option is there - it is the implementation in fm10 that makes crossing seem useless. Hopelfully fm11 will be better.

I have already said I don't use a target man and don't intend to.

Using the target must surely mean that during the game my team will be knocking long balls to him either to feet/head/on to ball or mixed. I'm sorry, but this is something I don't want. I want to play passing football through the midfield, and when we have the ball out wide, to cross to a specific player. Using the target man won't give me this, and even though it would give my wide players a target for crosses, my team will play long balls to him during the course of the game and this is something I want to avoid.

Wingers and orders to play the ball wide will work - the wingers will attempt to cross into the box so no need to designate a target man. Who else are they going to aim for? Your goalkeeper?

Who else are they going to aim for? Your goalkeeper?

If it was my team, yes :-(

Well, let's say I'm playing a 442. We have the ball on the right and my winger is making gains towards the byline. In the penalty area at that time are my two strikers, both below 5''10, my attacking central midfielder who can't jump for tofee and my 6''2 left winger with 17 jumping and 16 heading. It is obvious who the cross should be aimed towards, yet the game obviously isn't clever enough to work this out by itself, it needs intructions. At this juncture a ''Cross Aim - Specific Player - Adam Adkins'' feature would be useful.

It is only my right winger and right back whom I wish to cross often. As I mentioned, I have two small stikers, so playing down the wings consistently won't don't me much good. I do however have a left winger who is excellent at heading and yet my only option is to aim crosses to the far post and hope it falls to him. Not only is this not good enough, it is also unrealistic. In the real world any manager would simply ask for the any crosses to be aimed at him directly, rather than into an area of the pitch he might be stood in.

If, as I understand, you have two forwards and you specifically want your wingers to cross for one player , granted, you won't be able to do that unless you designate him as a target man (although unless your wingers are exceptional players - they are unlikely to have high success finding his head)

If you have ever played football you will know that crossing from open play is not an exact science.

If, as I understand, you have two forwards and you specifically want your wingers to cross for one player , granted, you won't be able to do that unless you designate him as a target man

...and this is my point. Why isn't there an option of crossing to a specific player without having to use him as a target man?

Do you play with a target man? If you do, you will understand the effects it has on your teams passing. If not, try playing a 442, set your passing to short, and set one of your strikers as the target man, having the supply ''to head.'' Now sit back and watch in horror as the short passing game you have instructed the team to play suddenly transforms into long balls pumped down the pitch towards said player. This isn't how I want to play. Why am I having to find a balance between the two when it is clear I only have two options:

1) Play with a target man and accept that my short passing game will go to hell and long balls will be knocked upfield to him, but on the plus side I can aim my crosses in to him specifically! Yeah!

2) Don't play with a target man, play my favoured short passing game, but accept that the chances of the ball being crossed to him is simply a matter of luck.

Why can't I have the best of both? Why can't I play without a target man, play my favoured short passing, yet still have the option to cross a ball to one specific player ie. my best Headerer of a ball? Why do I have to set a target man? This can't be right. This is why I would like to see the option of crossing to my tall striker, without the need of having to play long balls up to him all game.

(although unless your wingers are exceptional players - they are unlikely to have high success finding his head)

This is the point of training your wingers. We train wingers up from the level of not having a high success rate of finding a team mate's head, to the level of having a very high success rate of finding a team mate's head. But what is the point of training crossing to a high level if you don't have the option of picking somone out in the box?

If we take Beckham as an example of someone who has perfected the art of crossing to a specific player in the penalty area, can you imagine after all the hours on the training ground practising his crossing, Ferguson simply said, ''Just sling it in towards the far post and we'll see what happens.''

In short, I simply want the option of crossing to certain players, be it strikers or midfielders, without having to set them as a target man.