Crossing - Low vs Whipped

[Xennaz]

Hi everyone,

Just tweaking my own tactics and am having second and seventh-thoughts about what to set for crossing - I'm building a tactic around wingers and mezzalas fluidly moving about the box, and am having quite a nice time watching the interplay with a F9 forward, but what I'm unsure of is which instruction to set for crossing.

I've read the tooltips but had a few questions still!

If I set the team to use Whipped Crosses, does this mean the height of the cross could be either high or low? I suspect yes, and that the speed of the ball is all that is "determined" (though instructions are sometimes ignored), for better or worse. For this I'd assume something like a player's technique is a lot more important than the other crossing options, since it requires a high degree of expertise to hit a cross with both speed and accuracy, and in relation to this for Technique and/or First Touch of the recipient is also more important. Is this the case?

Conversely, if I ask the team to play Low Crosses, does this mean that they will at least try to keep the crosses low but it could be whipped/driven anyway?

I totally understand the benefits of a whipped cross (harder to defend) and that a low cross is good for quick and nimble forwards to exploit, but as I've tried to explain (ramble) I was wondering what was the "overlap" between the two, if not the stark difference in that regard.

 

Thank you!

[PequenoGenio]

Here is something that i also like to know.

[Prepper_Jack]

First off, pretty much any tactical instruction you set will affect the average chance of what you want happening. So, it's not really an exclusive thing. If you ask them to send in low crosses, you might get 60% low crosses, 20% whipped, and 20% high. If you select the "Be more disciplined", instruction under "Creative Freedom", they will choose your particular instruction more frequently, though it still won't be 100% of the time.

That said, whipped crosses, while potentially being harder to defend against, can vary in height more than others, since it can be more inaccurate. Sometimes it might go well over where your strikers can head it, and other times it's essentially a very fast low cross. The consistency is affected by the crossing ability of your winger, their composure, what kind of pressure they are under, and a bunch of other details. A good quality whipped cross would typically be somewhat low, and where a player would typically be able to kick it. Just a little more challenging to pull off with quality. Of course, who they kick it to may have some bearing on the height, perhaps being a bit higher for a target man or poacher. Typically not as high as a floater, which is intended to hang in the air and drop. Have had success with advanced forwards just swinging in and nailing whipped crosses, though, with a bit of a leaping kick.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Prepper_Jack

[Xennaz]

Yeah I understand it doesn't force them to do it 100% of the time - I did mention that I recognize instructions are not always followed, for good or for bad! 

The point of the post and question is not "how do I stop them doing high crosses" but if there is clarity on the nuance between how the low and whipped instructions converge, i.e. if I set it to "Low" are they "free" to do a low whipped cross as well as a "regular" low cross, and if I set it to whipped, do they think it is sometimes ok to do a low whipped as well as a medium/high whipped.

As mentioned, totally understand the differences between the crosses, and what affects the success, but I was asking about the decision-making in relation to the instruction.

Edited November 16, 2021 by Xennaz
Clarity

[Prepper_Jack]

@XennazAnd what I was getting at is that, yes, as you suspected, whipped crosses do require better technical skills to pull off appropriately, and given the various factors of the game they may have a harder or easier time pulling it off. They are typically airborn, and meant to be so, as far as I can tell, and if they're rolling on the ground or going high in the air it's probably more due to a failure on part of the crosser to get it off than something intentional they are doing. The crosser does seem to have an idea of where to whip a cross to, but whether or not it comes in at a level they or the striker might prefer is a gamble. Some come in higher, some come in lower, and it's up to the striker to make use of it the best they can. This was in response to the very first questioned you asked in the topic.

But, if you're asking if you can combine low crosses and whipping, well... most low crosses aren't necessarily slow to start with, especially compared to floating crosses. However, I believe that if you up the tempo they'll get into the box quicker, if less accurately. That's what happens with passes when you up the tempo, and it seems that this is true with crosses as well. I can't guarantee that, particularly, as I obviously have no way to measure the speed of these things, but it does seem that way. I know of no way to ask the game engine to combine whipping and low crossing.

[isignedupfornorealreason]

Trying to recall a topic on this years ago but;

 

Float = hangs in the air, so you want this when you have a giant target man, who can outmuscle and outjump a defender. Quite a rarity in this day and age.

Whipped = fired in at speed, sometimes with curl. Ideal for players who can head the ball but might not be superb in the air (Tevez kind of comes to mind), but they'll beat a defender via anticipation and off the ball movement.

Low = for any attacking team that absolutely sucks in the air and are incapable of battling against Terminator 6'6 defenders. You'll still want anticipation, off the ball movement and the finishing skills to put it away though, and the luck that it'll get through a congested box depending on how the defending team lines up.

 

That was my understanding of it, but take with heaps of salt as I've never really tinkered with them.

[Robson 07]

I've always worked on the principle that -

Low is near post.

Floated is back post.

Whipped is centre.

Mixed combines all.

[Sharkn20]

13 minutes ago, Robson 07 said:

I've always worked on the principle that -

Low is near post.

Floated is back post.

Whipped is centre.

Mixed combines all.

That's not accurate, I am having a blast with low crosses at the minute and I am scoring at the near, centre and far post equally.

Just FYI

[Razor940]

Low crosses increase cutbacks. Also, I don't think low crosses are only 60% (or any % close to that) like it was said before. I use a lot of times low crosses, without get the ball to the box, and I see players trying to get to the best position to cross low or they don't cross at all.