Where to aim for crosses

[aditya]

Firstly, I am aware of the differences of low cross, whipped cross and float cross, however I never quiet understand the most suitable 'combination' when I have instruct my wingers where to cross: Far Post, Near Post, Center or Target man). PS: I am playin with Wide 4-2-3-1.

My questions:

1. is there an existing thread that covers this topic? (cant find one, if so, please delete mine and send me the link)

2. is whipped cross and low cross only effective targetting at Near Post & Center? (with Pass into space). Logically speaking, there is a higher chance that the cross will be intercepted if it were Far Post.

3. If you are playing a lone striker and instruct your wingers to target at Near post (or Far post) will the striker positioned themselves according to my wingers instructions?

I still have a lot of questions regarding this topic, because I am having trouble getting my crossess to meet my intended target (strikers), instead, the winger on the opposite end ends up taking the crossess, even though i set my target at Center or Target man

[OrientTillIDie]

My first question would be "what role are you playing your striker as?".

2) I wouldn't say it's only effective on near post and centre but the chances are you'll have more success with that than Far Post and Target Man.

3) Theoretically yes but it depends how good your strikers Off The Ball and Positioning ratings are.

Here's how I play it and I tend to score a fair amount of goals from crosses, especially when playing two up top (my right back for Orient had 17 assists by February):

An Advanced Forward or Poacher will naturally get across the near post. They're the spearhead of your attack and so will attack the cross first. Players on Support roles (DLF/S, F9, TM/S for example) will get to the back post on the basis that they are likely to be deeper than the Attack role striker and so will get to the box later. Depending on the ability of your wingers and who you think is more of a threat in the box will determine where you want your crosses to go. If you play with a Target Man who is a real threat in the air then use that option. If he hasn't made it to the box but another player has then your wingers should use their initiative and just put the ball across.

Really it depends on how many players you plan on getting into the box for crosses and who the biggest threat is. I played two up top with Orient (AF/A and TM/S) and set the crosses to Target Man. Usually my Target Man would get into the box and meet the ball on the run leading to numerous goals. However, if he was the one who had laid it off to the wide player and couldn't get to the box in time then the crosses tended to be lower for my Advanced Forward to attack on the floor.