It’s a high-pressure Premier League clash between Newcastle United and Arsenal. The game is only 11 minutes in, with the score at nil-nil. It’s tight, with both teams playing at a high tempo. It feels like it will take something special to unlock a defense, and it does with a superb first-time cross from Newcastle and England’s winger, Anthony Gordon. The goal goes on to be the winner in the game. It’s this piece of skill from Gordon that has made the difference.
HIGHLIGHTS: Newcastle United v Arsenal | Premier League
(24 seconds in)
A first-person view:
Fabian Schar is driving a long ball from inside our half, on a diagonal towards Joe Linton. Hold here wide right. Let’s see what happens. Partey, Arsenal’s right-back, 25 yards out, wins the header, but the ball is landing at our centre-forward, Isak’s, feet. Still hold ground. My marker, Timber, is dropping deep to tuck in defensively. I’ll leave the space between us in case the play develops and the guys can hit me. Isak has time to move the ball to his right. He’s passing back to midfielder Longstaff, still about 30 yards out. Time to start moving forward so he can find me with a cross-field pass. There’s a chance to get behind Timber wide right here. Run slightly out toward the touchline to allow as much space as possible. Longstaff takes a touch and—yes! He’s delivered a lovely side-foot at pace into my path ahead. Timber is starting to close down the space, but I’ve got plenty of time.
Choices: I can control and dribble at him, take him on, and get to the box for a cross or shot, or… I can see the danger zone of space between the goalkeeper and the line of last defenders positioned on the edge of the box. A first-time cross into that space will give Isak and Joe Linton a chance to get behind them for a finish. Decision made; first-time cross it is.
Adjust feet to get to the ball in the right position and time. Going to use the power of the ball rolling in to side-foot the outside of the ball’s bottom half-right. That will make the cross pacey with bend. Keep the chest forward a little to control the loft of the cross, and connect!
Away the ball spins and glides. Perfect—it’s around Timber and clearing the central defender. Isak’s pulled off behind him, centre edge of the six-yard box. Great header and yesssss—it’s in the far corner. The stadium noise erupts. What a goal!
Practice
This type of cross is so hard to defend against, as the ball moves quickly and defenders have little time to adjust positions. The goalkeeper also has little time to decide whether to come out a long way and typically leaves it for their retreating defenders to clear. The arc of the ball bending away from the goal adds to the goalkeeper’s challenge. The pace on the cross makes it easy for the forward to just direct their connection, keeping the speed of the ball on toward the goal.
As it’s first-time, there’s a lot of technique to get just right, or your cross can fly off wayward.
1. If you have a high wall to play against, strike the ball against the wall, and as it rolls back toward you, position yourself on an angle to connect first-time around the underside of the ball, creating spin, bending the ball toward a target. Experiment with leaning back as you strike to see what difference it makes. From there, you can learn to find the right balance of body positioning for a cross.
2. Practice with a few balls. Have a teammate pass a ball to you on the edge of the box out wide, and run on to it, connecting first-time, bending the ball toward the goal and allowing the curl to take it out to the edge of the six-yard box.
One2Pro:
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Be the One!
Aaron Tighe
Founder, One2Pro
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