Why can't we defend the cross?

[BigKahuna]

Its high school tactics.....swing the ball wide and whip crosses into the box. Am I the only one that has noticed we are getting burned week in and week out on this? Last week was Twellman. This week Jaqua and Segares.

First, why haven't the coaching staff picked up on this and if they have, what did they do about it?

Second, is it not the coaches fault? Have they addressed the issue and the fault lies on Erpen (who I'm am seeing as a less and less effective defender every week) and the rest of the back line?

Its the lamest play in the book but the rest of the league has seemed to figure us out and if we don't get it sorted we aren't even going to beat BA and the Bulls.

Thoughts?

[Th4119]

Its the lamest play in the book

Sorry to hijack the thread in the first reply, but why are you of this opinion?

[JoeW]

1. First way to defend it is to prevent the crosser from making the cross. In a 352, your outside mids have got to track back to cover the winger making the cross. Our wingers of late have been Senior Donnet and The Freddy. Okay, so we're not going to prevent the cross.

2. Second, at times our backline ball watches. While Boswell and Erpen are good, they're both still young and they ball watch at times.

3. Chicago in particular does a superb job at getting separating from defenders on runs off the ball. Jaqua and Rolfe in particular. Boswell in particular has had issues with this (see all of the Chicago-DCU shootouts last year).

[Th4119]

2. Second, at times our backline ball watches. While Boswell and Erpen are good, they're both still young and they ball watch at times.

This is a huge point. A large portion of DC's goals against this year have come from some pretty pathetic ball watching. This weekend's game included.

[BigKahuna]

Sorry to hijack the thread in the first reply, but why are you of this opinion?

Not saying its ineffective, and at times its a very valuable strategy. But it is simplistic at best and probably requires the least amount of creativity when compared to other goal scoring schemes. It just seems to me that since I've noticed our lack of ability to stop it during the past month or more, surely other teams have picked up on it as well and are exploiting it. A majority of our goals against are scored this way. I guess that I think its lame, because we shouldn't be having this much trouble defendng it.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[Cweedchop]

The answer is pretty simple.

When your offensive strategy is to walk the ball into the net or take shots from 40 yards, there's not much room for crossing the ball. This team underutilizes crosses more than any team in MLS history.

You can count on one hand the number of goals scored over the past few years on a well driven cross from the flank.

Since our defenders practice against said offensive strategy, why would anyone be suprised at their lack of defending crosses?

[JoeSoccerFan]

because we're Jewish? :confused:

[John L]

1. First way to defend it is to prevent the crosser from making the cross. In a 352, your outside mids have got to track back to cover the winger making the cross. Our wingers of late have been Senior Donnet and The Freddy. Okay, so we're not going to prevent the cross.

2. Second, at times our backline ball watches. While Boswell and Erpen are good, they're both still young and they ball watch at times.

3. Chicago in particular does a superb job at getting separating from defenders on runs off the ball. Jaqua and Rolfe in particular. Boswell in particular has had issues with this (see all of the Chicago-DCU shootouts last year).

This leads to the argument for a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 - With 4 defenders there would be more pressure on the wing and more defenders packing it in the middle - With a 3-5-2 you have two defensive halfbacks in the center who can't get out to the side to stop the cross and who are either too late or don't have the muscle or height to provide good support in the middle - And Donnet is still too used to having 4 defenders behind him, which is the norm in Argentina and Boca Jrs in particular

At least we'll be with Perkins during the playoffs and he's usually very strong in the air against crosses

[United1]

Facundo Erpen

[DoctorD]

The answer is pretty simple.

When your offensive strategy is to walk the ball into the net or take shots from 40 yards, there's not much room for crossing the ball. This team underutilizes crosses more than any team in MLS history.

You can count on one hand the number of goals scored over the past few years on a well driven cross from the flank.

Since our defenders practice against said offensive strategy, why would anyone be suprised at their lack of defending crosses?Good answer. And our problems go further than this. Our whole team looks like they know how to defend against Jaime Moreno and no one else. Our offense has turned into people trying to be Jaime as well, so we do too much fancy stuff and too many passes in the build-up.

[JRstriker12]

The answer is pretty simple.

When your offensive strategy is to walk the ball into the net or take shots from 40 yards, there's not much room for crossing the ball. This team underutilizes crosses more than any team in MLS history.

You can count on one hand the number of goals scored over the past few years on a well driven cross from the flank.

Since our defenders practice against said offensive strategy, why would anyone be suprised at their lack of defending crosses?

I agree.

Considering our current players, is there any wonder why we don't use the cross very often.

Who's going to go up for a header and win it?

It's not Jaimie's game. Not much in Esky's game any more. Gros will dive in occasionally with unrealiable results. Bos will get a head in on some peices. Plus our front line is pretty short.

Perkins is our one defense against the cross. He does a decent job of coming out and claiming the ball, unlike Rimando, but Perkins can't stop every cross and shot if our defenders are giving up free headers.

[The Cold Sea]

Facundo Erpen

Well, that'd be fine if he was in every game, but he's missed a few lately and the defense did quite well in allowing Twellman the space to score. If they can't get the cross off the cross doesn't go in....and if Rimando could move off his line, he might prevent a cross from landing perfectly on a head or foot of the opposition. I don’t think any of the back three are the problem. It’s the outside mids (Gros and Donnet in the first half on Saturday) and the goalkeeper.

[Bootsy Collins]

I agree.

Considering our current players, is there any wonder why we don't use the cross very often.

Who's going to go up for a header and win it?

Boswell. He can; and defensively when he does, he consistently has.

[DCFAN96]

I don’t think any of the back three are the problem. It’s the outside mids (Gros and Donnet in the first half on Saturday) and the goalkeeper.

Bingo. Chicago pushed Guerrero, Segares, Jaqua up the wings from deep positions and Freddy, Donnet and Gros didn't track back with them. It led to teh PK where Adu let Guerrero run into teh area unopposed, it lead to Segares' goal where Donnet was late, and Jaqua's goal. Our wing players need to track back and help the backline.

[onefineesq]

1. First way to defend it is to prevent the crosser from making the cross. In a 352, your outside mids have got to track back to cover the winger making the cross. Our wingers of late have been Senior Donnet and The Freddy. Okay, so we're not going to prevent the cross.

2. Second, at times our backline ball watches. While Boswell and Erpen are good, they're both still young and they ball watch at times.

3. Chicago in particular does a superb job at getting separating from defenders on runs off the ball. Jaqua and Rolfe in particular. Boswell in particular has had issues with this (see all of the Chicago-DCU shootouts last year). Let's not be too quick to blame Donnet and Freddy. The first goal that Chicago scored was off a cross that Gros didn't prevent, while one-on-one with Mapp. I'm more concerned with the coverage on the crosses to be quite honest. We are one of the poorer teams at winning headers in the box.

[JRstriker12]

Boswell. He can; and defensively when he does, he consistently has.

True..True..

Problem is, how often do we want him running upfield into the box to get onto the end of a cross instead of anchoring the defense.

He's decent on the set peices. But I bet he'd score a few more it it wasn't so easy to focus on him as our main threat in the air.

[Bootsy Collins]

True..True..

Problem is, how often do we want him running upfield into the box to get onto the end of a cross instead of anchoring the defense.

He's decent on the set peices. But I bet he'd score a few more it it wasn't so easy to focus on him as our main threat in the air.
Well, I was more thinking of our defending the cross, the topic of the thread. He can use his head. The problem is that of late, all of our defenders have had real trouble sticking with a man; other forwards get separation too easily.

[elconejito]

Was it this year early on when Gros was playing as the fourth defender or am I thinking of last year?

IIRC, our defense was pretty stout. It seems that the farther he has pushed forward, the worse our defense has gotten.

Coincidence? maybe...

[onefineesq]

Well, I was more thinking of our defending the cross, the topic of the thread. He can use his head. The problem is that of late, all of our defenders have had real trouble sticking with a man; other forwards get separation too easily. Absolutely. Guys are getting free headers in the box several times every game. Regardless of the pressure on the ball, there should at least be people with the attackers. Our players are getting beaten like drums in the box.

[Bootsy Collins]

Was it this year early on when Gros was playing as the fourth defender or am I thinking of last year?

IIRC, our defense was pretty stout. It seems that the farther he has pushed forward, the worse our defense has gotten.

Coincidence? maybe...
He wasn't playing as a fourth defender so much as his duties as a wing were different from those of the other wing, and tied him back. In other words, we were playing unbalanced: Freddy and Josh were both on the wings, but Freddy seemingly was allowed/encouraged to push forward, while Josh stayed closer to the backline. If they wanted to change the balance, they switched sides. Skip (where the hell is he, anyway) wrote a lot of posts about this early. We haven't done this in a while.