Player Focus: Special Delivery Revisited - Europe's Top Crossers

With the development of the more aesthetically pleasing short passing, tiki-taka playing style, according to some at least, the art of crossing can be undervalued.

When used effectively, however, accurate delivery into the box can still be profitable to some of Europe's top sides. Indeed, only two teams across Europe's top 5 leagues completed more accurate crosses when excluding corners than the best of the best, Bayern Munich (194).

Elsewhere, AC Milan and Juventus both feature in the top ten, along with surprise Champions League qualifiers Real Sociedad from La Liga. Meanwhile, only three Premier League teams delivered more accurate crosses excluding corners than champions Manchester United.

In this piece, however, we look at the players that deserve the most credit for the quality of their final ball into the box, with crosses coming in a number of forms. Be it a floated ball up to the back post or a drilled, low centre, there are many ways to pick out a teammate from wide areas, and the players analysed in this piece were at the peak of their crossing powers last season.

To gauge the elite here we've added a qualifier of at least one accurate delivery into the box per game without taking corners into account, and a minimum of 30 over the course of the season, sorting the resulting 34 individuals by both frequency and accuracy of crosses.

The quad chart below shows that the players in the top right portion have above average figures for both accurate crosses excluding corners per game (1.25) and accuracy from their total attempts when omitting such set pieces (24.4%). It is those six that we'll be focusing on here.

It's noteworthy that of those players, four are full-backs and only two are wingers, with left and right backs nowadays asked to support attacks more frequently. In doing so they can either lurk behind as an option for a player to pass back to when they approach the byline or offer an overlap, both of which can give the individual more time to pick out a cross.

6. Bastian Oczipka (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Deemed surplus to requirements by Bayer Leverkusen last summer having only made 9 senior Bundesliga appearances for the team, 24 year old Bastian Oczipka has proven his worth to promoted Eintracht Frankfurt, and then some. The left-back proved to be a key creative force for the side, finishing the season with the most assists on the team (8), all of which came from crosses, with 7 of those from open play.

His delivery into the box was incredibly consistent, completing more accurate crosses excluding corners than any other Bundesliga player (54), with his per game figure (1.63) well above the average of 1.25 here. With his cross accuracy of 24.9% also above the mean of the 34 player quad chart (24.4%), Oczipka posed a real threat down the left, though only 38.7% of his overall key passes came from crosses.

5. Carlos Martinez (Real Sociedad)

The fact that Sociedad full-back Carlos Martinez made his way into the WhoScored La Liga Team of the Season goes to show just how crucial he was as La Real secured a shock Champions League finish. His crossing from right back was a real asset to the side, with 3 of his 4 assists in the league coming courtesy of deliveries into the box.

Only two players in Spain's top flight completed more accurate crosses when excluding corners than the 27 year old (43), with a per game figure of 1.48 comfortably above the average here. His cross accuracy was marginally better than that of Oczipka (25.3%), while 50% of his overall key passes came from deliveries into the box, indicating just how vital crossing is to his overall creative play.

4. Yohan Mollo (Nancy / Saint Etienne)

Already somewhat of a journeyman at just 23, winger Yohan Mollo has played for 5 different clubs in the past three years, and his future looks set to be away from Nancy this summer after a loan spell with Saint Etienne in the second half of the season. The wide man picked up an impressive 11 assists over his time with both clubs this term, with 2 coming from open play crosses and 6 when including corners.

When excluding corners however, as we are throughout this analysis, Mollo made more accurate crosses than any other Ligue 1 player (48), with an accuracy of 25.9%. He ranks way ahead of the top 6 here in terms of key passes per game (2.56), offering more variety to his creativity than a traditional winger, with only 22.8% of his total chances created coming courtesy of crosses.

3. Dani Alves (Barcelona)

Perhaps the most shocking inclusion in this list given Barcelona's style of play, Dani Alves still delivered plenty of balls into the box for Tito Vilanova's side. Indeed, the La Liga champions had the fewest headed attempts in Europe's top 5 leagues (37), scoring just 5 of their 115 league goals from headers. Nevertheless, half of Alves' 6 assists came from crosses, with all three of those setting up headed goals.

With no traditional target man to aim for, Alves' 43 accurate crosses excluding corners - equal third in the league - is eye-catching, with an excellent 26.4% accuracy. Like Mollo here, crossing makes up a small part of the Brazilian's creative play, with 29.5% of his total key passes coming from crosses, but Alves' inclusion here certainly proves that he has impressive delivery from wide areas.

2. Matt Jarvis (West Ham)

Sam Allardyce clearly had a way of playing in mind having guided West Ham into the Premier League, with summer signings Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll having a real weighting on the Hammers' style. No side delivered more accurate crosses excluding corners in Europe's top 5 leagues this season, with only Manuel Pasqual completing more from an individual perspective than the former Wolves winger (58).

How then, that Jarvis didn't pick up a single assist all season is bizarre, with a cross accuracy of 27.2% comfortably above the average in our quad chart (24.4%). Indeed, no player made more key passes without registering a single assist (46) in Europe's top 5 leagues, but with 65.2% of said chances created coming from crosses, there's not always a great deal of variety to the 27 year old's creativity.

1. Dennis Diekmeier (HSV)

The leader here, however, and by some considerable distance, is HSV right-back Dennis Diekmeier. The 23 year old's delivery from open play was exceptional, with only the aforementioned Bastian Oczipka delivering more accurate crosses excluding crosses than the HSV full-back (52). Three of Diekmeier's 4 assists came from crosses, while three of the four set up goals for Artjoms Rudnevs.

When looking back to the quad chart it is clear that the German is way out on his own in terms of cross accuracy, with a quite remarkable 39.7% leaving all of the other players here in his wake. It's no surprise then that Diekmeier is 'Very Strong' at crossing according to WhoScored's statistical characteristics, with a huge 70% of his overall key passes this season coming from deliveries into the box.

*When discussing crossing statistics throughout the piece, corner kicks were excluded unless stated.