Crossing - Best Crossers in Football (and Charlton)

AFKABartram

Saw Kevin De Bruyne whip a couple of balls in yesterday that very very few people in football have the ability to do.

Is he currently the best in the game at this?

who historically was better?

Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player cross a ball as well and as consistently as David Beckham. Other aspects of his game might not have been top world class, but I don’t think I’ve seen a better crosser.

As for Charlton, I’m struggling to think of a stand out who was quality crosser. Particularly recent times. JBG maybe? 

What’s your thoughts?

oohaahmortimer

Colin Walsh /Powell were decent at crossing for us .

Becks whipping it over was a sight to behold 

Rob7Lee

Agree Becks was a fantastic crosser of the ball, probably the best i've seen.

Walsh had a beautiful left foot, Robinson was a pretty good crosser but can't think fo a stand out one.

AFKABartram

Good call on Colin Walsh.

Though in my head I thought he played more central for us than wide?

SporadicAddick

Used to love watching Mark Stuart. Not sure he was ever that popular, or that he was that good (its all relative, he played top flight football so he clearly was very very good), but I always loved him getting on the ball and putting a cross in. 

is my memory playing tricks?

Rob7Lee

AFKABartram said:

Good call on Colin Walsh.

Though in my head I thought he played more central for us than wide?

Left wing, in front of Minto, they were a great pairing down the left.

bolloxbolder

SporadicAddick said:

Used to love watching Mark Stuart. Not sure he was ever that popular, or that he was that good (its all relative, he played top flight football so he clearly was very very good), but I always loved him getting on the ball and putting a cross in. 

is my memory playing tricks?

Yes.

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

In the old days it was an essential part of a wingers skill set: beat your man on the outside, get to the by-line and cross.
Every winger had to be able to deliver a good cross otherwise they were not fit for purpose.
Nowadays a specialist winger would be an unnecessary luxury as so much more is required of a wide midfielder and crossing is way down the list of requirements.
Mike Flanagan could deliver a great cross, before he was converted to centre forward; Colin Powell, Mike Kenning, Lenny Glover, Keith Peacock all great wing specialists in their day.

RedChaser

Six-a-bag-of-nuts said:

In the old days it was an essential part of a wingers skill set: beat your man on the outside, get to the by-line and cross.
Every winger had to be able to deliver a good cross otherwise they were not fit for purpose.
Nowadays a specialist winger would be an unnecessary luxury as so much more is required of a wide midfielder and crossing is way down the list of requirements.
Mike Flanagan could deliver a great cross, before he was converted to centre forward; Colin Powell, Mike Kenning, Lenny Glover, Keith Peacock all great wing specialists in their day.

And even further back in time Lawrie, Summers and Billy Kiernan weren't too shabby either.

Bedsaddick

Simon Francis 

MrOneLung

Gary Neville 
Robertson at Liverpool 

MrOneLung

Dennis Rommedahl every time he played for Denmark 

oohaahmortimer

John Robertson 
Forest & Scotland 

Blackheathen

Stanley Matthews

oohaahmortimer

AFKABartram said:

Good call on Colin Walsh.

Though in my head I thought he played more central for us than wide?

I think in the latter part of his Charlton career he went more central but was a wide player for the early years .

RedChaser

Blackheathen said:

Stanley Matthews

I'll see your Stanley Matthews with a Tom Finney 😉

Chizz

Colin Powell is the stand-out for me

cafctom

David Beckham is as good as it gets for passing/crossing accuracy.

For Charlton, the best I’ve seen have been Danny Green and Kyel Reid. Both underrated players during their time with us. Thinking it through, we haven’t really had that many wingers where crossing has stood out in recent history

bolloxbolder

oohaahmortimer said:

John Robertson 
Forest & Scotland 

We have a winner.

creepyaddick

Steve Coppell back in the day or recently Alexander-Arnold

sam3110

For all his stepovers and stuff, I thought Jerome Thomas was an excellent crosser of the ball. 

In world football Becks obviously, the amount of whip he'd get on a ball was insane. Figo, Roberto Carlos, Pires, Ljunberg, all jump out in my mind for their crossing too

Karim_myBagheri

https://youtu.be/-bzsTpwkhLg

golfaddick

I like to see wingers crossing balls with pace, preferably on the run, but as said up thread this is not the done thing anymore. From standing still or a non winger I'd say best I've seen non-CAFC is Beckham.

CAFC wise I thought (dont laugh) that Luke Varney put some decent crosses in. The one for Ilewomu at Southampton was pretty special.

Sadly crossing is a dying art. Cant remember too many proper wingers over the last 30 years.

Stig

Sadly, I suspect the greatest Charlton crosser was Sir Bobby.  Proper Charlton crossers seem few and far between, at least in my memory. I'm struggling to think of anyone who could charge down the wing and put in an accurate cross at pace. Most of ours always seem to want to stop and have a think about it.

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

golfaddick said:

I like to see wingers crossing balls with pace, preferably on the run, but as said up thread this is not the done thing anymore. From standing still or a non winger I'd say best I've seen non-CAFC is Beckham.

CAFC wise I thought (dont laugh) that Luke Varney put some decent crosses in. The one for Ilewomu at Southampton was pretty special.

One of my favourite away days that and yeh, the cross was a peach

Chris_from_Sidcup

Trippier and Meunier stood out for me at the world cup.

Marcelo is pretty decent. Leighton Baines wasn't bad either.

For us, i honestly can't think of anyone that stands out. Although i do have fond memories of John Salako trying to cross the ball from literally anywhere.

harveys_gardener

Beckham was best crosser I've ever seen. Decent free kicks also.  If you analyse his technique, his planted foot was 45-60 degrees rather than standard 90. That's how he generated curl.  Stuart and Wiggins decent for us.

Big William

Colin Powell was very accurate, the very definition of an old fashioned winger. Best I saw in a live game was Luis Figo, pace, accuracy, the lot.

My Dad said Bert Johnson (CAFC cup winner, England caps etc) did some coaching where he used to play, he told everyone you don’t need to beat your full-back to get a cross in - this was probably heresy at the time (late 1940’s)  but it’s exactly what Beckham did at the peak of his career.

Cafc43v3r

Beckham 
G Neville 
Andy Hinchcliffe
Leighton Baines
Ashley Cole
David Ginola
Jason Mcateer
Trevor Steven
Chris Waddle
John Barnes
Steve Guppy
John Robertson
Luis Figo 
Stuart Pearce
Tony Dorigo

Probably the ones that stand out to me. 

Chippycafc

Paddy Powell and Halesy could put a decent cross in as well

paulsturgess

Andy Reid could cross a ball for us. He stands out.

A lot of our best wingers over the last 25 years or so have often been slightly inconsistent crossers, newtons and robinsons of this world. Mark Robson was an excellent crosser though from the 90s. More recently, I'm not sure. I think Taylor is probably our best current crosser! Sometimes forwards are the best crossers cos they just know how / where the attacker in the box wants the ball. Kane is a great crosser.