[Maddix]

Just see the SKY TV coverage. See they gave Palmer MOTM and kept raving about the quality of his crossing & criticising Joao for not making the runs to get on the end of them.

I thought Palmer had a good game, but according to the stats he had 10 crosses and none of them were accurate!! Now I suppose an accurate cross is one that finds one of our players, so I would assume that either he is crossing aimlessly or badly or our players in and around the box are not doing enough to get onto the end of them.  I would imagine its a combination of all three.  Whatever the reason though, both him and Pudil need to make better use of the crossing opportunities they get each game, getting the FBs forward is a key part of our set up so they have to be able to get in more good crosses if we are going to be effective with this set up.

It's a difficult one this. Having played as a striker, a winger and a wing back I can see all sides of it. 

Firstly a cross has to be tempting enough (at least 50-50) for most strikers to attempt to get to it. It's no fun getting cleaned up by a goalie who will then get a free kick in his favour   so what appears to be a good cross is nothing of the sort. 

Secondly the crosser will anticipate/expect a striker to make a certain run, which seems the obvious thing to do from the crosser's point of view, and play the ball into that area only to see the striker misread his intentions and be nowhere near it so what appears to be a bad cross is nothing of the sort. 

Thirdly, the crosser will put it on a sixpence and Atdhe the striker will balloon it over the bar. This is a good cross.

Fourthly, the crosser will hit the first man, put it too close to the keeper or over everyone for a throw on the other side. This is a shit cross.

Fifthly, when the perfect combination of eliminating all of the above problems arises a goal usually occurs 

Funny old game this football lark 

[madsteve]

I thought Palmer had a good game, but according to the stats he had 10 crosses and none of them were accurate!! Now I suppose an accurate cross is one that finds one of our players, so I would assume that either he is crossing aimlessly or badly or our players in and around the box are not doing enough to get onto the end of them.  I would imagine its a combination of all three.  Whatever the reason though, both him and Pudil need to make better use of the crossing opportunities they get each game, getting the FBs forward is a key part of our set up so they have to be able to get in more good crosses if we are going to be effective with this set up.

We had 31 crosses altogether & 4 were accurate. This was far more down to the lack of players in the box & the lack of effort to get on the end of the crosses. We had lots of crosses in the area between the CBs & the keeper but no-one gambled to get in there.
David Prutton highlighted on SKY how good Palmer's crosses were and how Joao & others were letting him down by not attacking the spaces.

[Maddix]

I honestly thought that Palmer put in some good crosses and one or two that were abysmal. As I said before the whole debate is debatable

[Towinjustonce]

A striker can make a poor cross into a good one by putting pressure on the defender to slice the ball into the net or mis-controlling in the box. It's all about the attackers willingness to do this and how many bodies we have in the area. The fact that Palmer crossed so many times shows his attacking potential but it's up to the others to put the ball in the net. Like I said earlier we don't score enough from midfield. Bannan, lee or Wallace for me don't gamble enough on crosses and when they do none of them have great heading ability. With the players we have we are trying to play the ball into the net. We need a Clint Dempsey type, Kevin Nolan or someone of similar ilk....but who would you drop ?

[Imre varadi]

i think palmer is better potential than hunt , but do we want in years to come or do we want now ? football is now unfortunatley and you can keep bringing players on untill they end up playing for manchester (headinfukinghandsagian )

[Imre varadi]

It figures aswell that the old git doesnt like cup football !! he was the only poster on here who had to suffer the embarrasment of 66 (setofwnkers). i swear you a bit of a joana you old git x

[peiowl]

Embarrassment? We were bloody brilliant except for that clown Sam Ellis. Why do Wednesday always have to have a clown in their side? JOC, Llera, Nuhiu?

Is it to keep the fans happy?

[Statesideowl]

The Circus has been the only entertainment at Hillsborough for the past 15 years.. sadly.

[madsteve]

Maybe we sacrifice a midfield player for an extra striker at home matches in future. Something like:

Westwood
Palmer - Lees - Turner - Pudil
Hutchinson - Lee - Bannan
FF
Joao - Hooper

We have already played the top four sides at home so we can go for it in all remaining home games. The main risk is a series of draws so playing two strikers plus FF is the way forward for me. This formation can be flexible and can easily be 433, 352 or 343 when required.

Away, we may need to play more counter attack but we could win every home match now.