i do criticise his play , but i wouldnt drop him , he can be a real handful and has so much confidence in beating his man - for that alone he gets my vote . Now we seem to have a much hungrier strike pairing we should start to see the benefits of Elmost crossing rate
I wouldn't praise him quite as highly as that, but the last point in particular is pertinent - as well as being the answer to the riddle about the number of crosses he's "completed". Crossing is a very difficult thing to do - even when you get it into the right area there's no guarantee that your teammates will be in that place or, if they are, will win the ball. So you have to but several lottery tickets before finding a winner, and the main thing is to waste as few crosses as possible. We see in Rosey how a lack of crossing ability can limit someone (although he did put in a good one to make a goal yesterday - aided by non-existent marking on Jelavic). Elmo is not the best crosser in the world but is far from the worst, and I'd say he's one of the few City players who have been better since Christmas than they were before. But back to the original tweet - it's all about the consequence of looking at quantity rather than quality. It's like saying Ant and Dec are the best presenters because they're never off the bloody screen.
Surely he shouldn't be just putting it in the "right area'? A good winger can pick out a player in a box. Pick out Mata for example, he doesn't stick it where he thinks the player should be. He'll have the composure and skill to find his teammate in a crowded box.
It depends on how much time you have on the ball and how far out you are. If you're static, have been able to get your head up and only have 15-20 yards to hit it, then maybe. Elmo often crosses it 30-35 yards while running at pace from a very wide area and before he's even reached the imaginary 18-yard line - not many people can purposely pick out one player's head from there on the move.
I agree, it's all situational. I feel there are a lot of times were Elmo doesn't even look and can be very predictable with his crossing/wing play. If he can be unpredictable and change it up each time, he'd be a very good winger.
Yes, it's about variety, and that's where Elmo fails a little. He never cuts in (which you should on occasion if you want to keep the defender honest) and he perhaps takes the easy option too often by crossing early from a less dangerous position, rather than trying to beat a man down the line.
All the best strikers tell you crossing isn't about picking the strikers out, it's about putting it in the right areas and it's the strikers job to meet it.
I'm surprised so many people are saying his crossing is ****. He gets no end of them in, and plenty are good ones. He was outstanding for us last year but that was at a lower level, and it was always going to be a big test for him this season. Early on I thought he was becoming anonymous, but he's got to grips with it recently and proved he can do it at this level. Glad he's in our squad. Glad we've got his crosses as part of what is now an impressive attacking armoury. Remember, until we signed Long and Jelavic, Elmo's crossing was probably our best - or only - attacking option, leaving us somewhat limited going forward and also putting a lot of pressure on the lad. Now that we have more options up front, it's allowing him to shine a bit more.
Elmo has improved IMO as the season has gone on. Against Sunderland at home when they went down to 9 men, he just put balls into the box more or less from the same place, it was to predictable. Since then SB has got him to vary his play, sometimes getting passed the defender before delivery.
