NOT ALL crosses are created equal.

Ange Postecoglou’s 2021-22 Celtic side was, at times, vilified by some for the high volume of crosses they played during various games. The 1-0 loss at Livingston on September 19 2021 comes to mind.

But how much did they really cross the ball? How effective were they at it? How does it compare to recent Celtic - and, for added context, Rangers - sides? 

Before getting into those specifics, it's worth noting the excellent study American Soccer Analysis produced last year on the effectiveness of various types of passes into opponents’ boxes across multiple leagues and seasons. We will refer back to that piece a little later.

Celtic Way:

Over the past four campaigns, this season’s Celtic team was a standout across the board. Box cross percentage is the proportion of each team’s passes into opponents’ boxes which were crosses. Not all crosses originate from outside the box, so the metric offers some context for a certain type of crossing. 

Here was the shot map for the 2021-22 Celtic team off crosses from open play:

Celtic Way:

The next two maps breakdown the shots between those which were headed and non-headed:

Celtic Way:

Celtic Way:

We can see from those graphics that Celtic were adept at crossing low and on the ground, with significantly higher xG per shot from non-headed crosses of 0.215 vs 0.167 from headed shots.

How did last season’s Rangers side look? Here's the same sequence of three maps (all crosses, headed and non-headed):

Celtic Way:

Celtic Way:

Celtic Way:

We can see from those maps that Celtic’s average quality of chance via xG per shot from headed shots was similar to that of Rangers from non-headed.

But how did Celtic achieve such relatively high-quality chances from crosses? The disparity in aerial crosses versus low or ground ones was evident in the shot maps.

READ MORE: Understanding Celtic's 'Ange-ball' phenomenon

However, if you read the American Soccer Analysis piece mentioned earlier, then you'll know a specific type of pass - the ‘cutback' - can provide particularly high-quality chances.

To take a closer look at this concept, here are specially-created zonal pass maps for the two teams from the right side of the pitch and the top two areas on the graphic. Here were Celtic’s successful passes from those areas:

Celtic Way:

And now Rangers:

Celtic Way:

We can see the higher volume of passes for Celtic generally but also from areas that resulted in cutbacks. In fact, Rangers appear to have had only four cutback-style crosses from outside the penalty box to the area inside the penalty spot. 

Perhaps surprising to many will be that Anthony Ralston averaged 0.21 xA from open play per 90 minutes played last season while James Tavernier averaged 0.20 and Josip Juranovic 0.11.

One facet of play in which Ralston excelled was getting into those dangerous areas to deliver passes. Here were his successful passes:

Celtic Way:

Ralston’s success rate was ‘only’ 27.4 per cent compared to Tavernier’s 32.8 per cent, but here was the Ibrox captain's map:

Celtic Way:

Jota and Ryan Kent had similar disparities, while the Portuguese also excelled at getting into those areas and delivering dangerous passes to team-mates. He led all Premiership players by averaging 0.34 xA from open play per 90 minutes, which trumped Kent’s 0.21.

So, not all crosses and passes around opponents’ boxes are equal. A material part of how Postecoglou’s 2021-22 Celtic team created so many high-quality scoring chances was taking risks in the final third, but doing so in a smart way… including in their crossing.