The key to crossing is being aware of your other players and making sure you have players in the box who can make runs and connect with your cross, or else you’re simply giving the ball away to the opposition.

With the regular cross (simply pressing X), the cross itself will naturally curve towards a player, meaning that your body position and angle isn’t too important. As Mike explains in his FIFA 19 Crossing Tutorial, how much power you use depends on where you want your cross to go.

Typically, 1 bar of power will send your cross to the near post, and 2-3 bars of power will send your cross to the middle of the box or the far post.

Depending on the situation, you can either simply run down the wing and whip in the cross, or you can cut back inside and then float the ball to the far post. In either situation, the key part to executing a successful cross is understanding the trajectory of the ball and how and where it will intersect with the trajectory of the receiving player’s run.

You can also cross it directly to a player instead of playing it into space for a player to run onto and connect with. This is a smart move when there aren’t any players running into space or you can’t see what’s happening ahead of the play.

Another alternative is actually using the chipped through ball as a form of crossing when your players in the box are already well covered. If there is another player making his way towards the box, then lightly pressing the lobbed through ball (around 1 bar of power) and directing it to the edge of the 18 yard box will send it nicely into the player’s path and open up a chance to score.

You can also use the chipped through ball to “sweat” it to a player running alongside you if the goalkeeper decides to charge and close down your angles. The key is to analyse where your other players are on the field and decide which cross is the most effective at creating opportunities to go through on goal and capitalise on the chance.