League Focus: Why the Headed Goal is a Dying Art in Serie A

No one has scored more headed goals in the history of Serie A than Alberto Gilardino and so when Palermo sold Paulo Dybala to Juventus last summer and signed him as a replacement, it was evident that how they attacked would have to change.

A little less interplay between the lines and players taking on their opponents with dribbling and other skills at which Franco Vazquez excels. He completed more dribbles than anyone in Serie A [135] last year. A little more wing play and crosses into the box. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then to learn that 41% of Palermo’s goals [7] this season have been headers and in this regard they have no rival.

Verona run them close [6] and why wouldn’t they when so much of their game plan is about supplying the reigning co-Capocannoniere Luca Toni? He’s second for headers on the all-time list in Italy. Juventus and Milan have also demonstrated aerial prowess this season [6] but in different ways. The champions bought Mario Mandzukic in the last transfer window and in his first appearance in Serie A they made more crosses [43] in a game than they had done since May 2013. Instead of a target man, an explanation for Milan’s can be found in a renewed focus and success rate from dead ball situations.

These teams and Chievo [5] are the exceptions. Take Napoli for example. Gonzalo Higuain, the player currently top of the scoring charts in Serie A with 16 goals in 17 games, scored his first header of the season against Atalanta in his team’s final match before Christmas. Of the 31 goals Napoli have scored this campaign it was their first header as well. A contrast in styles can be made here. Napoli play the ball on the floor. Passes are generally short and Higuain, the focal point of their attack, isn’t renowned for heading. But the trend is more general.

Headed goals have decreased by 12% on two decades ago. Only 69 have been scored so far this season in Serie A, the fewest in Europe’s top five leagues. It must be said goals are down in general in Italy. The highest scoring league last season, it is now once again the lowest when compared with England, France, Germany and Spain. But it is also true that headed goals have been in decline over the last decade. In 2006-07 they represented 19.3% of the total and never dropped below 18% until five years ago. Since then they have hit lows of 13% in 2013-14 and now amount to just 16.1%.

Only seven players including Gilardino, Massimo Maccarone and Mandzukic have scored more than one headed goal this season. Look at today’s top 10 goalscorers in Serie A and among the poachers like Mauro Icardi and Nikola Kalinic, the fast-twitch forwards like Carlos Bacca and Eder, both of whom are under 6ft, and a set-piece specialist in Miralem Pjanic, you’ll find players who operate in the no-man’s land between the midfield and attack, players with low centres of gravity who give no reference points like Dybala and Lorenzo Insigne.

Maccarone aside the ‘big man’ centre-forward or even those with a grasshopper leap are conspicuous by their absence. There is no Oliver Bierhoff, no Bam Bam Zamorano, no Crespo, no Trezeguet or to flash even further back no Roberto Boninsegna, no John Charles. Even so, in addition to Mandzukic, Toni, Gilardino and Big Mac there is German Denis, Maxi Lopez, Alessandro Matri and Edin Dzeko to name but a few.

The Roman ones make for interesting cases. Lazio cross more than any other team in Serie A [454]. Antonio Candreva is one of the league's best crossers. He attempted 253 last year. Of the players still active in Serie A only Gilardino, Amauri and Toni have scored more headers than Matri [16] in the last decade. And yet Candreva has been out of form and Matri has not always made the starting XI. At Roma, the team could make better use of Dzeko. But Salah and Gervinho are dribbler-finishers not dribbler-crossers. They play to feet, not to the head.

Musing on the dwindling number of headed goals, ‘Spillo’ Altobelli, the former Inter and Italy striker, told La Repubblica: “There are no longer guys like [Giancarlo] Pasinato or Franco Causio or Bruno Conti. Players don’t cross the ball anymore. The word ‘cross’ has disappeared from the coaching manual.” Is that really the case? True, it does to an extent feel like there are fewer outstanding crossers around at the moment. No Beckhams for example, although Kevin de Bruyne flashes an excellent ball across the box.

Accuracy is actually marginally up in Serie A from 21.8% a couple of seasons ago to 22.2% today. But the really telling statistic is how crosses from open play have fallen in the last decade from a peak of 43.1 per game in 2007-08 to 29.8 this season. It reflects the shifts in style of the game. The rise of the False 9 at Spalletti’s Roma then Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. The change in mentality to more intricate and elaborate short passing games and narrow systems like a diamond midfield returning in vogue.

Player development is now even more focused down these lines too, so much so that when discussing Germany’s talent production line Jürgen Klopp reminded everyone of how the country isn’t producing strikers and in particular headers of the ball. They’re missed. Heading is an art-form. Just go and watch Marco van Basten’s stooping effort for Milan against Real Madrid. We need more of that, not less.

Is Serie A worse off due to an increasing lack of crosses? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below