Crosses and Corners as Keys to Success: David González’s Deportes Tolima 2023/24 – tactical analysis

Deportes Tolima are currently in the midst of a terrific season. At the end of Colombias Liga Dimayor Apertura, they finished second, level on points with surprise winners Atlético Bucaramanga and only behind by one goal on goal difference.

Tolimas improvement is extremely commendable, given they finished last seasons Apertura in 13th place. They then shot up to fourth place in the Clausura, courtesy of hiring former Manchester City U21s and Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper David González. González has proven to be a shrewd addition, leading them to 11 wins in 20 league matches last season (four draws, five losses) and repeating that this year in 19 matches (five draws, three losses).

In last seasons Clausura, Tolima began crossing the ball with better accuracy, while their corners also began troubling opponents a lot more. That has been the case once again this season, and with more time to understand Gonzálezs demands from these situations, they seemed to have improved even further on that front.

This tactical analysis will take a look at statistics to analyse those two primary modes of attack, key players within Gonzálezs tactics and provide analysis of some examples to better understand how these situations work.

Background

González enjoyed a 20-year career as a player, having begun his journey with Independiente Medellín after graduating from their academy in 2000. After six years with the first team, he moved to Deportivo Cali and Caykur Rizespor in quick succession before spending a six-month period without a team.

In February 2009, he was picked up by Huracán but was without a club once again from that summer until January 2010, when Manchester City signed him. González never played for their first team, instead enjoying loan spells at Leeds United and Aberdeen before joining Brighton on a free transfer in January 2012.

Seven months later, he moved on to another Bosman move to Barnsley before returning to Colombia with Deportivo Pasto. A few more short spells with Rionegro Águila, Independiente Medellín (on loan) and Deportivo Cali followed before he hung up his boots in 2021.

Following his retirement, González got into management, securing his first gig with Medellín in June 2022. He remained in the role for nearly a year, guiding them to 22 wins and 17 draws in 56 matches before departing in May 2023.

In September last year, the now 41-year-old took up his current role at Deportes Tolima.

What does the data say about Deportes Tolimas attack this season?

On a surface level, Tolimas attack has enjoyed plenty of success this season. They are averaging 1.39 expected goals (xG) per game and marginally outperforming that with 1.48 goals scored, which suggests that their goalscoring rate is sustainable. They are attempting 12.58 shots per game, getting a decent 37.9% of those on target. Their shooting from outside the box hasnt been great, with only 26.1% of their 5.52 attempts per game on target.

Among their passing stats, what has stood out is their accuracy on long passes, as they get 56.7% of their long-ball attempts to a teammate. Their forward passing (75.9% accuracy on 136.54 attempts per game) is more than healthy as well. Their final third passing (74% accuracy on 49.19 attempts) and progressive passing (73.5% accuracy on 69.54 attempts) have been solid, too.

Where they really differentiate themselves from most of the league is in their effectiveness from crosses. As the scatterplot below consisting of the corners attempted and percentage of corners leading to a shot indicate, they maintain a solid accuracy (38%) despite their high volume (4.58) in a league where most teams have managed only one of the two.

For instance, América de Cali attempt 5.74 corners per game, but have an accuracy of just 25.6%. The closest in accuracy to Tolima are Boyacá Chicó at 33.3%, but their corners per game is also lower at 4.11. Tolima have thus simply been a class apart in this regard this season.

The second but less obvious manner in which Gonzálezs team have differentiated themselves from the rest of the pack is with respect to crosses. Here, there are a few teams that are doing marginally better than Tolima; however, as the scatterplot below shows, they are once again managing high accuracy at a high volume.