\cresc applies to the next note!

[Frédéric Bron]

I am working on the (de)crescendo commands and there is something I
cannot do (I tried to understand scheme but could not).
\cresc is defined like this in 2.12.2 (ly/spanners-init.ly):

cresc = {   #(ly:export (make-event-chord (list cr)))   \once \set
crescendoText = \markup { \italic "cresc." }   \once \set
crescendoSpanner = #'text }

This is quite strange as

{ c\cresc d e f\! } % makes crescendo start on d

while

{ c\! d e f\! } % makes crescendo start on c

Is there a possibility to make \cresc form start on the previous note
and not on the next note?

Regards,

Frédéric Bron