[Music] parking the bus is an expression that means defending very deep in order to deny the opposition attacking opportunities it's generally associated with negative football and employed by teams looking to defend a lead or secure a low-scoring drawer josei Mourinho is credited with originating the phrase however according
to the Athletics Adam hurry the author of football cliches the first English use of the expression was actually a different version with the same intent as we say in Portugal they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal Mourinho is using the Portuguese
expression East a senado auto carro to criticise a very defensive performance from Spurs at Stamford Bridge in September 2004 that secured a nil nil draw typically Mourinho seized on the widespread use of his phrase and redeployed it several times famously in a positive way when Inter Milan secured
a 3-2 aggregate win over Barcelona enroute to the Champions League title in 2010 this time Mourinho did say Park the bus but as ever he twisted him we won the tie in Barcelona but everyone talks about Barcelona winning and says we parked the bus in front of the
goal we didn't park the bus we parked the aeroplane and we did it for two reasons one because we only had 10 men and two because we beat them 3-1 at the San Siro not with the bus or the boat or the plane but by smashing them so
whether a team is parking the bus the boat or the aeroplane what is meant by the expression is a team defending very deep compact around the goal and trying to prevent the opposition from having even a faint opportunity to score as we all know it can be seen
as negative and dull but it can be very effective so how does a team park the bus defending in this fashion is about creating a barrier around the goal and denying the opposition space horizontal and vertical compactness of the team especially buttressing the center of the pitch is
crucial Johan Cruyff gave an interview in his garden and was asked about defending he replied so what is defending defending is about space if I have to defend this whole garden I the worst defender if I have to defend this small area I'm the best now this is
the premise of parking the bus make the area you need to defend small marks only restrain the urge to press so that the shape is solid and deny the opposition the opportunity to find space the closer the defending teams players are to one another the easier this is
to do parking the bus works well in many formations but 442 especially if one attacker drops off and 4-2-3-1 are especially good as the center of the pitch can be packed out when Mourinho Zinta saw of Barcelona after Thiago Motta was sent off in the first half is
4-2-3-1 which was already quite defensive with Christian Shiva on the left became a four 5-0 with Wesley Sneijder the farthest player forwards the white attackers were drawn back to prevent Barcelona's full-back searching for words the center had Esteban Cambiasso and Shifu holding their space and only occasionally moving
towards the opposition while Schneider sought to press a little and keep the ball moving horizontally rather than vertically he targeted Barcelona's deeper playmaker Sergio Busquets to prevent penetrative passing and allowed in tests offensive lines to keep their shape crucially inter did not want the ball if they want
it back that could give Barcelona the chance to press them and effect a counter-attack against the defense that had now lost its position shape as Mourinho said after the game we didn't want the ball because when Barcelona press and win the ball back we lose our position I
never want to lose position on the pitch so I didn't want us to have the ball we gave it away I told my players that we could let the ball help us win and that we had to be compact closing spaces this is the essence of parking the
bus not actively seeking to win back the ball but creating a barrier between the opposition and the goal and becoming deep compact and impenetrable smothering their playmakers by denying them space too tight banks are for well organized and adjusting the shape constantly to ensure that there are no
gaps can be almost impossible to break down throw in positioning to direct shots towards the keeper as Burnley do so well and a good counter attacking threats such as Atletico Madrid have at their disposal and parking the bus can be an extremely effective method of it might not
be pretty but it is pragmatic and as Mourinho and others have shown it can be part of a team's tactical makeup that helps them win trophies [Music] you
