I'd like to ask everybody, what is your definition of park the bus? Is parking the bus means just playing defensively? Or, if it means to play very very defensively, how do you tell in terms of tactics/formation?

For me, Parking The Bus means a team ABANDONS altogether any attack or goal-scoring effort. IMO, this is the difference between a team that is defensive but uses counter-attacking or route-one (punt the ball to lone striker) to score, and a team that Park The Bus. But how do you differentiate the 2?

This is my criteria for differentiating Park The Bus with a team playing (very) defensive counter-attacking, by looking at the formation:

1) No attacker/striker. The PTB formation would be like X-X-0, meaning there's nobody between the opponent's midfield and defense.

2) Overloaded defense. The number of defensive players is the same or more than the midfield+attack, i.e 5 or 6 players in defense instead of the usual 4 or (very rare)3.

Now if you analyze back Chelsea's games, you'll find that they consistently employ 4-5-1 throughout the first leg and the first half of second leg, even though they look extremely flattened due to Barca's tiki-taka style. For me, this is regular defensive counter-attacking formation because the it indicates they DID NOT ABANDON they're intention of scoring, there's always a target man upfront. Only in the second half did they revert to 6-3-0, with Drogba moving to LB(!) and Kalou to RB to form a 6 men defense. This signified that the have ABANDONED goal-scoring completely, hence Parking The Bus.

So, I'd like to know your definition of PTB. Some you say that Chelsea PTB'ed throughout both leg, so what is you justification for saying that? I like to hear your thoughts.

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Added on April 29, 2012, 7:27 amIf there's 9 players in the defensive line, that would be 9-0-1 or 9-1-0. A 4-5-1 is a 4-5-1.

This post has been edited by pokwang: Apr 29 2012, 07:27 AM

they park the bus because they were forced to by BARCELONA passing game

Well that's not really helpful. Do you mind explaining this further? Could you point to some examples to illustrate you point? Because by this definition, EVERY single team that Pep's Barca has gone against has parked the bus, since they NEVER had less than 50% possession (mind-boggling, isn't it?) since Pep took over. Now that doesn't sound right, does it?

This post has been edited by pokwang: Apr 29 2012, 09:58 AM

for me more than 8 players r around the penalty box, with only one or two players ready to counter, that is already parking the bus.. madrid is an example of defence counter attacking, even their left n right back going up when countering, chelsea, no offense, the back just kick the ball forward, with luck it reach any one of their striker, n attack n score.

btw wat is this la.. come on chelsea fan, u all are already in d final, u beaten us, u hv ur revenge.. just becoz of the term parking the bus, u all wan to be defensive about it. r u all ashamed by people claiming u all win by parking the bus or u wan people to acknowledge chelsea won by excellent defensive? either way win is a win. there r tym when we all also heavily criticize bout play acting especially against madrid in d classico a year ago.. we trying to defend our team, explaining why our team hav to act that way as madrid that tym really playin dangerously.. but in the end people stil blaimin us.

ur case, wining with parking d bus stil a win.. is it really matter bout anythg else? btw no offence to chelsea fan, congrat u all for winning. n i hope u all able to win the cup as far as i concern mostly people i met n even some Chelsea's fan themselves says bayern wil win the final. bayern did hav a home advantage crowd.

what is the thing that you don't understand?
even 5 years old knows what park the bus means

Well then explain it, because I'm a 4 year old. Please?

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Added on April 29, 2012, 12:28 pmSo, do you think Chelsea parked the bus in the first leg? Chelsea maintained 4-5-1 throughout the match. Are you suggesting that all defensive 4-5-1 formation is called parking the bus?

This post has been edited by pokwang: Apr 29 2012, 12:28 PM

apparently, a lot of Barcelona fans have never seen a defensive team. everything also park the bus to them. =/

Ironic that the term was made popular by Jose. maybe we should ask Jose what he meant.

park the bus
-defending by crowding the area around penalty box
-counter attack if possible
-use a deep defensive line

that's what "park the bus" means

Ape lahanat dok argue pasal parking bus defensive strategy ni..,adoi..da mng pn xpuas ht lg?pelik punye manusie..

depa xnak org kate depa main parking bus..

hahahahah

This post has been edited by mrkenn: Apr 29 2012, 02:54 PM

wow, interesting debating or argument without any conclusion i would say then

I say you're wrong. my impression is that a team parking the bus would have no intention to play. instead, they just pack the box with players and stop anything from coming in.

your park the bus is too liberal, it applies to how most english teams play.

if you want a proper definition, ask Jose. he coined the term.

I agree with points 1 & 3. See my post #2034 for my interpretation of Park The Bus. For point 2, I feel that teams that PTB don't even try to score, they give up trying to attack completely - e.g Chelsea in the 2nd half of 2nd leg.

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Added on April 29, 2012, 4:08 pmWho are these "depa", if I may ask?

This post has been edited by pokwang: Apr 29 2012, 04:08 PM

What is the point of this park the bus vs defensive tactic argument? What are you guys trying to achieve?

IMO park-the-bus is just another term of defensive tactic, it just carries more derogative term. That's why the term is a bit sensitive towards fans of clubs who employ the tactic, but ultimately there are more or less the same. Oh, there is also positive term for ultra-defensive tactic being coined around too nowadays. Remember the word 'pragmatic'? All these are just word play la.

It is certainly not about formation. For me, no matter if they employ 10-0-0, 4-6-0 or 4-5-1, as long as their system is set up just to stop opponents from playing, that can be considered ultra defensive, or bus/titanic/airbus parking tactics. Hence that was exactly what Chelsea employed.

Cant you guys just agree with that? That Chelsea was on the pitch just to stop Barca from playing? That they were ultra defensive? That they were being pragmatic? That they have the moon to be their GK?

Like neohardcore said, no matter what we say, in the end Chelsea won. So why bother arguing?

Finally people need to stop with this definition thing la. I've seen many such discussion here in Football Lounge. Definition of this and that la. Criteria on how to determine batter manager/player la. People need to understand that the criteria being put up are also OPINIONS i.e however correct that opinion may look, it is still an opinion, hence it can be both correct and false, until some empirical study is done on the issue. People need to accept that people have different opinions. Respect it, if you don't want to accept it!

But it's fun wat

Ooo so it was for fun? OK go on. You get TS's approval. As long as no personal remark ok?

So, neo elok2 sikit pakai 'lahanat' ni, aku piap kang baru tau

This post has been edited by matyrze: Apr 29 2012, 04:51 PM

By this definition, every team that has ever faced Barca is parking the bus. I totally disagree with this definition.

If Chelsea just want to stop Barca with their formation, how did they manage to score 3 goals? Are sure Chelsea's formation is to just stop Barca and and nothing else? Did they stick with 1 formation only, or did they change them throughout the 2 legs? Clearly you are underestimating the importance of team formation.

At least pokwang makes more sense than katnl. At least he has his detailed explanations there. katnl merely trying to defend himself lol.

This post has been edited by mrkenn: Apr 29 2012, 05:04 PM

Agree with pokwang. His fifa12 level over9000