why park the bus may be the greatest tactic ever ?
by rushil khosla
it has its fairshare of critics , but its success is undeniable . park the bus is non-luminescent to majority of football critiques , but it does the job at the crunch . park the bus is a tactic , pretty similar to the catennacio ( door bolt ) tactic where man marking will be improvised rather than zonal marking had provided great results in the late 70's and 80's but demised by the entrance of total football , but then you may ask , how is it different well, the differences are certainly striking
above - the catenaccio and park the bus . relatively similar styles
catenaccio's success and demise
the catennaccio style of play came in regulation by argetinian coach hilanio hererra when his inter milan side dominated italian and european football in the 1960 s . its rebirth came as the italian coach enzo bearzot adopted the playing tactic for his 1980 football team , the result was evident because in the space of just 2 years . the azzuri had won the world cup . its success led to its widespread use in italian football . a more constrained man marking paid off as the goals per game ration died down . however due to widespread exposure and new technology in hand , the catennacio was ineffective wit a free- playing style of football , where any player could play any position . the man maarking couldnt stop the brand of free flowing football , pioneered by cruyff , total football led to the subsequent death.
what makes park the bus different
if we have to describe park the bus , we can say its an incarnation of catennacio , only its more fast paced and unpredictable . jose mourinho originated park the bus , as a method to recover defenders when they are tired . many believe it started from 2013/14 season , during the infamous chelsea away tie at anfield , but its origins can be traced from his stint at real madrid . jose mourinho brought a new tactic to counter the tiki-taka brand of football their hated rivals barcelona played . a 4-2-3-1 attacting formation is what is said on paper , but the reality is far different . through out his stint . jose mourinho rallied on fast paced players , rather than technical players . training sessions would focus on fast movement , getting of your marker and fast passing . real madrid rellied at counter- attacks . whenever , the team switched off . players such as ronaldo , benzema would venture forward , the passes would by delivered by specialists such as ozil and players like higuain would finish off the run .
its advantages .
park the bus has numerous advantages and though it should not be a full game tactic . the last 25 mins could adopt this kind of play . park the bus frustrates its opponents . not leaving any chance to find their teammate . usually deep into their own half . its a contrained man marking effort rather than the zonal marking system adopted today . its advantages can really be seen in todays football . the newly appointed manchester united manager , jose mourinho has based his transfers on the same tactic . lets look at these signings in depth . first up we see the transfer of eric baily , a strong ivorian on and off the ball who has pace and a great reading of the game , next we look at the transfer of henrikh mkhitaryan from dortmund , a sporadic first team choice , he is an integral rightmidfielder , who has great vision and excellent execution and finally probably the most high profile signing of the year zlatan ibrahimovic , a target man , great in the air , holds his ground and a deadly finisher . so what the signings signify . We start from defence with eric baily and the man utd defense , they get the ball and work their way to the miidfield where player like mkhitaryan , might catch few opposing players out , pass or just make a run and cross it . if so all these scenarios take place , zlatan , deadly in the air can finish with a header and goal united . a contrained effort from the defense leading to a well crafted goal .
