*** The Bus ***

[Lomar1o]

This is my first thread, so I'm not sure how informative and on point it will be, due to my lack of a knowledge of the English language and football matters in general zubi, but allow me to continue.
If you didn't guess judging by the title and the picture (of course you did ), this topic is about a defensive tactic called "parking the bus".
The main aim is to break it down figuratively and literally.
For many years FC Barcelona especially has been struggling against such tactic, how do you think it should be exploited? How would you counter it? Is it unbeatable? Let's dive neymar into a heated discussion to unravel the ultimate answer to everything concerning the bus. I will express my opinion later. Let the discussion begin!

P.S. I couldn't find a similar topic, and if there is, feel free to delete this one.

 

[Chainsaw]

Free kicks and long range shots are the best solutions IMO. And on top of them all...luck!

I see in situation such as this a team like Barca for example barely try shooting at goal as many as possible. They just tick the match away with constant short passes or crosses which are all useless. They just help the bus to get even more compact.

 

[Leo10]

Strong defense - In the league or in a two-legged tie we MUST NOT concede first. It allows the bus to be parked even better.

Long rage shots - Ricochets, deflections, corner kicks, hand balls, goals sometimes.

Crosses - I have a mixed feeling about this but sometimes it works.


The most important - Rock solid defense. If we don't concede we only have to score once.

 

[BBZ8800]

1. we should try our regular shortpassing-possession-Tiki-Taka style, but combined with some other factors, like:
2. some longshots from the edge of the box, and lately we stopped attempting those shots :/ (We are afraid of losing possession, I guess, lol)
3. some crosses into the box if we have a tall striker (but not crosses ALL THE TIME, but 3-4 actions with shortpassing through the middle, then one ranged drive, then one cross etc.. we need to try more different things, not just sterile shortpassing through the middle till death)
4. whenever we have a chance, we should try to make a faster counterattack, until our opponent hasn't come back in their classic bus-formation (Xavi is lately killing all counterattacks. Whenever we have a chance to do something faster, he just takes the ball and waits until their defense is back in a bus-mode). We should try that, for example, after their corners, free kicks, after their attempts of counterattacks etc)
5. Rijkaard's trick: give them some ball and Possession every now and then force them to leave their bus-formation, and then again, when you get the ball, you need to try a faster counterattack, even if that means losing the ball and a mighty possession, who cares? We will get the ball back and they won't catch us on the counterattack because we haven't attacked them with 10 men in their half, since we gave them the possession and we defended with 5-8-10 players in our half, for example. (currently it seems that we are afraid of giving away some possession and of trying to create some counterattacks because we fear that we will be counterattacked when we lose the ball in our attempt of counterattack. So we just play slowly, and without taking those risks, we usually don't score against the bus, and yet, we always concede a Goal in some random counterattack, because, in the end, you always allow some counterattacks when you play Tiki-Taka with 10 players in their half)
6. some solo actions from Neymar, Messi, random player and a surprise shot after that is also welcomed. We don't need to make 1001 passes in each action before finally attempting a shot. (But yes, we will again lose some Possession. But who cares?)

Anyway, we should try a few different options.
With Pep, we only tried shortpassing till death and nothing more.
Tata tried some crosses, which is a step forward because he probably figured out that we are too one-dimensional with only shortpassing (and it became easy to defend against our current style) and he realized that we need to try shortpassing+something else. The problem is that our players are not suitable for some crosses (Again, we shouldn't cross all the time. But a cross every now and then could help and give us more options).

Imo, only shortpassing in Pep's style will work never again. This is not 2008' anymore. No matter how hard we run/press/play triangles, we will never be as successful with only shortpassing through the middle as in 2008.

 

[raskolnikov]

Long shots and wingers/full backs making runs behind defense are the best option imo, you saw it with Bayern, Crosses are kind of pointless cause they are so strong in the air, they will head anything away when crossed, so the tall striker might add to an increased chance but its not a solution on its own.

Thats another thing, we concede goals cause our defence sucks, if we had a solid defence with Thiago Silva for example we would not have conceded two goals against Chelsea.
We need a strong defence where nothing gets trough.

 

[Gaudi]

I belive every tactic would struggle agains "the bus", because that's the only purpose of bus. Nobody would play it if you can't make things more difficult for "better team". But it can be breaked, I belive wit speed, penetration (attacking the box), especially runs from behind (like midfielders) because those are difficult to follow and a bit of diversity. Unfortunately, today we fail in almost all of the above.

 

[ManusXavi]

I have thought about this this week since the Liverpool vs Chelsea game and I'm not convinced by park the bus
If an attacking team keeps a formation of defence then what really has 'Park the bus got to offer apart from getting lucky on the occasional free kick or corner it manages to get during the game?
I notice two things during a Park the bus victory against a team that has good attack. First is bad luck trying to stop a counter attack or Poor defensive plans in the first place on the ready to stop counter attacks.
Secondly is luck that the attacking team didn't score
As far as tactics go against a side that doesn't need to attack - I really think its best to mix up options keep them guessing. A team needs to try to stay positive about having to face these negative tactics. Sports psychology is a large topic when learning to be a coach because its effects are huge.

 

[Ode to Django]

Midfield runners that aren't picked up, Inzaghi like intelligent movement, always on the go, luck.

 

[darthvader7888]

-A better defense to prevent us from conceding.
-Long shots. Free kicks. Long shots. Did I mention long shots?
-Let them have some of the ball, fast counter when we win it back.
-Just counter attack when we can. Instead of slowing down and letting the opposing team get back into their bus formation.

I don't think crossing to a tall #9 will work. Atletico tried it at the Calderon and so did Bayern at the Bernabeu (to a lesser extent). The crosses were just headed away by the bus. A number 9 in front of Messi (doesn't have to be tall) would give him more space though.

 

[Muttu]

It's vital that we don't concede against a bus.
Keep crossing to a minimum, we don't have the players for it.
Instead, take more risks in the final third - play balls into the feet of our attackers at the edge of the box, make runs behind their defense. Constant movement around the box. Instead of a tall plan B-type striker, I think a Suarez/Agüero type striker, along with Messi, would help us alot with their brilliant movement and ability to operate in confined space against tight defenses.

Here's a video of Chelsea's tactics vs Liverpool, and how Liverpool approached their attacking play in the wrong way. They started crossing like we've done some games.

 

[Mythical Revolution]

1) A strong, mobile defense that can effectively deal with counters.
2) A fox-in-the-box CF as a tactical option. Our problem has less to do with creating chances than converting them, and over the past few seasons our only credible goalscoring threat has been Messi; now we also have Neymar, but he's not there yet. We need someone who can either create space for Mess/Neymar or come on as a sub in the last 20min of the game and clinch that winner for us.
3) Take more risks, even at the expense of possession. One way to unpark the bus would is to eliminate the players parking it, and that's done by dribbling past them. In effect, even if we get dispossessed that's not entirely a negative because now the other team has to open up in order to do something with the ball.

IMO, I don't think that crosses and long shots are the most effective way to deal with parked buses, especially for a team like Barca. Rather, the most effective way to break the bus would be for us to play to our strengths.

 

[ammarfcb]

cross in to last man. cross back across the box. tap in.

the atleti way

 

[Ursegor]

There is no "recipe". Heynckes' Bayern did everything mentioned here. Crosses, real #9, wingers and fullbacks overloading the flanks, long range shots, physicality, direct play instead of "tiki taka". Still lost the CL final on home soil against Chelsea. They even had the advantage of knowing what to expect and could prepare accordingly as they have closely analysed the Barca games in the semi finals. Still struggled to break them down. With 10 defenders in the box luck will play a big role in creating scoring chances.

Guardiola already struggled with parked busses in 2009 against Chelsea. 5 years later he still struggles with it. If he can't come up with a solution, no one here will.

/thread

 

[jamrock]

the best solution is to score first if you can, simple ass, then their goes their best laid plans

one could also set back and have the bus team try to come out and score, but after playing a certain way for years its difficult to up and change your style of playing.

at the end of the day defending is the easiest thing to do in football, we must always remember that

 

[Science Kid]

There is no "recipe". Heynckes' Bayern did everything mentioned here. Crosses, real #9, wingers and fullbacks overloading the flanks, long range shots, physicality, direct play instead of "tiki taka". Still lost the CL final on home soil against Chelsea. They even had the advantage of knowing what to expect and could prepare accordingly as they have closely analysed the Barca games in the semi finals. Still struggled to break them down. With 10 defenders in the box luck will play a big role in creating scoring chances.

Guardiola already struggled with parked busses in 2009 against Chelsea. 5 years later he still struggles with it. If he can't come up with a solution, no one here will.

/thread

Bayern did break down the bus,they had countless chances,made Chelsea completely toothless and had the game by it's throat.Conceding a naive goal in the 88 minute is what lost them the game...that and that choker Robben missing his second important penalty in 2 weeks.

That game,like the entire champions league run by Chelsea was followed by an incredible amount of luck...they should have lost 5-1 to Napoli,and probably should have conceded 5-6 goals in both matches against Barca.They had 3 shots on goal in 2 games and they scored 3 times...again,Barca missed 99% certain chances and Messi missed a penalty.

Their bus was broken down time and again but lady luck was by their side.

I'm not even mad though...they had so many heartbreaking losses,a penalty away from the title,Iniesta's goal etc,so i'm kinda glad for their fans that they manage to win one.