Park the Bus / Sit back and hit them on the break

[Bedfordspurs]

It's a joy to watch when you're supporting the underdog team playing that style. Just like Leicester fans were truly enjoy their performance against us on Sunday...

It's usually not a joy to watch for a neutral. And obviously not for the bigger team struggling to break down the smaller side, though not being entertaining for your opposition is hardly a negative.

They absolutely love it as it makes them competitive... and why wouldn't they

I hate watching it as i think its anti football but then as a Spurs fan I'm a purist

 

[metalgear]

its a valid tactic. if you are good enough you still beat teams that park the bus.

its a risky tactic too - if the team parking the bus conceded early, it will be hard to seek out an equalizer without feeing insecure about the defence.

 

[Jordinho]

Crystal Palace currently parking the bus away to Aston Villa. United probably doing similar at Saudi Sportswashing Machine.

 

[Robbo]

Speaking of parking the bus, a guy on Facebook mentioned pitch size as a key point - WHL is among the smallest in the PL, which will make it easier for the defending teams. 100 x 67 meters, compared to 105 x 68 meters for Arse, the Manchesters and quite a few other teams.

This is from April 2015, so I don't know if we've done anything about it - Poch did complain about a tight pitch in October 2014, but with the new stadium in the pipeline, an extension of the WHL pitch is probably not the top priority of Levy. But in games like yesterday, when the opponents sit deep, those extra five metres can potentially be a deciding factor.

 

[braineclipse]

its a valid tactic. if you are good enough you still beat teams that park the bus.

its a risky tactic too - if the team parking the bus conceded early, it will be hard to seek out an equalizer without feeing insecure about the defence.

How good is "good enough" exactly? Bayern/Barca/Real-esque good?

 

[Yiddo]

With a team like ours that press at a high intensity, opposition only have to weather the storm and eventually we will tire. If they manage to get a goal on the break before we tire thats an added bonus. We are easy to frustrate and do not seem to have the players to pick the lock when teams park the bus, players who can score long rangers on a consistent basis.

 

[glorygloryeze]

With a team like ours that press at a high intensity, opposition only have to weather the storm and eventually we will tire. If they manage to get a goal on the break before we tire thats an added bonus. We are easy to frustrate and do not seem to have the players to pick the lock when teams park the bus, players who can score long rangers on a consistent basis.

It is certainly what Leicester did last night and has been my concern for a while that we are susceptible to that kind of method.
This second half of the season will tell us if MoPo can overcome such tactics over the long term. I have more faith that we can overcome it than i did earlier in the season but the jury is still out imo..hopefully another option for Poch will be brought in this month to add new options and freshen the squad up for the run-in.

COYS

 

[braineclipse]

With a team like ours that press at a high intensity, opposition only have to weather the storm and eventually we will tire. If they manage to get a goal on the break before we tire thats an added bonus. We are easy to frustrate and do not seem to have the players to pick the lock when teams park the bus, players who can score long rangers on a consistent basis.

For me Leicester's two best periods in terms of performance was the middle 15 minutes in the first half and the period just after the break. They tired at least as much as us.

Teams that press a lot do it in part to tire the other team. Not having possession is tiring on the mind and legs. Running in between is tiring... What you have to do to make that happen is make the other team work really hard to defend well. I think we did that yesterday against Leicester, and I think we've been quite good at it overall this season. Much better than some previous iterations of Spurs that's for sure.

They got the goal against the run of play from a cheap set piece goal because of an individual mistake from us. Not because we were tiring more than them. If anything as the second half grew on they looked to be tiring and we dominated more and more. Our chances with Kane and Lamela, our set piece chances, our long range chances... It was not down to a systematic issue because of styles of play for me at all. Luck and variance, swings and roundabouts.

 

[metalgear]

How good is "good enough" exactly? Bayern/Barca/Real-esque good?

yeah and closer to home arsenal does well to unpick stubborn defences too.
but you should follow on to the next line i wrote for the complete picture.