The most controversial tactic in football at the moment. Chelsea have done it twice. It may have been boring to watch, or frustrating for the opposition, but it has worked.

Below is a new Foosball table (Chelsea vs Liverpool) I believe.

So what are your thoughts on this tactic?

All opinions welcome.

@Dephased: uhmn, I understand why Chelsea & Mou did that, but doesn't mean I have to like it. As a natural football's fan, it's the worst kind of game to watch, it's not even as "good defending" as some claimed it to be. It's just "park the bus", sure it's not easy but it's MUCH easier than playing proper counter attack or attractive football. That's my point. And if you have noticed my comment toward Chelsea, I support them in CL (in a way for the sake of EPL). Chelsea got the result, take the hate as the consequence with it.

@Eden and Lodatz: sure, tatically it makes sense, but trust me, we natural fans talk about football and all agree how un-enjoyable it must have been for Chelsea's fans to "cheers" only when your team manage to clear the ball.

Ok, for the sake of our argument, explain me your feeling & Mou's feeling when Westham played ANTI-FOOTBALL?

@Tuan

Well yes, we wern't happy at the time, but we understood that it was clever and recognised that West Ham got the result they were after. So we have started using it and it has worked. Just like other tactics. I just hope we can improve the bus by giving it an attacking sense with 3 attackers staying up front for dangerous counter attacks. Our performance against Liverpool had that attack hidden therefore we scored 2 goals to get a comfortable win.

@Lodatz

Some people here have opinions. You call parking the bus "good defense", then good on you mate. I call it "anti-entertaining football" and "cowardly" if used by a dominant European power. We have our opinions, and you have yours. You can't say we have "no idea what good defense is".

@Dyn: "'anti-entertaining football' and 'cowardly' if used by a dominant European power". Spot on man. can't say it better.

I wouldn't use "Cowardly". At the end of the day there is no "right" way to play football. Each team can play however they want.

ahhh we back to same topic ... @dynastian98 assume C. Ronaldo , Benzema , Modric , Di Maria and Bale was not playing that first leg against Bayern , do you think that Real would have had "entertaining " match ?

Do you also believe that Real would have won or even score a goal ?

Even with all those players Kings Club still was forced to sit own backyard while Bayern was enjoying 70% possession . Was that beautiful ? Club worth of 3+ billion with players worth close to billion .

@Marcus

Dude, just stop. It's embarrassing for you at this point. We beat Bayern 5-0 with 30% possession. That's not parking the bus. It's counter-attacking. Just stop with your nagging already. It's rather annoying now. Just accept it like most good Chelsea fans have done.

@Marcus

And it's because we have Ronaldo, Benz, Modric, di Maria, and Bale that we are able to score 5 against Bayern. Wtf is your logic at this point? That we wouldn't have beaten Bayern without those players? Of course we wouldn't have beaten them. That's like half our goddamn team.

First of all I am not 'most Chelsea fans' and I do not go by majority opinion .

Why should I let it go if you constantly pointing out how "brilliant " Real played and hinting about that Chelsea played "ugly" ? It is embarrassing for Real to place 9 players in the box . Btw since when has this become ok ?

When did you start following Madrid ? If you have been fan at least last 3 years , you must remember when Perez and fans and media were criticizing Madrid for playing same style against Barcelona ?

So .... Our missing main players are not half of our team ... ? mmh ok I guess it is not the same ....
Even if our main players play do they compare to accomplished players like Ronaldo ( best player in the world ) , Benzema ( one of the best strikers in the world ) , Di Maria ( best winger in the world ) and Bale ( 4th best player in the world ) ? Hell no , they are not near the quality , so why do you compare apples and oranges !?

Here read this is from master himself to philosophers

"At this moment, football is full of philosophers," Mourinho said. "People who understand much more than me. People with fantastic theories and philosophies. It's amazing. But the reality is always the reality. A team that doesn't defend well doesn't have many chances to win. A team that doesn't score lots of goals, if they concede lots of goals, is in trouble. A team without balance is not a team.

"I remember in my first period here, if you have a goalkeeper like Petr Cech who puts the ball in the opponents' box, and a striker like Didier Drogba who wins everything in the air, why play short? Because you are stupid?

"If your opponents are very fast on the counter and want space behind your defensive line, if you give them that space you are stupid. So when a team plays strategically and [a manager] thinks about his team and the qualities of the opponent … 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 'good teams, intelligent teams'. In this moment – depending on the coach and the club obviously – the critics speak."

Diego Simeone in his press conference last night:

'Im a football man; I respect different ways of setting up your team. It depends on what you believe is the convenient way of setting up your team and who you are playing against. To defend well is not easy so you
have to congratulate a team that defends well. Also, to attack well is not easy either so you have to congratulate a team that goes on the attack.

'I believe football has a changing nature and nobody has the truth on what is the best way of playing. It also depends on the manager that spends a lot of time with his players talking about different tactics and different styles. It depends as well on different problems that arise.

'Regardless of how you play it's important the team wins, the club wins, the institution as a whole wins. 'There is not one way of playing football. If we all played the same way it would be very boring. What matters is the result.'

@Marcus

"It is embarrassing for Real to place 9 players in the box . Btw since when has this become ok ? "

• That's exactly what your team does.

No worries though. The difference is the counter-attacking. Madrid counter-attacks, Chelsea just booted the ball upfield against Atletico. In case you never saw my comment about the L'pool match, I praised Mou for his ingenious tactics for snuffing out L'pool's attack. THAT, was not "parking the bus", because Chelsea counter-attacked and got two goals. I just feel frustrated with the Atletico game.

"When did you start following Madrid ? If you have been fan at least last 3 years , you must remember when Perez and fans and media were criticizing Madrid for playing same style against Barcelona ? "

Don't throw around idiotic comments questioning how long I've supported Madrid. I've supported them for much longer than 3 years, and I know damn well how they played against Barca back in '09 and '10. They were scared. And credit to Mou for changing that.

"So .... Our missing main players are not half of our team ... ? mmh ok I guess it is not the same .... Hell no , they are not near the quality , so why do you compare apples and oranges !? "

Wtf, you're the one who made the argument that Bayern vs. RM wouldn't have been entertaining without Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Modric and di Maria in the first place. That's half of our starting XI. I don't even understand your logic anymore. You're just posting clueless arguments at this point.

"Di Maria ( best winger in the world ) "

• Okay Marcus, Ronaldo is a winger, and di Maria is a midfielder now. Just wanted to make that obvious in case you haven't watched the last 25 RM games.

"It is embarrassing for Real to place 9 players in the box . Btw since when has this become ok ? "

You still have not answered my question . We do it and we do not deny it unlike Real madrid fans . Hard to swallow truth ? Trying to sugar coat it that you supposedly counter attack ? Yes , you did but same way like we did . YOu know I also like to sugar coat parking bus with Catenaccio word :))

Atletico and Liverpool game was same LOL WE "PARKED THE BUS" MATE !! LOL Just Liverpool was sloppier in the back and we punished them on the COUNTER ATTACKs . If Atletico was just as sloppy and we scored on the break or had 3 chances , would you have called it counter attacking football ? Your definitions of counter attacking football is bias .

• idiotic comments *

• And disclaiming someones opinion as idiotic just shows you as less intelligent , because you have nothing better to say .

Knowing damn well not enough . Do you remember what MARCA used to write about Mourinho tactics ? Or Perez and madrid fans criticisms towards tactics ? Same tactics that Ancelotti used today . Mourinho changed the style right after and later started bullying Barca . Barcelona team that was at peak of power was bullied by Madrid all thanks to Mourinho changing team drastically . The same team under Ancelotti was cornered by same style of Barca football and attacked on the counter .

oooh this gets better , do you know what MARCA wrote about Ancelotti tactics against Bayern ? You all Madrid fans think like MARCA newspaper . Double standard minds .

so why do you compare apples and oranges !?

• Yo mate , my point is simple . IF WE HAD SAME QUALITY PLAYERS AT OUR DISPOSAL WE COULD ALLOW OURSELVES TO COUNTER MORE OFTEN AND OUR COUNTER ATTACKS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SUCCESSFUL . During Atletico match our best players were not available . Our Best defensive midfielder was cup tied , our goalkeeper was out , our captain was out , our striker is a junk who ran around falling down ( we never know when he may play good ) . We did not have a balance in the team to create more counter attacks without being punished .

Madrid has quality players who can defend with patience ( something they learned from Mr Mou ) and counter attack quickly . Those players are fast and strong not to mention one of the best in the world . OFCOURSE they will catch Bayern sleeping and counter them fast .

I do not know how else to explain this ...

@Marcus

"Trying to sugar coat it that you supposedly counter attack ? "

• Madrid did defend deep. But I think you're confused at the definition of "parking the bus". Parking the bus is when you absolutely refuse to attack. Just defend, defend, and defend. For example, Chelsea vs. Atletico was a parked bus display, but not Chelsea vs. Liverpool. Because Chelsea counter-attacked against Liverpool.

We scored 5 goals against Bayern. How on earth can you say that I am sugarcoating it because my team "supposedly" counter-attacked? We were counter-attacking the entire match. We had more shots on target than Bayern in both matches.

I think it is you @Marcus2011 who needs to swallow the truth... Madrid vs bayern was not the same game as chelsea vs athletico. And if you actually watched the game, Real pressed high during the early stages in the match. They did defend deep later on but they did counter attack (you know, like bring players forward).

Like @dynastian said, chelsea vs liverpool and chelsea vs athletico were a different game. He explained above so I'm not going to explain it.

Chelsea vs Liverpool is the better bus.

@Marcus: I have to say @Dyn is right on this argument, you both have had your points, but you have to accept the fact that: what Real did was not parking the bus, that was perfect counter attacking, they had long ball, short passes, 1 2, they defended deeply but pressing very high up. Everytime they got the ball they built a threatening attack.

For the 2 rounds against Bayern alone, Real was the boss in every single aspect!

heres the bus.

Atletico madrid broke the bus.

I thought this is so funny hahaha

^ OMG :D