Why ‘Parking The Bus’ Is Such A Painfully Misused Phrase

Agree with the vast of this article, Cush. All I can say from the comments is that it is a very good thing right now for Spurs to be playing in their own house without a divided and groaning crowd.

Total football! That is funny. If we got anyway near Rinus Michaels’ ideology I’d be happy, but our players cannot play in any position. Sissoko is a one trick pony, he barely manages in the one role he has been given. Kane perhaps is good enough to play in different positions, but that is about it. It is nothing new to know your job on a football field either, Fergie drilled his teams relentlessly on this, but it is amazing how a team can be torn to shreds if a player does not fulfil his role. Tactically Jose has us tight, but his hands are tied because if we were better we wouldn’t give the ball away so much (a la Dier) and wouldn’t need to be so negative. In the second half we sat back not to lose because there was no way we could press and win. That high press was non existent. This lack of spending from Levy is what ultimately cost Redknapp and Poch and could easily bite Jose too. Spending less than your rivals is not something to be proud of. Show me a team who wins trophies regularly with that model. We are difficult to beat which means we are always able to stay in a game, but we are rarely comfortable in our wins so we either improve in possession or keep being lucky.

Catenaccio was far more simple and basic. Also all focus was on the back line. Maureens system is more a mix of man marking and zonal defending plus total football. With each player having specific jobs which can chop and change.. People have been slating our performances against City and Chelsea, but these are top teams. Playing against the likes of De bruyne and Kante and Thiago Silva is not easy whether attacking or defending. Joses net spend was 45 or 60 odd mil. The other clubs spent more on single players alone. Considering we are still in transition everyones settling in nicely.

It was so dull I had to put the fog lights on in the second half. Only lovers of catenaccio would smile at it. Even the Italians have moved on from that! Opposing teams since the Utd and Southampton games have worked us out somewhat, apart from Man City who got sucker punched. Southampton were naive against us, they didn’t learn and we kept exploiting their high line after they gave us the run around in the first half. As long as the opposition don’t leave space in behind Spurs struggle. If we keep nicking the wins and staying undefeated all will be good, if teams are naive that is their fault. Lampard didn’t fall in to Jose’s trap and Jose knew it early on. I think this is why he went into his own Lockdown in the second half, there was little attacking intent that is for sure. Only a mistake was going to bring about a goal and both teams can count themselves lucky. Giroud and Lo Celso should have done much better.

Call it ptb or “tactical masterplan” or whatever, Sunday’s game was a 15 round sparring match in which neither team saw an opening to land the KO punch. Fat Frank surprised Jose by not attacking more to deny us the opportunity for the quick goal. We waited patiently for Chelsea to make a mistake and when Zouma complied near the end LoCelso messed it up. I’m fine with the result. We took the 1 point that FF was conceding. This season is about surviving, staying healthy to the end so laying back and countering prevents injury and preserves strength.

I think the respect is deserved. Ziyech is class he can play. Mason Mount and Kante are both superb they have a strong midfield. Thiago Silva and co at the back kept Kane quiet, no easy feat. They have Werner up top he’s showing what he can do already. They are no mugs I think they’ll make top four.

Often the best bet on a ‘Super Sunday’ on Sky is one of the top of the table clashes to end 0-0.

This one was typical of that.

Often the best bet on a ‘Super Sunday’ on Sky is one of the top of the table clashes to end 0-0.

This one was typical of that.

We showed Chelsea a lot of respect yet their form has been against teams in the bottom half of the table. Draws against Utd & Shampton two teams we destroyed were their best results before facing us.They still haven’t beaten anyone in the top half.

I thought Son had another off day. He wasn’t at his fiery direct top form at all.. That was a typical top of the table clash. A tight cagey affair where neither teams wanted to give up the 3 points. Being a 6 pointer at the top this has often happened throughout the years when the big teams clash.. Often one mistake decides it.

Having Kane 7 goals & Son 9 goals the best in the league as a combined duo surely playing to their strengths without the handbrake on we could have bettered Werner 4 goals & Abraham 3 goals unless Jose doesn’t think our midfield & defence were also better. I am not disappointed with a draw ,stay top and move on but even Leicester when winning the title weren’t scared to go toe to toe against the likes of Liverpool and ourselves.

Eriksen’s stats were brilliant over a long period but his performances in the big games proved he went missing,it’s a no from me.

It was a very cagey affair, but I wouldn’t say it was dull. The chavs are in good form and we shut them down at the bridge, clean sheet and maintaining a slight advantage in the race. We are a yard in front still.. Look at the top scorers chart. Only one team has two in the top 5 and thats Spurs with Son and Kane. The only other team that has two players in the top ten is Liverpool… We are in fact averaging the best partnership in the league… And thats just goals. Thats before you add assists to the table. Add Kanes assists and we have the best attacking partnership in the league.

I think it takes a foreign player at least a year to settle in the PL. I don’t think he has been completely due to a succession of niggling injuries. His stats were very good in La Liga and I personally think he will come good but it wouldn’t hurt to have another playmaker on the books. Eriksen back to Spurs?

Our style of play is undoubtedly a highly contentious subject, the citeh performance was outstanding as I don’t see a better way of playing against such a powerful attacking force. The chavs performance I can understand as the game for both managers was simply not to lose. However we have as good a forward line as their is, so we should be more attack minded against lesser teams, even if they park the bus, let’s see how things develop .

Agree with everything apart from LoCelso, not putting in the hard yards when required and hasn’t done it for me with his poor return on his invesrment,35 appearences 1 goal, & 2 assists in the PL. He’s no playmaker,at least not at Spurs so far unless Jose can transform him like he’s done with N’dombele.

Our inability to break teams down stems from a lack of midfield flair. With Sissoko and Hjojberg as normally two out of a midfield trio, our passing and vision is not creative enough. I hope that Lo Celso and N’Dombele begin to start together soon. I have found many of our games to be turgid affairs and I could barely watch the Chelsea game.

Everton 0.1, Newcastle 1.1, Burnley 0.1,WBA 0.1,Chelsea 0.0, Three goals in five games say we don’t score enough goals. Scoring 6 against Utd & 5 against Southampton gives the goals tally a great look but not the whole story. That’s 3 goals scored in half the 10 premier league games we have played. Since drawing 3.3 with West Ham,things have changed in the attacking sense Spurs have not been the same and are now more cautious of the opposition,we have scored only 6 goals out of the last 5 games since but have only conceded one. Unless when playing lesser teams we put them to the sword like title winning teams usually do in the past I expect our goals scored to drop off from being one off the highest in the league. We can now boast the best defensive record in the league letting in 9 goals with only (6 from open play) and going by recent performances I would expect this to continue.

that was a boring game, call it park the bus or what ever you want. The game was dull. Its not the first dull game this season. we are 10 games in, and only 3 have been watchable with enjoyment, and not even fully sure you could say that about the entirity of those games. People on here saying “the only enjoyment I get is in a win” or “I will enjoy the open top bus ride”. you may as well just watch a teletext version of the game then. So for the statty people out there…

We have scored 21 goals (conceded 9), of those 21, 11 came against United and Southampton. So that is 10 in the other 8 games. In those other 8 games we averaged 11.25 shots (4.6 on target) and 1.25 goals. In those 8 games, the newcastle one accounted for 1/3rd of those shots (we were robbed there). Take the newcastle game out of it – 9.4 shots, 3.5 on target and scored 1.28 goals. We have 3 people up front that many at the start of the season felt would be the most deadly strike force the PL has seen…over 25% of the season down and we are averaging a VERY VERY poor attack.

I love that Jose really got the guys to put Southampton and United to the sword. I hated that under Poch 4-0 was job done. However, if teams dont attack and leave half a pitch behind them, we seem to lack ideas.

Chelsea and Spurs this season are two teams that had their pants pulled down defensively once or twice in the first 6 games and then went back and decided to put that firm foundation in place and then look to build after. It’s clear as day.

So often the top sides build that defensive solidity/platform first. I do think this is the right approach from Jose at this stage of the season rather than the more open, ‘let’s hope three or four of our creatives/forwards are in good form and we can outplay/outscore the oppo’ which yes is more the traditional Spurs way to kick off a campaign.

This system isn’t as reliant on individuals being in the form of their life to ‘make something happen’, it’s a true team effort at the moment.

Big double decker at the back and a mini bus careering around driven by Sonny

Well done Cushty, nice work.

I thought they were calling it Turbo Bus Parking, Bc of the counter Attack of Son & HK.

Thanks H 👍