Jose Mourinho and the Amazing Technicolor Parked Bus

By Dushyant Sinha
10 years Ago

After its extensive use during Chelsea games, we look at the significance of the tactical parked bus in the footballing life of Jose Mourinho.

The Premier League title race was blown wide open at Anfield on Sunday when Jose Mourinho out-thought, out-witted and out-played Brendan Rodgers in the tactical arena. Mourinho played out a perfect game-plan against Liverpool that was followed to the dot by his players. The amount of discipline and concentration, accompanied by time-wasting tactics the Portuguese has mastered has made him the unofficial master of the dark arts of counter-attacking football. Brendan Rodgers, who worked under Mourinho at Chelsea between 2004 and 2007, was said to have been put in his place tactically. The master had given the apprentice a lesson to remember.

Rodgers lamented later that Chelsea had parked not one, but two buses in front of their goal in a bid to stifle Liverpoolai??i??s free-flowing, attacking football. Mourinhoai??i??s calm reply to such accusations was to be puzzled at why his teamai??i??s commendable defensive display was being perceived in a negative light. As far as Jose was concerned, the result was what mattered, not the means by which it was achieved. Chelsea had two counter-attacking chances in the entire game, which they carried out with ruthless efficiency. Demba Ba grabbed the opportunity that presented itself, when Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard rather cruelly slipped when in possession, to slot home Chelseaai??i??s opener just before half-time, and Willian finished off a counter attacking move that started in their own half in the 90^th minute of the game.

This isnai??i??t the first time Jose has conjured his Amazing Technicolor Parked Bus to grind out results. Mourinho gladly used similar tactics to great effect when managing Inter Milan against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp in 2010, when he suffocated Xavi, Iniesta and Messi by parking ten players behind the ball. Inter went on to win the semi final and eventually the Champions League crown. When accused of parking the bus, Jose in his inimitable style replied, ai???We didn’t park the bus, we parked the airplaneai??i??ai???

There are both admirers and critics of the parking-ten-players-behind-the-ball tactic, with the purists believing this method kills the free flowing attack minded approach that pleases they eye. The admirers however believe this defensive method gives the team with limited attacking nous to outplay an all out attack minded team. But Jose does not bother with these trivial fancies. Or does he?

Mourinho was upset when West Ham parked the bus against his Chelsea side in the Premier League

After Chelseaai??i??s 0-0 draw with West Ham at Stamford Bridge on January 29^th, Mourinho grieved about the fact that Hammers boss Sam Allardyce had used similar parking-the-bus tactics to earn a point against Chelseaai??i??s superior players. West Ham, with lower quality players with no astronomically powerful financial support, employed tactics Mourinho himself has used in the past, to grind out a battling point out of the game which left Jose unimpressed.

“This is football from the19th century. Ten defenders in the box. Very basic. Itai??i??s difficult to play a match where only one team wants to play. The only thing I could use was a Black & Decker to destroy their wall”, said Mourinho. Sam Allardyce used a candid phrase to deal with Mourinhoai??i??s allegations when he could have pointed to the various instances of Jose parking the bus, by saying he doesnai??i??t give a sh**e about Mourinho. A far more observational man wouldai??i??ve pointed to Mourinho parking the bus at Old Trafford and the Emirates earlier in the season to get draws out of those games, so it seems a little hypocritical of Jose complaining about his own tactics used against his own team.

Jose brought his amazing Technicolor bus to park at the Vicente Calderon as well in the Champions League semi final first leg against Diego Simeoneai??i??s Atletico Madrid. And he did the job. Chelsea came out of that game with a hard earned goalless draw, even if it meant cramping Atleticoai??i??s style and natural movement. His players were unnecessarily physical and did not allow Atletico to settle into their game. This style however, was not dismissed by Simeone in the same manner that Rodgers did. The Atletico manager was appreciative of the fact that what mattered in the end was getting the result, and not how it was achieved.

And so, the proverbial bus was brought to Stamford Bridge by Simeone. Atletico had found the answer to Mourinhoai??i??s tactics ai??i?? to beat him at his own game. Chelsea have outperformed other teams in Europe this season – teams which were more talented and skillful in possession ai??i?? by playing a highly disciplined ten men behind the ball defensive and counter attacking approach to get results. But he had no answer when Simeone brought his own bus to the Bridge.

Atletico played a 4-4-2 formation on paper, but Diego Costa was the only player found consistently ahead of the ball when Chelsea were in possession. Never did Atletico commit too many men forward. They waited patiently for Chelsea to make their plays and send men forward, waiting for that space to counter, keeping faith in their brilliant defence of Juanfran, Godin, Miranda, Filipe Luis, and their astounding goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois.

Hazard doesn’t believe Chelsea can play any other way than by parking the bus

Chelsea couldnai??i??t capitalize on their lead because they are not setup to play like that against the big teams. As Eden Hazard observed after the game, in a scathing remark that probably questions Mourinhoai??i??s tactics, parking the bus is all that Chelsea is good at. “Chelsea aren’t set up to play football,” Belgian Hazard told beIN SPORTS’ French station. “Chelsea are set up to counter-attack – a little bit like Real against Bayern. I don’t know what we lacked. After scoring, we had the game in our hands. Maybe they wanted it more than we did.”

It sounds a lot like Hazard is echoing the belief that against the big teams Jose Mourinho has to bring his bus. The Chelsea team is just not good enough to take the game to the opposition, if they are a quality opponent. In fact, Mourinhoai??i??s bite at being pro-active by sending on Samuel Etoai??i??o was seen as him being a bit too uncharacteristically premature. Mourinho usually waits till the last segment of the game to throw on attacking substitutes, but it looked like he was thrown by Simeoneai??i??s tactics that mirrored Chelseaai??i??s own. Both Simeone and Mourinho looked each other in the eye and the Portuguese blinked.

Etoai??i??o not only conceded the penalty that led to Atleticoai??i??s second, he did not really contribute a lot in attacking and Chelsea were knocked out of the competition. In hindsight, Mourinho should probably have done what he does best. Park the bus, be patient and wait for the quick counter attack. Chelsea against the best in Europe are probably proportional to West Ham against Chelsea in the Premier League. Why then must Mourinho criticize Sam Allardyce for using the same tactics he himself uses against most top European teams? Jose wonai??i??t answer this question in a hurry. But whatever the case, Chelsea cannot do without the bus or the airplane and Jose shouldnai??i??t get rid of them anytime soon.

Categories: Champions' League, Chelsea FC, COVER STORY, English Premier League, UEFA
Tags: Chelsea FC Jose Mourinho Parked Bus

After its extensive use during Chelsea games, we look at the significance of the tactical parked bus in the footballing life of Jose Mourinho.

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