How to beat park the bus

[give it to gordon]

Just stay on the edge of our box and knock the ball about. Force the opponent to get into our half

 

[franksinatra]

If your team tactics is to build up slowly don’t be surprised if the opposition has got their players back in defensive positions..

 

[TheThirdDeano]

Easy, score first!

 

[RayCTID]

Easy, score first!

And make sure you don't give the opposition any encouragement either.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

I have a ground breaking idea, play quicker, be more direct, get balls into Haaland quicker. Play with advancing full backs, that overlap, stretch sides. Anything but slow boring build ups, that allow every single person on the opposite side to get back and hold a shape against us.

 

[mexico1970]

Just stay on the edge of our box and knock the ball about. Force the opponent to get into our half

You forgot the part where we make sure all of our defenders are slow and can't stop the break when sides snatch the ball off of us :)

 

[Hertzblue]

Shooting lessons for Dias.
He must get at least half a dozen clear sights of goal every game.
If he could bang the odd one in Vinnie style that would help !

 

[TheThirdDeano]

And make sure you don't give the opposition any encouragement either.

Exactly.
Score a goal, don’t concede any stupid chances and don’t let their time-wasting/poor sportsmanship get in your head.

 

[M12Blue]

Rule change, each team to keep 3 minimum players in opposition half at all times. Scrub offside. More goals, more space and stops the low block.

 

[chesterbells]

Well, we are at opposing values on the pitch. Breaking the 'parked bus' camped in the pen area, takes a player capable of drawing others on to their play and that panic will cause breakdown in their 'wall'.

But, unfortunately, selfish individuality is the opposite to team bonding and structure.

This is why prime KdB was one of the best things to happen to a Guardiola system in the Prem; quick decisive decision to put the striker or furthest up in quickly before the 'wall' got set up.

Currently we don't anything required to keep Guardiola-Ball alive...

Maybe we'll see an electric Echiverri, in the last couple of games, and give that system signs of life with that charge, though...?

Who knows?

I think back to those close control triangles the likes of Yaya, David Silva & Nasri could weave. It was absolutely dazzling, and could unpick teams when things were really congested.

 

[Master-Lotus]

Actually shooting on a goal instead of passing all the time

 

[deano ou812]

I think back to those close control triangles the likes of Yaya, David Silva & Nasri could weave. It was absolutely dazzling, and could unpick teams when things were really congested.

This is partly the problem we don’t have the quality of player to do that now compared to then ..

 

[BlueMonkey79]

Teams don't even press us anymore in their final third (our defensive third). They wait until we get just inside their half, then start to press us, forcing us to pass back to our centre halves who are really high. Then the trap is set. The chasm of space to exploit us is ready for the opposition to run into and exploit.

Wait for the poor pass, intercept and flood the top of the pitch, forcing all our defenders to run towards their own goal.

It's really simple but effective tactics. Teams aren't bothered about possession stats anymore when playing City. They know they will get their fair share of turnovers and all they have to do is make 1 count.

We have to combat this by playing a flat back 4. Fuck the inverted full backs off. Stay wide and help out the wingers by overlapping. The overlapping defender might not get the ball, but it will drag a player from our winger to go with him. Then a CB has to come out to cover or double up, leaving space for Haaland or Marmoush to move in to, or create 1v1 situations on the edge of the box.

The opposition don't always set up to park the bus. We give them every opportunity to do it by our super slow build up. If we sped things up and went more direct they would have to abandon it!!

 

[supercity88]

All about quicker passing and shooting when you get a chance to. We got into good positions yesterday and got around their defence with Doku but by the time someone shot the space has gone. O'Reilly's was the one, he had so much time to finish that chance but as it was on his right foot didn't fancy it.

 

[chesterbells]

This is partly the problem we don’t have the quality of player to do that now compared to then ..

100% agree. Their close control was off the scale. Quite a few of our first team squad aren’t at that level any more.

 

[arcademik70]

Hard solution is to pass quicker (and accurately)

Easiest solution to take more shots (accurately)

With the current set up solution, Doku attracts 2-3 players so make sure the person he passes back to on the inside (Gvardiol yesterday) can move/cross the ball quickly, preferably first time.

What I would do given I'm not Pep solution - fizz the ball in the box from wide and cause chaos as often as possible.

The forgotten solution - have at least 2 players who are reasonably quick and defensive minded always with the mindset we might lose the ball at any time and be vulnerable to the counter

 

[Palerider]

Variety, make the defenders uncomfortable by not knowing what we are going to do.

 

[Gobshiight]

I suspect teams have worked out how to play against us, and even a squad overhaul won't bring us back to the dominance of 2018-2023.

Pep needs to come up with a solution next season and I think he will choose to walk if unable to do so

 

[Millennium]

You need to score the first goal to force them to open the game. Quick and more direct play. Accurate Shooting.

 

[Blue Maverick]

The question is do we even practice against a low block it’s not like this season we haven’t had 5/6 days in between games to stick the EDS in the box and tell our first team to come up with solutions or do we just do fancy stuff for social media.