Aadi's Sports Corner

What is highly defensive football called? “Parking the Bus”, “Throwing the players into the goal” or “Catenaccio” as the old Italian legend says. A refined term for it by Gen Z and social media is “Haramball”, that defines a highly defensive set up which cuts down the excitement of a match. 

Having a rather defensive approach is not a new phenomenon in football. Several clubs, especially Italians. Italian football’s foundation is based on defending, waiting for the opponent to commit a mistake, in order to score a goal. An approach which was highly successful and intense in the early 2000’s, has been modified and changed keeping in mind the new and modern footballing tactics. This defense style involves scoring a goal early on and taking a lead of 2-0 and defending for the remaining 70 minutes of the game. 

A style that seems extremely simple, is too tough for the viewers to consume. With one team attacking throughout the match and the other sitting back and defending their lead for a narrow win seems obnoxious. Therefore creating the term “Haramball” signifying the destruction of the tactical game. 

A number of La Liga clubs have been implementing these tactics over the years, especially when they are facing Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Clubs resorting to such tactics is evidence of their financial constraints and lack of quality against the rather stronger clubs. The concern arises when well established clubs like Atletico Madrid and Arsenal start taking into these tactics. 

Diego Simeone along with Jose Mourinho can be considered as the pioneers of “Parking the Bus”.  Though the “Special One” has managed to achieve multiple feats including a 100 goal league title with Real Madrid, Simeone has stuck with his defensive setup of 5-5 in the box. A practice that has seen his team falter after getting close to achieving success.

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta on the other hand has quite a brilliant tactical approach, but somehow ends up being defensive. Arteta’s Gunners have had some brilliant performances with a free flowing game against Manchester City and Real Madrid last season. Despite being excellent in possession based football, the team heavily relies on scoring goals only from set-pieces. 

It’s not that “Parking the Bus” is inappropriate in football, but it kills the sense of thrill, excitement and eagerness of the moment for viewers. The game becomes more and more predictable and could possibly have some severe consequences for money makers in the sport.