Teams that park the bus

[Cookie1]

Hi everybody.
In recent editions of FM, a lot of the teams 'park the bus' by using defensive tactics, and somehow I always struggle to break them down, and more often than not, they manage to get a draw against my team. So my question is that how do you guys deal with it? Go attacking? Remain patient and hope for the best? Because neither seems to work for me.

 

[Bigpapa42]

Parking the bus works by being disciplined, denying space, and looking to counter when the ball is won by using the space. Does going more attacking and further compressing the space while leaving more space behind you really seem like the best way to break it down, at least to my mind.

There are any number of ways to attack it. Just depends on your squad and options as much as anything. Be less aggressive and don't push up as high. Give your players space, and make sure have playmakers in spots where they can work magic (MC, DM, winger, etc). Have plenty of movement, but starting from deeper, in hopes of pulling defenders out of position. Find ways to maximize set pieces. Look for and target specific weak spots that the opposition has, like wingers who can defend or central mids who aren't that great. If you are clearly the better side - which is usually the case if the AI is parking the bus - seek out ways to impose your quality onto them. It won't be the same method every time, as each opposition will offer a different approach, formation, squad, etc.

 

[Cookie1]

Parking the bus works by being disciplined, denying space, and looking to counter when the ball is won by using the space. Does going more attacking and further compressing the space while leaving more space behind you really seem like the best way to break it down, at least to my mind.

There are any number of ways to attack it. Just depends on your squad and options as much as anything. Be less aggressive and don't push up as high. Give your players space, and make sure have playmakers in spots where they can work magic (MC, DM, winger, etc). Have plenty of movement, but starting from deeper, in hopes of pulling defenders out of position. Find ways to maximize set pieces. Look for and target specific weak spots that the opposition has, like wingers who can defend or central mids who aren't that great. If you are clearly the better side - which is usually the case if the AI is parking the bus - seek out ways to impose your quality onto them. It won't be the same method every time, as each opposition will offer a different approach, formation, squad, etc.

Thanks for the reply. I have actually tried to play narrow and exploit the space that is left on the flanks (i heard gary neville say it on TV that this was the best way against such tactics) , but for some reason, it doesn't seem to work that well. Maybe because the opposition are so narrow down the middle that i can't really create a goal scoring opportunity. However your reply makes a lot of sense. I'll try playing around with the tactic when I come against 'park the bus'. I only considered going all-out attack because i noticed that the AI managers also go all-out-attack against such formations, and come out with good results. for example PSG always attack against 'park the bus' in the game, and they always win.

 

[Drakeley]

You're on the right track buddy and I agree with what the guy above me is saying, however telling your team to play more narrow just plays into the team thats parking the bus' gameplan. I tend to drop my defensive line and play wider, giving my team more space in the middle third which allows me to create the space that again the above guy mentioned, its all about creating that space which is why you see teams like Manchester City pass the ball seemingly side to side in real life but it's not aimless passing, more trying to pull defending players out of position leaving space that the more attacking players can burst into and exploit