The main objective in football is to score more goals than your opponent, but not every team is blessed with the attacking riches to adopt a forward-thinking philosophy week in, week out.
Even managers boasting some of the world's best players often opt for a safety-first approach, prioritising clean sheets over big numbers in the final third, with that pragmatic outlook often reaping considerable rewards.
'Parking the bus' is the phrase most closely associated with playing defensively in the modern era, but what is the basic premise behind it? Goal is on hand to provide you with everything you need to know.
In football, the term 'parking the bus' is used when teams operate with a lot of players behind the ball when out of possession.
The system also tends to favour minimal risk in attack, with very few players committed forward to make sure that the opposition cannot break quickly when they win the ball back.
