Park the bus

To park the bus is a football (soccer) term, which means to play an ultra-defensive style of play with the objective of denying the opposing team any opportunities of scoring goals. It is attributed to José Mourinho in 2004 when he was manager of Chelsea Football Club during his first tenure at the Club. Mourinho did not actually use the exact words. When interviewed after a goal-less draw against Tottenham Hotspur Football Club at Stamford Bridge in September 2004, Mourinho actually said, “As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal.” After this, the expression parking the bus was soon adopted by football pundits to describe such defensive tactics. Since 2004, Mourinho himself has often used both the expression and the tactics.