Putting almost everyone behind the ball and making the defence impossible to break down. José Mourinho made the phrase famous, though he was criticizing opponents at the time. It means sitting deep in two compact lines, not pressing much, and waiting to counter. Purists hate it, but it works against better teams. You need players who can concentrate and hold their positions for 90 minutes.
Chelsea's 1-0 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the 2012 Champions League semi-final epitomized defensive mastery - despite playing with 10 men and facing sustained pressure, they held firm before Fernando Torres sealed the tie on the counter.
Robbie
Feb 9, 2026
Running inside a teammate who has the ball wide, usually into the gap between full-back and centre-back. The opposite of an overlap - you go inside rather than around the outside. It pulls defenders, opens passing angles into the box, and can create shooting chances. Works well with inverted wingers because when they cut inside, they create space for the underlap.
Kyle Walker's underlapping runs at Manchester City perfectly complement the inverted positioning of his wingers - as the winger drifts inside, Walker surges into the channel between full-back and centre-back, arriving in the box unmarked.
Robbie
Feb 8, 2026
Diving forward and flicking the ball with your heels behind you, legs bent like a scorpion's tail. The opposite of a bicycle kick, which goes backwards. Extremely rare because the situation has to be exactly right and it's incredibly hard to pull off. When it goes in as a goal, it wins every award going. Giroud's against Crystal Palace in 2017 won the FIFA Puskás Award.
Olivier Giroud's scorpion kick goal for Arsenal against Crystal Palace in 2017 won the FIFA Puskás Award - Alexis Sánchez's cross came behind him, and Giroud improvised a diving back-heel flick that arced into the goal, defying physics and belief.
Robbie
Feb 8, 2026
Striking the ball with the end of your boot rather than your laces or instep. Coaches used to tell kids never to do it because it's inaccurate, but sometimes it's the only way to get a shot off quickly. When a defender is about to block or the ball is bouncing awkwardly, a toe poke can surprise the keeper because the shot comes out faster than expected.
Inzaghi was a master of the toe poke. Half his goals came from stabbing at the ball before defenders could react, like his winner against Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final.
Robbie
Feb 8, 2026
Carefully controlling how much a player plays to prevent injuries. Involves resting players who've played too many minutes, monitoring training loads, and sometimes sitting out less important games. Modern sports science tracks everything. Fans complain when their best players get rested, but the alternative is burning them out. The fixture congestion in modern football makes it more important than ever.
Guardiola's rotation of key players is workload management in action - Haaland might miss a League Cup game so he's fresh for the Champions League, and the data from sports science informs every decision about who plays and who rests.
Robbie
Feb 8, 2026