Robbie

The official term for diving - going down without sufficient contact to make it look like a foul. Players simulate to win free kicks and penalties or get opponents booked. It's a bookable offense if the referee catches it, but enforcement is inconsistent. VAR can overturn penalties won through simulation. The line between "going down easily" and simulation is subjective.

Social media slang for a league that's seen as uncompetitive because one team always wins. The implication is that the league is so easy, farmers could play in it. Originally aimed at Ligue 1 during PSG's dominance, now used for any league with a clear favourite. It gets thrown around in arguments about player stats - "he only scored that many because it's a farmer's league." Dismissive and disrespectful to everyone else in that league, but very common online.

A midfielder who arrives late into the penalty area to score. Not the same as a shadow striker who plays behind the forward - the box crasher starts deeper and times runs to arrive just as the ball comes in. Lampard was the original, but Gündoğan, Bellingham, and Rice all do it now. Getting into the box without the ball is an underrated skill.

Deliberately stepping up as a defensive unit just before a pass to catch attackers offside. Risky because mistiming leaves attackers through on goal. Requires the whole back line to move together on the same cue. Some teams use it constantly; others avoid it because one mistake is catastrophic. VAR has made tight offside calls more reliable, which should help traps, but marginal decisions still create controversy.

Italian for "door-bolt." A defensive system built around tight organization, zonal marking, and a sweeper (libero) sitting behind the back line. Inter Milan under Helenio Herrera developed it in the 1960s, using formations like 1-3-3-3 or 1-4-4-1. The plan: defend deep, stay compact, hit on the counter. Critics called it negative football, but it worked and shaped defensive thinking across Europe.