[billforsternz]

Completely unclear to me and I've been soccer (football) fluent for over 50 years. I know what parking the bus means (for non football fans - it means falling back and defending in numbers). If football is really a game of space it should be a poor strategy. Is the author saying parking the bus is good or bad strategy?

[pvg]

It's a strategy that gives up possession in exchange for denying offensive space to the opponent and relies on exploiting (through counter attacks) the defensive space the attacker opens. When executed well, it can win games but it's not amenable to the type of analysis presented in this write-up. That's what the bit is about.

[billforsternz]

Aha, so essentially he meant "football is a game of space, that's why parking the bus is an interesting strategy". Thank you. Too much binary thinking from me. I often struggle to discern the meaning of unclear writing. Which is probably why I spend disproportionate time on my own writing polishing and rewriting for clarity. But I still fail regularly, it's not an easy problem.

[pvg]

Glad it helped! I brain-pretzeled myself over soundness in this very forum just last year:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20196575

[billforsternz]

An interesting and educational thread

> "I've now come to understand the two chief weapons of the JIT remain surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope."

I like this very much. Even adding nice red uniforms, it's still two chief weapons.