Football team finds bizarre new way to defend a free-kick. And it works

It's definitely not route-one football

Big Sam Allardyce may be no fan of "tippy-tappy" football but one wonders what his take on this new defensive style would be.

With Europe already embracing the fading novelty of vanishing spray for free-kicks, French team Nice decided to spice the set-piece up even further with a bizarre yet effective way of defending against them.

Nice B prepared for a free-kick from Grenoble by putting their defenders in goal, leaving the goalkeeper to wander the penalty area. Most managers would tell their team to ensure there's one man on the line during every corner, but five men on the line? For a free-kick? Brilliant madness.

The outcome? The strike from Grenoble cleared the keeper but it was headed off the line by one of the defenders, thus proving the concept does, at least this once, work.

However, surely if the goalkeeper was in the correct position, he could have just saved the shot, collecting the ball with the added bonus of retaining position.

Still, if the tactic ain't broke...