Zonal Marking: From Ajax to Zidane, the Making of Modern Soccer Paperback – August 13, 2019

Zonal Marking : The Making of Modern European Football (2019) by Michael Cox is a very enjoyable tour of the last 30 years of European Football. Cox's excellent Zonal Marking site and his football analysis is greatly enjoyed by many people who are fascinated by football. Cox has followed up his previous excellent book 'The Mixer' with another really fine read for football nerds.In Zonal Marking Cox looks at how European tactics have changed over the past 30 years by focusing on one European country at a time. He starts with The Netherlands, then looks at Italy, France, Portugal, Spain and then Germany before a shorter look at how The Premier League now has managers from all these countries and now has a fusion of European styles.The book had an excellent overview presented in The Totally Football podcast over the European League break in 2019. For anyone who thinks they might like the book this a good place to start.The journey is highly enjoyable for any football fan. Cox starts by looking at Dutch football that he sees as dominant in the early 1990s and then goes onto Italian football and tight organisation and defence as key. From there the focus moves to French football with speed, Zidane and the 'water carrier' role of Didier Descamps. Then the rise of Portugese football and their use of wingers and Jose Mourinho. Spanish football is up next with Tiki-Taka, false nines, Messi and Pep Guardioloa. The last full chapter is on Germany, 'Gegenpressing' Jurgen Klopp and Bayern. Finally the melange of the modern Premier League is described.The story is a bit too neat and there are some dubious assertions, describing Dutch football as ascendant in the early 1990s is quite a stretch. The mixing of tactics has also been going on for a long time. It's all also complicated because the strongest national and club teams are often strong because of particular players and managers rather than better tactics. The book also mentions quantitative analytics a bit but the rise of this sort of analysis further complicates the role tactics play.Nonetheless, for any football fan the book really is a treat. The analysis of so many of the great great teams and changes of the past 30 years is really enjoyable. Many readers will no doubt find themselves looking back at highlights of the time.The way the book also makes the point that national styles do fuse and change in reaction to other changes is also really well made. Football isn't a game where only one country matters and the cross pollination of ideas is genuinely fascinating.All in all Zonal Marking is a really excellent football book and is highly recommended for anyone interested in football.

Reads very well and gets to the level of depth you would expect from a great writer like Michael Cox. If you want an overview of the ways in which the game has changed since the 90s you can't do much than combining this and his other book, the Mixer.Michael has a very particular view of what the game can and should be and this can be either the book's greatest strength if you agree with him (as I do) or its greatest weakness if you come in expecting something else. It also perhaps reaches on occasion when trying to break a complicated subject into easily packaged 4 year chunks, but never enough to take me out of the narrative. Really very enjoyable and informative on the whole.

I am relatively new to the sport, and picked up Zonal Marking to become more familiar with tactics. Overall this is a well written, interesting book on the shifting tides of football over the last 30 years in Europe. It does not go over global tactics as Inverting the Pyramid does.The reason for four stars is twofold.1. There is not a single figure in this book. You would think the topic would lend itself to at least showing the formations and positions. Or when describing the sequence of a play, why not lay it out in a schematic too? This would have been helpful to me.2. There is an underlying assumption that the reader is already familiar with every player on every team. When Cox starts describing exemplary plays in the chapters, listing player names, I easily became lost. As I said, I'm relatively new to the game. I know this is less of a problem for some people. I hope in a later edition he adds a team name or abbreviation in parentheses next to the player. Here is an example of a sentence with no guidance: "Dortmund's opener was typical; Pepe moved forward with the ball, tried to pass into Ötzil but miscued, and Sebastian Kehl, pushing up to intercept, played a first time ball into Lewandowski...." He begins talking about Dortmund but then leads with Real Madrid's players with only a surname, one of which is German.

Great history and flow of the evolution of the modern game. Much easier to read than “Inverting the Pyramid” which is great but the familiarity of these characters adds to the readability for the casual fan.

I enjoyed this look at the evolution of tactics in European football over the last 25 years. It was interesting to see how national cultures and stars stamped their influence on the game. It certainly has helped my understanding of the game and it’s modern history.

Michael Cox's analysis is spot on. A great read.

Superb overview of the last twenty-five years of European football. On an emotional level, it evokes memories of games I’ve watched, who I was with and where I was watching them. On an intellectual level, it provides a deep analysis of the evolution of European football. Overall, a powerful evocation of the ability of football to connect rather than divide the disparate cultures and traditions of Europe.

The book is a good source of knowledge, especially the history of the game tactics. The issue is in the flow of the book and so many repeated sentences. It could be half the size if it was edited properly. On the positive side, it does have lots of good knowledge in one place.