Michael Cox (18)

The Mixer by Michael Cox (who currently runs the excellent Zonal Marking podcast on the Athletic) was a book that I thought would get boring really quickly. Coming into this book cold, with only an elementary knowledge of footballing tactics, I was not let down.

The Mixer takes you from the early days of the Premier League, and documents the changes that took place on the pitch and off the pitch: for example, how the backpassing rule change impacted teams significantly, or how Arsene Wenger show more for the first one to bring a complete fitness overhaul to the Premier League. It goes through phenomena like the rise and fall of tiki-taka football, or how false-nines began to gain prominence in the Premier League.

It strikes a balance between the jargon and the overall narrative, and masterfully explains a complicated tale of tactical evolution through a mix of insightful anecdotes, a deep understanding of footballing history, and an overflowing love for the game.

The Mixer is the perfect book for a passionate fan looking to dig a little deeper into the game that they love and cherish. It will most likely change how you view the current state of the Premier League, and will definitely transform how you view a football match. show less

I really enjoyed The Mixer! It covers the history and development of the Premier League from a tactical point of view. For example, there are chapters on inverted wingers, midfield trios, the Makelele role, tiki-taka and pressing. As the author goes through each tactical development, he gives lots of examples, and he explains how and why the tactical development came about. The examples give you a good sense of many of the important games of the PL as well, so it is also a sort of a history show more book.
I am only a casual follower of the PL, but nevertheless I found this book fascinating. Many books on football are mostly history books on what happened, but in The Mixer the tactics are also described really well. It's a thick book, and it took a while to get through, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is hard to pick favourite parts, but the chapter on Leicester stood out for me. Really excellent book! show less

For the first few chapters I found this journey through the tactical evolution of the Premier League to be enthralling. Reading about how, when you think about it, the back pass rule was at least as important as the creation of the Premier League itself was mind-expanding, and the discussion of how Bergkamp, Cantona, and Zola all had massive impacts on the game was wonderfully put.

But then the writer's style began to grate; it almost seemed towards the end as if the editor had fallen show more asleep. You will not find the tight editing of a Jonathan Wilson here, sadly, but rather repeated occasions of players being credited for their 'footballing intelligence', an over-reliance on the words 'wonderful' and 'bonkers', and clangers such as 'he took advantage of his height advantage.'

Shame really, because Cox is delightfully insightful, and his criticisms of the way teams played - and how their line-ups and tactics were misunderstood by the majority of fans - proved particularly eye-opening. show less

This is a great summary of how much football has changed in the last thirty years. If you love tactics and the actual stories behind major cultural and strategic shifts in the game, this is it.

All that is great and all, bu more notably, if you been playing Football Manager for the last thirty years too, this book is orgasmic.