The Mixer

Just finished this book by Michael Cox, one of my favourite football analysts. He has encyclopeadic knowledge and a few good lines too (on The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast he once referred to the title race in the Scottish Premier League as 'the world's tallest dwarf contest').

The Mixer looks at tactical changes through the 25 years of the English Premier League and comes to a couple of neat conclusions. One: the introduction of the 'backpass rule' in 1992 (the same year the old First Division became the Premier League) forced defenders and keepers into actually playing the ball instead of passing back to the keeper when in danger. Interestingly, this resulted in a kind of domino effect on the midfield and forward line over time. And two: most of the tactical changes came from Europe. From Eric Cantona's time at Manchester United and Alex Ferguson's Champions League learning curve to Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte latterly showcasing their talents in England, there have been precious few actual British lightning rods for change. No matter. The postscript throws up some troubling theories, including the possibility of Brexit-based quotas and the likelihood of games being played abroad.

There are many excellent chapters in the book with some great quotes, my favourite coming from Jorge Valdano about a Liverpool / Chelsea Champion's League semi-final in 2005 - "Put a shit hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium [Anfield] and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art. It's not: it's a shit hanging from a stick." And this was only part of the rant.

A top read, super quick to chew through and what a joy to read the name Chris Kiwomya in the first chapter! Well played Mr. Cox.