Soccer Strategies: Defensive and Attacking Tactics Paperback – January 6, 2012

This is the first book I bought on the subject and I love it. It has some pretty good drills divided by player skill level, and I would say it is a great book for a beginner or more advanced coach. It is a helpful reference if you are a player as well.

I'm been playing and coaching soccer for about 4 years now and my son is now playing U12 competitive soccer. I was suprised that many people said they "knew" about soccer, but when I tried to get any strategies from them, they really didn't know. When I started assisting as a coach, often the coach woukd send the kids out on to the field with confusing orders and no real strategy (and later yell at them for not following his orders...poor kids). Anyways, When I started looking for a clear book on strategy, it was not easy, my first book "Fundamental Soccer Tactics" by Dewazien, was a great beginners book, but this book is the next step up.Overall this book has given me much more insight as to the rationale, pros and cons of different formations/line-ups, and some great offensive and defensive strategies. I gave it 4 stars because I think it could have been illustrated better, and also written in a clearer fashion, but if you read it patiently, the information is there. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to take their knowledge of soccer to the next level.

Covers differentdefensive and attacking formations' advantages and disadvantages, including back 3, back 4, 2 up top, 3 up top.

This is partly my fault, but the book is now badly dated.It is still extremely helpful in developing soccer tactics at the basic level, and will remain a resource because of how they approach strategy and counter strategies. That said, since its publication, tactics have shifted and the book does not address the increasingly common Central Defensive Midfielder (or "Pivot") formations which has become a very key position in the modern game.

Must read for players looking to up their game and raise their soccer IQ. It emphasizes what a player needs to contribute to his/her team and how that team works together to win matches.

This is a wonderful, short and direct book exploring the benefits and deficiencies of subtle tactical changes within soccer formations. The level of detail is eneergizing when combined with the thorough discussion of formational decisions that evolve from offensive and defensive soccer strategies.A quick, direct read that you will re-read to be thoroughly saturated by the nuances of the game of soccer.

Makes soccer tactics and strategies easier to understand for the casual fan, May be a little hard to understand for the novice and first time soccer fan.

I played scholarship college soccer and coach high school and semi-professionally. There are a lot of systems I never played and wanted more info about them. This certainly doesn't go into immense detail about how to make one of these systems work, but there were definitely things that I learned. They do a good job of talking about the pros and cons of different strategies without being too prescriptive (i.e. should you force another team to the center or out wide, or as a back should you shade inside shoulder vs outside shoulder).Good read. Worth the price. Wont' make you Anson Dorrance. Will help you be better than you were.