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  • Zonal Marking

  • The Making of Modern European Football
  • By: Michael Cox
  • Narrated by: Colin Mace
  • Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (411 ratings)
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Zonal Marking cover art

Zonal Marking

By: Michael Cox
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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Summary

An insightful, comprehensive and always entertaining appreciation of how European football has developed over the last three decades by the author of the much heralded The Mixer.

Continental football has always cast a spell over the imagination. From the attacking flair of Real Madrid of the 50s to the defensive brilliance of the Italians in the 60s and onto the total football of the Dutch in the 70s, the European leagues have been where the game has most evolved and taken its biggest steps forward. And over the last three decades, since the rebranding of the Champions League in 1992, that pattern has continued unabated, with each major European footballing nation playing its part in how the game’s tactics have developed.

From the intelligent use of space displayed by the phenomenal Ajax team of the early 90s, to the dominance of the highly strategic Italian league in the late 90s and onto the technical wizardry of Barcelona’s tiki-taka, the European game continues to reinvent the tactical dimension of the game, creating blueprints which both club and national teams around the world strive to follow.

In Zonal Marking, Michael Cox brilliantly investigates and analyses the major leagues around Europe over specific time periods and demonstrates the impact each has made on how the game is now played. Highly entertaining and packed full of wonderful anecdotes, this is the first book of its kind to take an overview of modern European football, and lays bare just how much the international language of football can be shaped by a nation’s unique identity.

©2019 Michael Cox (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

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Critic reviews

"An excellent recent history of European football." (New Yorker

"A wonderful overview of tactical development in European football." (Matthew Syed, The Time)

"A fascinating assessment of football in 2019." (Observer)

What listeners say about Zonal Marking

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Insightful book, infuriating narrator

Nice presentation of the historical evolution of European football and how, like the nations themselves, styles are all interlinked. In contrast the narrator's inability to correctly pronounce a non-english name was infuriating. Roughly, he'd get 1 out of 10 foreign words pronounced right, pausing for a brief second before reading out one. If he was not conversant in any foreign language how difficult would it have been to Google how to pronounce names of football's protagonists? Even the likes of Savage, Allardyce and Warnock would do better. I bet Michael Cox is pulling his hair out now.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Delivery more stilted than a Pogba penalty run-up

The tactical information is in-depth and truly fascinating and Michael Cox’s love of the game (and Guardiola) shines through. It would have been much better if the author had read it himself though, noted for his analysis on various football podcasts.

The narrator, though obviously a football fan and interested in the subject, has a really annoying habit of dropping the end of sentence before continuing as a new line.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good but not as good as The Mixer

Another really enjoyable listen, but personally I found it to not quite be as good as The Mixer. Perhaps it's because my knowledge of English football is greater than that of European football more broadly so I didn't quite get the same nostalgia hit.

Also where did the accents go?! I loved the narrator's accents in The Mixer, so I was expecting him to unleash his full repertoire here, but they're totally absent which was a disappointment.

On the whole still highly recommended though.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book on football

Thoroughly recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about a) football tactics in Europe and b) a recent history on football styles.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Educationally enjoyable

Great knowledge shared about 7 varying country’s approach to football, great anecdotes and brilliant insights.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting listen

This was my first audiobook and I was very impressed. The story is well written and flows exceptionally through the story of football. There are many name so maybe a notepad and pen is needed to remember them all! Narrator felt annoying at first but I grew to love the voice and the performance. Would recommend

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen when when I’m jogging

A comprehensive review of the evolution of modern European football tactics.. reads a lot more entertaining than my description!

The performance of the narrator is ok.
I don’t think he’s a football fan from listening to him but he’s quite engaging when doing players quotes.

Basically a big, interesting podcast series in a box set.
If you listen like I did you’ll get quite a few runs out of it.

The chapters on Spain and Germany were particularly good.

Would definitely recommend for any football fan.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Another W for Michael Cox

Having read The Mixer, I started reading this with high hopes. I was not disappointed.

This book is highly analytical and it follows the development of European football from 80s total football in Holland, to the 90s defensive quality of Italy, through to tika-taka Spain.

An excellent read/listen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Perfect for a 40 year football fan

Quite interesting but I think you need to be a big football fan of a certain age to appreciate, which I am and did. Doesn’t go into great detail on tactics which I was expecting but great reminiscing on some of the great players/teams

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mesmerizing

Great to listen to! Interesting story which gave an entire new perspective on football. Great narration!

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