Customer Reviews

Defensive Soccer Tactics

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I was very pleased with the Offensive Soccer Tactics and decided to buy the Defensive Soccer Tactics by the same authors.
I found the Defensive Tactics (was actually published 2 years before the Offensive Tactics) to be a bit sloppy. Maybe it's the translation. However many of the drills are just not convincing me enough to take them to the practice field; either too cumbersome or hard to see the application to the game. They are all written in running sentences; no points or bullets are used.
Here is a simple drill:

"Player 1 passes to 2, after which 1 overtakes 2, who waits for 1 and turns to dribble past 1 (See figure 2.3). Once 2 gets a short distance past 1, player 2 turns and passes back to 1. Player 1 plays 2, and so on."

The same writing style exists in the Offensive Tactics book but at least I found the drills to be more applicable and easier to apply.

This book though well-intentioned, ended up being mediocre at best. The "translation" is awful, the exposition poor and the browsing back and forth looking for figures cited in the text is rather cumbersome. There is a void (of books) in this genra and in defense skills in specific. Some of them are geared towards the hard-core pro/semi-pro, then there's a huge gap in the middle, and then there are books geared towards the beginners and "dummies." Those of us who love to play and watch this sport find ourselves at a loss when it comes to good self-coaching/game improvement literature. This book, as said above, is not one I would recommend to someone fitting that "intermediate" level.

Other reviewers are a little hard on this book. I think it does a good job laying out important defensive principles, and giving small sided games to illustrate these. Defending and marking are really important parts of the game, and if you want to be a good coach or player you need to work hard on your defending. Realize that this is a translation of a Danish soccer book, and try to meet the authors halfway.

jt