Book Reviews

From timeless classics to hidden gems, the Elite Soccer book reviews help to highlight great coaches and great coaching from across the sporting world.

Captain of the ship

To be a captain is in many ways to referee the fortunes of a team through motivation, aggression, empathy, passion and no small amount of fortune. It'...

Embracing failure?

When Matthew Syed published Bounce in 2011, there was a feeling that a lid had been lifted on some of the true psychological mechanics behind talent a...

So bad it’s good

It’s fair and accurate to suggest we’re all programmed to compete – even the person least concerned about winning or achieving something/anythin...

Elemental thinking

There are certain parts of philosophy, certain ideologies and principles that, ultimately, stand the test of time. In fact, more than that, they belie...

Victory in mind

What percentage of sporting excellence is physical, and what part mental? That’s what author Jim Afremow tries to calculate in The Champion’s Mind...

Into combat

The problem with the thinking behind sports psychology books is that they are exactly that – an exercise in thinking. Many texts come forward with a...

M is for manager

The Manager is a unique look into the mind of the football manager, exposing and unveiling how different characters in different clubs across differen...

Fair or foul?

Most team sports contain within their fabric a boundary of fairness. It’s a line that can be kept tight, or stretched, moved and manipulated to extr...

Sports science

In studying the philosophy of soccer, in being enthused and absorbed by a wealth of engaging and positively charged literature, it’s often easy to f...

Hard case

We’re all too aware of how much the game has changed in the past two decades. Sky’s domination of the English Premier League sparked an internatio...

Wenger’s invincibles

Invincible is, first and foremost, a tribute to an incredible side who made history by going through the entire 2003/04 Premier League season unbeaten...

The will to win

In terms of UK politics, the name of Alastair Campbell requires little introduction – a driving, bulldozing force from the 1990s where his role as D...

“I always enjoy talking football and discussing ideas with my fellow managers. I’m really happy to share one of my own training sessions in this issue of Elite Soccer”

Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola

As luck would have it…

I remember very clearly the Champions League semi-final clash between Chelsea and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. The Catalan giants had been held to a...

Dream big

There’s a thing about believing a dream can be fulfilled – the easy bit, no less. It’s usually when that dream first forms and ferments into a p...

Hard work and belief

Let’s be clear from the start – when you pick up The Sergio Torres Story, do not expect a coaching manual. Do not imagine the 270 pages that follo...

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