Zonal Marking

Michael Cox is the author of The Mixer. A football writer for the Guardian and ESPN, he is also the co-founder of the Zonal Marking website. He lives in south London and is a season-ticket holder at seventh-tier Kingstonian FC. Zonal Marking is his second book.

Praise for Zonal Marking ‘An excellent recent history of European football’ New Yorker ‘A wonderful overview of tactical development in European football.’ Matthew Syed, The Times ‘A fascinating assessment of football in 2019.’ Observer ‘Cox, a tactics obsessive, largely ignores the soap opera of football to explain what actually happens on the field. In this book, speckled with well-told anecdotes, he traces the tactical development of the game over the last 30 years.’ Simon Kuper, Financial Times ’Revelatory stories, lucid tactics and wry anecdotes combine… The secret weapon of Cox’s readability is the use of telling quotes from those who actually play the game.’ When Saturday Comes ‘An entertaining and brilliantly researched look at football tactics.’ FourFourTwo Praise for The Mixer ‘Thanks to his meticulous research and his focus on strategy, Mr Cox finds a fresh perspective on a story that football fans will think they already knew.’ The Economist‘The Mixer, by Michael Cox is a very unusual football writer in that he specialises in the game as it’s actually played, rather than the gossip or folklore around it. The Mixer is a tactical history of the English Premier League, with telling anecdotes on every page. It’s deeply informed and a pleasure to read.’ Financial Times‘Intelligently written. Impressively researched. Fascinatingly addictive. Michael Cox is like a cartographer, remapping the landscape of the Premier League so we see the contours of it afresh. That’s some feat.’ Duncan Hamilton, two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year