For 2020 I've decided I'll review each book I read (mostly football/coaching/mentality based). xG Philosophy was first up: a decent enough explanation and insight if you're a beginner in stats/xG but offers little in the way of new info if you're already familiar with xG - 6/10

Great insight into how this City team was built (along with snippets on key parts of Peps career at City). Plenty of interviews with staff and players and provides plenty of depth on what happens behind the scenes. Well worth a read 7.5/10

Why are a majority of Canadian pro hockey players born in the first quarter of the year? This superbly fascinating book looks at such oddities from various industries. Fantastically written in the way all the stories all come together and makes you feel like you solved it. 9/10

I rarely buy books on players (I think only Pirlo & Bergkamps are the only others I own) as they often don't cover what I'm after (tactical + technical details). Probably a good read if you're a Barca fan, but wasn't really what I was after. Was an alright read though. 6/10

Unbelievably not read it before but better late than never eh? Great and interesting read about market inefficiencies within baseball that certainly applies to football in some areas. Unsurprisingly it has lots of baseball lingo so keep google handy if you're not familiar! 8/10

Awful. An ex-Sun writer (didnt realise until it was mentioned in the book) gets fed stories by Mou, writer than brags about how much of a scoop it is. That's the book. Little insight into Mou and instead feels like half the book is about the author. Avoid - 2/10

A great companion to Outliers that delves further into the 10,000 hours rule that was suggested in a lot of the stories in Outliers and debunks many myths about talent. Well worth a read. 7.5/10

A book that charts the history of Spanish players and managers who come to play their trade in England. A good mix of success/failures, impeccably researched and a large amount of quality interviews. Not my usual style but enjoyed immensely. 7.5/10

A great read about the different principles at play in Pep's game model and the roles each player plays. The graphics on each page are informative and help reinforce the concepts at play. Well worth a read if you're into tactics! 8.5/10

Any Michael Calvin book is a must read and this isn't any different. Focusing on the ups and downs of the harsh youth football environment and how football is failing those that get rejected. A great read that at the same time is pretty depressing. 9/10

A book about football that's not about football. Confused? It's basically a study into various aspects of football and game theory such as penalties, home advantage etc. An interesting idea but the maths went way over my head! 6.5/10 (would get higher but that's my fault!)

Superb insight into the minds of the minds of some of the brightest German coaches around. If you have any interest in coaching this book is for you. Fantastic read. 9/10

Probably the nichest book I own. A good albeit brief history of football analytics (with an emphasis on event/tracking data) with some interviews from those in the game. Think this is a book for a uni course considering the cost on amazon. Average read but not worth the cost 5/10

This looks at the field of marginal gains, although a large portion of the book also looks at failure and how different environments deal with failure and blame. Interesting and insightful, definitely worth a read. 7/10

I was a bit disappointed by this, I was hoping to learn a bit more about this legend of the game but it was basically just a run through of his career with not much about the personality of Zidane himself. The bits on his coaching career were a bit brief as well. 5.5/10

A glimpse into how various companies and sports are "hijacking" the brain to improve performance. A wonderfully written (making a complex subject seem easy) read that's fascinating to boot. Also given me some further reading material to track down on the bits I liked most. 8/10

Not usually too keen on "history of" books, but Uli Hesse certainly won me round with this, a perfect blend of history and stories that kept me interested throughout. A great read - 7.5/10

Wanted to learn a bit more about sports science and conditioning which is an area I don't really know much about. This provided a good insight and I deffo learnt a few things. Only downside was it was a bit brief. 6.5/10

As the sub-title suggests, Life In La Liga gives a history on the Soanish top flight. The author purposely tries to not make it about Barca/Real wherever possible (a challenge!) which was nice, but for some reason the book really didn't click with me. 6/10

As the title suggests, Stephen Constantine is pretty well traveled, which leads to a collection of fascinating stories about his career. Whilst brief (less than 200 pages) it was both entertaining and interesting, well worth a read. 8/10

Everyone has an ego, some peoples egos consume them and it ends up destroying them. This book looks at historical examples from various industries and how people have dealt (or not) with their ego. Interesting and makes you reflect upon how you project yourself. 7/10

A history of third-party ownership within football. Insightful and interesting although quite brief (200 pages). Worth a read 7/10

We've all dreamed of gaining citizenship for a tiny country so we can live out our dreams of playing international football right? This book follows someone who did that for real (coaching rather than playing though). Funny, inspiring and charming. A great read 8/10

About as bad and as cheesy as the cover suggests. Incredibly brief (finished it in 24 hours). Read one of the better books that covers the same principles in more detail instead (like Black Box Thinking). 3/10

Read about flow in another book and it intrigued me so decided to read more. A regretful decision. Author goes off on so many tangents and doesn't really touch on the basics and has about 8 books on the subject. Perhaps I bought the wrong one but this wasn't for me. 4/10

Apt time to finish this. Fantastic read of the Barca era just before Peps reign. Brilliantly researched and well written with some fantastic access to the players as well. Highly recommend 8.5/10

A brief but good look at how language can effect coaching with useful techniques and examples explained. Well worth a read if you coach. 7/10

Everyone loves an underdog and Eibar are just that. Euan embraces the Eibar spirit and spends a year in the town for their debut La Liga season charting their progress and the key talking points as the season progresses. A solid read 7/10

Whilst American football rather than European football, theres a lot to be taken from this book. A superb delve into how to build a winning culture and many superb insights into leadership. A great read 9/10

Laid out as a series of interviews the authors had with Cruyff throughout his career. However in typical Cruyff fashion the answers are brief and blunt meaning you don't actually get to find out much about the man or his football. Disappointing, read My Turn instead. 5/10