The Science of Training - Soccer (book review)

The Science of Training - Soccer: A Scientific Approach to Developing Strength, Speed and Endurance

There are a few books out there that have similar titles (Bangsbo's and Verheijen's come to mind), but I feel that this is the best of them. This book doesn't attempt to cover too much, and therefore the information is not spread too thin, and the late Thomas Reilly has presented the information in a very logical manner.

The approach that the author has taken here is to present the science that should help the sport scientist or coach design their own sport science program / protocols. This goes far beyond a list of drills or exercises to use, but includes areas of performance that are often overlooked such as recovery, travel, and the environment. These aspects are generally not seen as "cool" like fancy drills may be, but are important considerations.

A criticism of this text is that many of the references are very dated (from the 70s), and that information on the role of new technologies is brief. The other big criticism is that the strength training section is very poor, but this (sadly) is not uncommon in soccer-related texts.