Soccer iQ Presents Shutout Pizza: Smarter Soccer Defending for Players and Coaches

I have become a big fan of Dan Blank because of books like this. As a developing soccer coach, the concepts, insight, and reasoning presented were incredibly helpful. I have actually loaned this book out to several of my players to help with some of their questions and to help with their development. Highly recommended.

This book is well laid out and extremely informative. It's easy to understand as well. I started coaching and learning at the rec level so I could coach my children and then went on to the high school level. All I've learned has been through watching and reading and two us soccer schools as well as the times I get to play. I've read many books and I have to say, I'm on my second read of this one at a slower pace so I can incorporate more of it into my training sessions. I starting teaching one key concept from this book the very next practice with my high school boys. Changing their mindset and clarifying the principles we want to defend with has made a huge difference in our positioning. I basically have just touched the surface of teaching from the book and the difference in the way we position ourselves relative to the ball is remarkable. Last year we got our clock cleaned by a team to the north of us, 8-2. We just got done playing them this year and the story was vastly different. 3-1 us. The lone goal was a long chip shot that skittered under my keepers hands on the wet field. It was something he would normally stop. Now I know high school teams can change vastly year to year but I also know watching game film how different we looked defensively from last year. We had two new players on the back four so it wasn't vast experience change that helped us. I firmly believe it was the 20 minute session we finished with the day before the game that was coached with the simple concepts that Dan teaches in the book. Can't wait to finish reading high pressure as well.

Another awesome book from Dan Blank! Soccer iQ was great, Volume 2 added more, and Possession very, very helpful. As a coach who is more attack minded and less skilled with defensive organization I found "Shutout Pizza" super helpful. The concept of helping the back four find an identity as a "team within a team" is great. Defenders too often get left out of the spotlight so the emphasis on their function as a unit and the pride they take in keeping the ball out of the net an entire game is great to emphasize. The simple concept of "What's the worst thing the opponent can do to us? Take that away" is excellent. Emphasis on shot and cross blocking is excellent. So many little details that when focused on and implemented take the defense to the next level and save goals. Dan's books are logical and break down soccer problems into very understandable terms. I have gone through Dan's books with my 16 year old boys team reading 2 small chapters a week and discussing during warmdown stretching at the end of training. My defenders are now getting "Shutout Pizza" to devour...both the book and hopefully lots of pizza this year!

Dan Blank has written many fantastic books and I have given copies to countless players and coaches. But if you were to buy just one of his books, it should be this one. His books on possession, pressing and competing are fantastic and the Soccer IQ series has a lot of great ideas for players, but defenses win championships and this book is going to vastly improve the performance of your players on the back line. Clearly written, direct and to the point with great stories that bring the topics to life. I almost want to keep it to myself so people will think I'm the brilliant one, but it's just too good not to share. Shutout Pizza with change your (soccer) life.

I play keeper for three teams. I often fill the role of defensive coach during the game and this book has several great principles that reduced the number of saves I had to make. If my back line adheres to the coverage patterns this book outlines then it helps me anticipate where I can do the best job. I made several saves this last season simply because my defensive line worked together to keep the ball out of the center and when they got beat, I could foresee it and be there to scoop the ball off the striker's feet. I was much more confident in coming off my back line, knowing that the other defenders were doing their job to cut out crosses to attackers behind me.

What a great book for younger soccer players, helping them to understand the game.

Dan Blank's coaching methods for Defense. Just as good as his other SoccerIQ books. Fantastic.

My daughter is a young soccer player (U9) and transitioned to a larger field and 8 players this year from 4v4. In 4v4 she loved to score... She played her entire club season this year as a center back and I wanted to help her embrace that role and gain a better understanding how important defense is to the game. Her club plays possession style soccer and this book was insightful to me and my daughter. I'm sure she will enjoy reading it in full in a couple years. I read it and shared important nuggets with her. We also love Dan Blank's Soccer IQ book. Very quick read with great insight, enjoy his videos online as well.

Excellent content for understanding how to set up a back four in soccer. Lots of illustrations and explanations. It’s not so much a ‘how to’ book as it is a ‘why to’ book. There aren’t a lot of drills for practices.

If you only ever read one book on coaching a football team to defend, make it this one.

I am now finishing reading Shutout Pizza, and I can tell you that I love it. I have been coaching kids soccer in Canada for many years, and I must own dozens of books. This one ranks in the very, very top. Thank you for writing this book. It has made me thinking on coaching defense only - if I could. I have already applied some concepts, and it worked. Dan Blank has the practical knowledge and a very special and effective style, brilliant, right-on at many times soccer-wise.

I bought this book because I play a lot of 7 a side with friends and we are playing in an improvised league table based on how many points we can accrue as we mix the team each week and record the outcomes. I was coached for a couple of years playing youth football but other than that all my playing knowledge has been acquired from Football Manager, FIFA, watching Premier League football on the tele, and watching my local English Division Four team over the years. I would say I was a reasonable player for an amateur, not fantastic, but could tackle, pass, position myself correctly etc and play competently. I'm delighted with this purchase because it's brought my defensive game on and provided solutions to problems I was facing when defending. One was tracking attackers when defending crosses, I found it difficult to know what to do in this situation. Defending against a target man was also a problem and I would get into trouble as they turned on the ball. Finally, on a smaller pitch I was always tempted as a defensive player to immediately engage the wide player if I was defending fairly centrally but closest to the touchline. Now I sit in and let someone else be the point player. My team are conceding fewer goals as a result. These were just 3 of probably 9 or 10 things that added to my game immediately after reading the book. I've also read a couple of Dan's other books and love that they are just straight forward explanations of what do in different situations. On the market, most books of this type are packed with drills. Although this book has drills I'm not interested in drills because I am never going to practice them while I play twice a week for leisure with friends. What I really need is solutions.

For a parent learning about the game itself, this book helped to quickly fill-in my understanding of a defensive style gameplay.