Thou Shall Not Pass

Leo Moynihan Bloomsbury Sport £16.99 ★★★★★

Before the days of multicamera angles and VAR, the centre half was football’s quintessential hard man, determined to stifle creativity by any means possible, somewhat in the manner of Leeds United’s Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter (right), say, or Goikoetxea, the so-called ‘Butcher of Bilbao’. Since those ‘good old days’, the tackle from behind has been outlawed and agricultural defending has largely given way to playing out stylishly from the back, epitomised in the modern game by the sleek, purring elegance of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.

Of course this is only part of the story and the centre half, claims Leo Moynihan in this mildly entertaining overview of the position, is a much misunderstood figure, whose role has gradually evolved over the years: think Moore, think Beckenbauer, think – forgive me! – Alan Hansen.

This is a great idea, but somehow Moynihan, a football writer, doesn’t give this rich subject the treatment it deserves. There are chapters on the great partnerships at the back, on why centre halves make great leaders, on the critical relationship with the goalie, as well as on the dark art of defending and the role of the header in their armoury. However, there’s little sustained analysis, no coherent narrative and many of his insights are blindingly obvious – centre halves hate giving away goals: who knew? It all feels slightly superficial and anecdotal.

On the plus side, it is packed with interviews with footballers past and present who lend colour and humour, though the solitary contribution from a female footballer, Steph Houghton, seems like glaring tokenism.

This is not so much an ‘anatomy’ as an impassioned, impressionistic and slightly flimsy celebration of the art of defending: a decent magazine article padded out to book length.