Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics

Soccer fans love to argue about the tactics a manager puts into play, and this fascinating study traces the world history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning, where chaos reigned. Along the way, author Jonathan Wilson, an erudite and detailed writer who never loses a sense of the grand narrative sweep, takes a look at the lives of the great players and thinkers who shaped the game, and discovers why the English in particular have proved themselves so “unwilling to grapple with the abstract.” This is a modern classic of soccer writing that followers of the game will dip into again and again.

This tome delivers a top-class, thorough, and, most importantly, engaging discussion of football tactics. Boring topic, great cover, revelatory book. Buy it. MAXIM an outstanding work, cerebral and fully engaging...the football book of the decade SUNDAY BUSINESS POST the perfect book for an serious follower of football who wants to be enlightened, educated and entertained GOOD BOOK GUIDE

Jonathan Wilson has been the Football Correspondent of the FINANCIAL TIMES, and currently writes for THE INDEPENDENTand INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY. BEHIND THE CURTAIN was his (very well received) first book.