Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics

An outstanding work , the [soccer] book of the decade." ,Sunday Business Post Inverting the Pyramid is a pioneering soccer book that chronicles the evolution of soccer tactics and the lives of the itinerant coaching geniuses who have spread their distinctive styles across the globe. Through Jonathan Wilson's brilliant historical detective work we learn how the South Americans shrugged off the British colonial order to add their own finesse to the game how the Europeans harnessed individual technique and built it into a team structure how the game once featured five forwards up front, while now a lone striker is not uncommon. Inverting the Pyramid provides a definitive understanding of the tactical genius of modern-day Barcelona, for the first time showing how their style of play developed from Dutch Total Football," which itself was an evolution of the Scottish passing game invented by Queens Park in the 1870s and taken on by Tottenham Hotspur in the 1930s. Inverting the Pyramid has been called the Big Daddy" (Zonal Marking) of soccer tactics books it is essential for any coach, fan, player, or fantasy manager of the beautiful game

About the Author :
Jonathan Wilson is the author of seven books. Inverting the Pyramid was named NSC Football Book of the Year in 2009 and won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli prize as Italian soccer book of the year in 2013. His books Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football The Anatomy of England and The Outsider: A History of the Goalkeeper were shortlisted for the NSC award in 2007, 2011, and 2013. Wilson is the founder and editor of the soccer quarterly The Blizzard, writes for the Guardian, SI.com, the National, FoxSoccer, and Sports Illustrated, and is a columnist for World Soccer. He was voted Football Writer of the Year by the Football Supporters Federation in 2012.

Review :
"A fascinating history of tactics, a book that is guaranteed to enhance your soccer watching; your team may still lose, but you'll have a far better idea why they did."--Independent On Sunday "A masterful work. It's all deliciously nerdy--a cross between a coaching manual and a social history--and if its publication helps foster a flowering of interest in the tactical and analytical side of the game in this country, it could be the best thing to have happened to English soccer in years."--Time Out "Absorbing and informative."--Guardian "A fascinating analysis of the way the game has evolved tactically from the 1870s... as a summary of the first 140 years of soccer tactical history, it is hard to imagine a more readable or thorough effort."--Irish Examiner "A gloriously readable, eccentric and informative trawl through the changing tactical mindsets and formations that have helped shape the beautiful game."--Metro "Facts and stats, plus anecdotes, interviews and Wilson's deft touch with soccer-speak, give color to a subject that can be a little dry and all-too confusing for those watching (and often those picking the side)."--CQ "For a detailed analysis of how a single striker became the norm throughout soccer, you had better read Jonathan Wilson's excellent new book about tactics."--Sunday Telegraph "This is a masterful piece of research and lives up to the claim to be nothing less than 'a history of soccer tactics.' Fascinating."--Scotsman "This must surely go down as one of the most revelatory sports books of the year, as well as one of the best, who would have thought that a book charting the history of soccer tactics and strategy, from the 1870s to the present day, could be so engrossing and entertaining."--Scotland on Sunday