Nouvelle arrivée
Inverting the Pyramid
The Sports Plus take
The book that explains why teams line up the way they do.
How did soccer go from the early days, when almost everyone attacked, to today's pressing, possession-heavy systems? Jonathan Wilson traces every big shift in tactics, from the old 2-3-5 'pyramid' to the 4-4-2 and beyond, along with the coaches and players who drove them. It's detailed, so it's best for the fan who already loves the game. Coaches and serious players will keep it on the shelf for years.
Shelf
How it reads
Deep dive
Best for
- Coaches and serious players
- Soccer fans who love tactics
- Fans of Soccernomics
About this book
- Author
- Jonathan Wilson
- Publisher
- Bold Type Books
- Published
- August 6, 2024
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 528
- ISBN-10
- 1645030520
- ISBN-13
- 978-1645030522
Book description
The classic history of soccer tactics -- "masterful" and "deliciously nerdy" (Time Out)
In this modern classic, soccer journalist Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics from modern pioneers right back to the beginning, when chaos reigned. Along the way, he examines the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport and probes why the English, in particular, have proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract.
Masterfully crafted and delightfully readable, Inverting The Pyramid cleverly analyzes the evolution of modern international football, charts how Spanish, German, and Portuguese tacticians have influenced the game, and ponders the effects of football's increased globalization and commercialization.
About the author
Jonathan Wilson is a columnist for The Guardian and cohosts Libero and the football history podcast It Was What It Was. He has written thirteen books, including The Power and the Glory, and is the founder and editor of The Blizzard. He lives in London.
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