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"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.
Jonathan Wilson and Scott Murray provide a forensic analysis of ten key Liverpool games that have shaped the club's fortunes over the last century: from the long-lost triumphs of Tom Watson (a 19th-century Bill Shankly) to 1970s European triumphs over the likes of Borussia Monchengladbach and the mind-blowing 2005 comeback against AC Milan. Aston Villa v. Liverpool April 1899 Wolves v. Liverpool May 1947 Liverpool v. Leeds FA Cup final, May 1965 Liverpool v. Crvena Zvezda November 1973 Liverpool v. Borussia Mönchengladbach European Cup final, May 1977 Liverpool v. Roma European Cup final, May 1984 Liverpool v. Nottingham Forest April 1988 Everton v. Liverpool February 1991 Roma v. Liverpool February 2001 AC Milan v. Liverpool Champions League final, May 2005
The first-ever cultural, tactical and historical history of the goalkeeper, by Jonathan Wilson, acclaimed author of INVERTING THE PYRAMID.
'Epic... Wilson writes captivatingly with humour...anyone with an interest in eastern European sport will be consulting this book for years to come' FINANCIAL TIMES 'This fascinating and perceptive travelogue includes a fine collection of anecdotes too colourful for fiction' SUNDAY TIMES 'A blissful book, lovingly and stylishly written' DAILY TELEGRAPH From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskás and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the fall of communism. Jonathan Wilson has tra...
After just a handful of games this season Sunderland were looking early favourites for the drop into League One, despite the arrival of the 'returning messiah' Niall Quinn, who headed up the consortium that had just bought the club. When he took the decision to appoint Roy Keane as manager, most predicted a storm. Instead, out went half the first team, and Sunderland went on to lift the Championship and head off into the 'promised land' of the Premiership. Wilson tells the story not only of Sunderland's astonishing turnround, but also the transformation of their manager. As a player Keane was notoriously critical of shortcomings in his team-mates. Yet as a manager, he has inspired his side a...
'A powerful chronicle of the transformation of English football and society through the prism of two very different characters' Irish Times Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. Jack was a gangling central defender who developed a profound tactical intelligence; Bobby an athletic attacking midfielder who disdained systems. Yet the Charlton brothers both enjoyed great success as football players and together, for England, they won the World Cup. Two Brothers is both the story of the most famous football players of their generation and an account of late-twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home. 'Wilson is meticulous in providing all manner of nuggets' Sports Books of the Year, The Times 'Gripping' Daily Mail 'Moving... chronicles two remarkable lives' Guardian
'ABSORBING' Guardian 'ENTHRALLING' New Statesman 'EPIC' Evening Standard 'INESCAPABLE' The Sunday Times 'MAGISTERIAL' Irish Examiner Fully revised and updated, the definitive history of Argentinian football from the award-winning author of Inverting the Pyramid Alfredo Di Stefano, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistua, Juan Roman Riquelme, Lionel Messi... Argentina has produced some of the greatest footballers of all time. But the rich, volatile history of Argentinian football is made up of both the sublime and the ruthlessly pragmatic. Jonathan Wilson, having lived in Buenos Aires, is ideally placed to chart the sport's development in a country that, perhaps more than any other, lives and breath...
The story of Manchester United told through ten key matches that have helped to shape its history. Award-winning football writer Jonathan Wilson selects ten landmark games from Manchester United's past, from the first time they lifted the FA Cup, beating Bristol City in 1909, to the Cup victory of 2016 that proved to be Louis van Gaal's last match in charge. In doing so, he identifies the pivotal moments in the club's rise to becoming one of the foremost teams of the twentieth century. With his trademark tactical acumen, Wilson goes back to the games themselves and subjects them to forensic examination, re-evaluating and reassessing, and going beyond the white noise of banal player quotes and instant judgements to uncover what really happened. The result is a unique football history of one of England's greatest and most famous clubs.
From Cruyff's "Total Football" to the epic rivalry between Guardiola and Mourinho, a gripping chronicle of the rise and fall of Barcelona's dominance in world soccer. Barcelona's style of play-pressing and possessing-is the single biggest influence on modern soccer. In The Barcelona Inheritance, Jonathan Wilson reveals how and why this came to pass, offering a deep analysis of the evolution of soccer tactics and style. In the late 1990s, Johan Cruyff's Dream Team was disintegrating and the revolutionary manager had departed, but his style gave birth to a new generation of thinkers, including Pep Guardiola and JosE Mourinho. Today, their teams are first and second in the Premier League, marking the latest installment in a rivalry that can be traced back twenty-five years. The Barcelona Inheritance is a book about the tactics, the personalities, the friendships, and, in one case, an apocalyptic falling-out that continue to shape the game today.