Inverting the Pyramid

This is a very interesting and awesome book I’ve learned a lot so far but it is a very long read so be prepared for that!

This is the fascinating long history of the Great Game, from the tactical perspectives and the philosophies that come with them.The book began right from where it all started: the meeting organised by H.C. Malden of Godalming, Surrey, in his Cambridge rooms in 1848, which summons university representatives of Harrow, Eaton, Shrewsbury, Winchester, Rugby, and 2 non-public schoolboys, to create the first unified Laws of the Game, the "Cambridge Rules." The rules then spread around the world in the next few decades via British men of various occupations, blended in with the local culture and create distinctively local style of play, until it became a truly global phenomenon in the 20th century.The title of the book brilliantly captures this phenomenon, through the evolution of its formation from the pyramid-like shape 2-3-5 in the early days, to 3-2-5, 4-2-4, 4-4-2 to the inverted pyramid shape 4-5-1 and even 4-6-0 that several teams use today, complete with all the advantages-disadvantages, blank spots, and all the major incidents that colour the many transformations.Within this long tactical evolution the author, Jonathan Wilson, demonstrates a very thorough research down to the smallest incidents on any match played, such as a big match in 1890 or 1953 when there weren't even a television coverage. And he can describe the socio-cultural influences of every team thoughout history. For instance, the style of play of a football team is apparently largely influenced by the contemporary political system and economic condition, like in Italy and Spain in 1930s and Argentina in 1960s when they were under military dictatorship they played a tough, muscular, and pragmatic football.The book also delightfully gives small trivial facts every now and then, such as the first man to be caught offside after the 1866 law change was Charles W. Alcock. Or how the father of modern football, Viktor Maslov, was the first to use 4-4-2 formation. Or that time Louis Van Gaal dropped his troussers in Bayern Munich's dressing room, to literally show that he "has the balls" to drop star names.As football evolves, so do the chapters in the book. And we'll move forward from the likes of the day rugby separated itself from football to the most exciting part for me, the tactics that differentiates modern football from the old: pressing.And this is where it really gets down to business. The book gives the technical explanations of a lot of matches and team set-up, a lot of which gives a whole new angle on the matches we thought we knew when we watch them. Such as how Greece can (deservedly) won Euro 2004, by controling matches without even controling the ball. Why Sergio Busquet was the most vital player in Guardiola's Barcelona. And why Arrigo Sacchi had to instruct Carlo Anchelotti to train an hour early with the youth team to make sure his playmaker understands his specific tactics.Jonathan Wilson declared right in the beginning that he loves Bielsa-esque style of play, with high speed passings and high pressure. And it shows. The discussion of modern football evolve mainly on the style of Bielsa, Sacchi and Cruyff and their descendants like Guardiola and Van Gaal, and not so much on the style applied, for example, by Alex Ferguson, Marcello Lippi, or Jose Mourinho, although their styles (and many more modern managers' styles) are still analysed albeit not as thorough.Just like when watching these fast-paced footballing style, reading the analysis of the tactics, in almost scientific approach, is just downright exhilarating. It gives a bright shining light on how the modern game is really constructed, and makes Marcelo Bielsa in particular - and his protégés - looks nothing short of a genius. A very enjoyable reading!

"Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics" was written by British sports journalist Jonathan Wilson. Wilson charts the history of football tactics from the 1870s to the present day. Over time teams became more cautious and defensive as winning took priority.The book is an entertaining account of the evolution of football tactics around the world. It starts with the original 1-2-7 line-up favoured by England in 1872. By 1884, England was using a 2-3-5 formation. Over time teams added defenders and used fewer forwards. The initial pyramid formations (2-3-5) ended with being inverted (4-4-2) as time moved on.Wilson discusses many of the great sides and the tactical innovations they introduced. Wilson starts in Britain in the 19th century. Scotland had an early reputation for slick, passing football with quick, skillful players, in marked contrast to England's more direct and pragmatic style. The English considered `passing' to be unmanly.The game grew as British expats took the game to South America and continental Europe. Wilson describes how the game developed in different parts of the world. Wilson analyzes the boring, anti-football pf the Italian teams of the 1960s. The exciting Brazilian teams of the 1950s and 1960s. The "Total Football" of the Dutch in the 1970s. He does not spend much time discussing German football, which is a pity.Wilson describes the sometimes eccentric coaches who built successful teams. Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman introduced the W-M system (3-2-2-3) in the 1920s. This system was used in England until the 1960s. Chapman is also credited with introducing the numbers on player's shirts. Gustav Sebes, who pioneered the 4-2-4 formation, was the coach of the fabulous Hungarian team of the 1950's. His ideas were taken to Brazil by his protégé Bela Guttman. The 4-2-4 formation was popular until 1966, when England won the World Cup playing 4-1-3-2.The book discusses the innovations of Scotsmen Bill Shankly (Liverpool) and Matt Busby (Manchester United) who changed the face of the English game in the 1960s. He also writes about Valeriy Lobanovsky (Dynamo Kiev), Arrigo Sacchi (AC Milan), Helenio Herrera (Inter), Rinus Michels (Ajax) and many others. The author debunks the theories of Charles Reep and Charles Hughes, and their pseudo-scientific justification of direct football. Hughes claimed the Dutch and Brazilians were playing football the wrong way.Today, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-2-1, and 4-3-3 are popular formations in the English Premier League. Many professional teams are flexible enough to change their formation during games. Inverting the Pyramid is an enjoyable and engrossing read. I would recommended it to anyone interested in understanding the tactical history of the game.

I wasn't sure about the book being up-to-date (there was a first edition then an updating) then i contacted Jonathan Wilson on Twitter to be sure I was purchasing the right one (I had seen a German version in a bookshop, but I wanted the english one); He's been so corteous to answer me; I do find it extremely kind and professional;Having said that, the book is compelling and covers lot of topics. I had already learnt a lot about history of football through other books but this gave me lot of informations i didn't know. It wasn't just the tactics, althought tactics are at the heart of the book; there's also the context, the people and the society ...a blend that obviously and consequently shaped the football.

I really enjoyed this book. I wouldn't say I am a tactics geek but I am interested in knowing a bit more than what the pundits say, mainly because they don't often say anything very insightful. I've also dabbled with tactics managing a Sunday league football team and wanted to deepen my knowledge.This book opened my eyes to a different way of thinking about tactics and helped me understand what has influenced different teams' style of play. The early history was a bit dull but there are some riveting stories in there, like the way the WW1 PoW team played and why, the background to the modern pressing game, the dysfunctional history of English tactical approaches and, of course, the story of total football and its modern incarnation in Barcelona. It is hard when you aren't old enough to know or remember some of the personalities and teams but I know where to look now.Buy it, stick with it through the first few chapters, and I doubt you'll regret it.

Without doubt this book is an amazing piece of research and extremely thought-provoking. As has been stated elsewhere, this is a book that will most definitely change your perception of how the game is played and offers the most scientific assessment of "the beautiful game" that I have read. This book is very much a part of a new generation of writing about football with the analysis and insight being extremely fascinating. There was a time when books about football were notoriously badly written. "Inverting the pyramid" offers an assessment of the evolution of football formations from the Victorian era through to the 2000's. There is a logical progression in how the way the game has played with new formations coming into fruition to combat the challenges produced my earlier styles of play. The author is extremely knowledgeable in tracing the salient developments in football with the most significant developments being shown to have taken place outside the football mainstream. (British football seemed to lag behind from a vey early stage to the way the game was considered elsewhere.) So whilst there is reference to Britain, Brazil, Italy and Holland, other locations such as Austria and USSR are shown to have been equally important. Although I am a season ticket holder with Southampton, I am passionate about the history of football and "Inverting the pyramid" satisfied my curiousity in explaining how football tactics started and what prompted the change from the "forward charge" approach of 140 years ago. I'm not too interested in the period after the world war one and before I started to follow the sport in the 1970's yet Wilson's research makes this riveting. Some chapters are more interesting than others and there are times when the complexity of the diagrams and the narrative become a bit baffling. The only problem with the book was that I sometimes find myself out of my depth trying to understand the logic of formations - this is the kind of book that you really want to discuss with a professional footballer to get an angle on some of the points raised. Nice to see statistics used to destroy the logic behind the "long ball" style of football of the 1990's - speaking as someone who watched Ian Branfoot's truly woeful Southamtpon team play in this fashion in the first half of this decade! In conclusion, this is an intelligent and well-considered book which crackles with personal stories and is full of history. Sometimes it can be a bit too complex and there were moments when I wondered if another "expert" might choose an altogether different set of countries / teams as representatives of the changes in the way football is played. Upon reflection and as a layman, I did find myself sometimes questioning some of the reasoning put forward for developing formations and whether the changes were genuinely effective over the course of a season for a team . The coaches are allowed to speak through their own words and players are also quoted in explaining the logic behind the formations which does assist in making things a bit clearer. However, this book raises football to a science and it is unlikely is there has ever been a non-coaching book aimed at a popular audience on this topic. This is by no means a dry and academic book and whilst sometimes being complex, I felt really opened a window on how football is played to make the sport seem like a science. A "must read" yet be prepared to have to re-read some of the more complex arguments that are presented. All in all, this is one of the most intelligent and fascinating books I have read about football.

I feared the worst when at the start of The Prologue the author was eating tapas and drinking rioja in Lisbon...I think not. But my fears were misplaced, this is truly wonderful book. It's incredibly well researched, thought-provoking and brilliantly entertaining and tells the story of a host of people I knew little or nothing about. He also (better than anyone) explains how English football ended up in its own little, backward, world.

This is a very good book about the evolution of football and its tactics. Very complete and easy to read. However the author has some personal biases that sometimes go against historical facts. I certainly appreciated reading about Eastern European teams and their often neglected contribution to the evolution of the beautiful game. But some other teams mentioned by the author, and some managers, do not deserve a place in the list of football wonders. 1954's Uruguay for example were clearly inferior to Hungary, yet they deserved a place too in this book, since they changed the way South American teams played. 1975's Dynamo Kiev were a fantastic team, but the inclusion of the very mediocre 1986's Dynamo team is unjustified, even though the manager was the same. In conclusion I enjoyed reading the book but I strongly disagree with many of the things Mr. Wilson writes.