The Anatomy of Liverpool

Ten key games that shaped Liverpool football club.

Much of the acres of football news coverage these days has little to do with what actually occurs on the pitch. Jonathan Wilson has established himself as one of the sport's pre-eminent writers, focussing on the tactics (with the award-winning INVERTING THE PYRAMID) and how events on the pitch have shaped football history (THE ANATOMY OF ENGLAND). His new book is a compellingly forensic analysis of ten key Liverpool matches that have shaped the club's fortunes for more than a century - from the long-lost triumphs of manager Tom Watson, who arrived in 1896, to the 1977 European Cup triumph over Borussia Mönchengladbach, to the astonishing Champions League Final comeback against AC Milan, 'The Miracle of Istanbul', in 2005. Legendary players and managers of the stature of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish populate these pages, which highlight the genius and the flaws of individuals by examining them in practice.

Certain games lie on the fault-lines of history. Perhaps they mark the end of one era or the beginning of another. Perhaps they encapsulate a summation of a manager's reign. Or perhaps they mark a crossroads, moments at which football looked one way, and then went the other. But this is not a virtual history of Liverpool FC. Jonathan Wilson's prime purpose is not to speculate on what might have been. Rather it will try to determine why what was, was. No game is won or lost, after all, in a single moment but by a million little things.

THE ANATOMY OF LIVERPOOL tells the story of a great club through a detailed examination of ten key matches looking, as a football history must, first and foremost at the football.