The Italian Job, by Gianluca Vialli and Gabriele Marcotti (2006)
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FORMER Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles the debate about how the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game of football in the two soccer-mad nations.
Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around?
The authors provide a fascinating and often controversial commentary on where football is now and where it is headed, and they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion.
Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, among others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the debate, which looks at every aspect of football, be it tactical and technical or cultural and sociological.