The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona because they cannot pay him any money. It's a financial story and a football story and we get into it -- what is Barcelona's best way back and how long will it take them? Where is Messi going and if it's PSG, what is that gonna look like? Support the show

We take your questions on soccer and how it works, discussing struggleball and pressing, xG in video games and what it reveals about what analytics is, and the ongoing search for WAR.  (also uh lol sorry Heather we'll actually answer your question on an upcoming pod.) Support the show

A dramatic game with a lot to dig in to! We talk about England's impressive opening goal and good first half, how Italy regained control in the second half and what went wrong for England in their attempt to respond in turn. And the penalties, yeah, the penalties. But really it's the stuff before that that matters. Support the show

Italy were fortunate to get through, England were a defensive powerhouse again... without Spinazzola, is there anything Italy can do? We talk about why Southgate has done a very good job despite the Saka and subs weirdness, the dynamics we expect in the final, Kyle Walker, Bonucci and Chiellini, Sterling dribbling... all the stuff. Support the show

The quarterfinals were not quite as compelling as the round of 16 as matches but they set up a ton of fascinating questions for the semifinals. What is Italy without Spinazzola? Why did Spain struggle so much at even strength against Switzerland? Has Denmark run out of gas? Is there any way to get one over on this England team... if Southgate plays the good forwards at least?  Support the show

lol we called it a "mini Euro pod" at the start and then we couldn't stop talking about Italy and Belgium and Portugal and went 35 minutes anyway.... enjoy! Support the show

So much Euros! Spain keep falling into bad fortune and Germany and Portugal played a weirdo classic and how about Denmark... so much to get into. Why there are more interesting teams at the Euros than we expected and why the tournament's probable two best aren't among them, where's Bruno, what to do with Verratti, and more. Support the show

All our takes on the first part of the first round of games including Italy, Spain, Belgium, England and Netherlands takes -- why we are still skeptical of the Netherlands but were impressed by Spain even in a draw. Look for more little pods at the tournament continues! (Episode re-uploaded due to an audio issue in the first version.) Support the show

Big international tournaments! Happening soon! We get you up to speed on some of the big teams to watch in the Euros while taking some listener questions and also the USMNT won an international tournament and Goodman saw it happen so we've got a little on that too. Support the show

With Goodman traveling we still do manage to take your questions about what's going on with the manager searches around Europe, what's happened to superclub budgets, what United are gonna do, and we manage to get caught behind the Conte news but still kind of explain what happened avant la lettre imo. Support the show

We look back on the end of the season drama, and then on to manager news. We break down the careers of Antonio Conte and Zinedine Zidane and consider where they'll go next and what are the upsides and downsides of each for potential clubs.  Support the show

We've got seasons ending with a lot on the line in England, Spain and Italy, and the podcast takes you around the big games and asks the important questions like, will Atalanta's players feel happy or sad on Sunday, what the hell is wrong with the La Liga table and why won't anyone put some respect on Ronald Koeman's name? Support the show

There's still just about a top four race still ongoing in the PremierLeague, but we've also got big Champions League qualifying drama in Italy and Germany, so this is your one-stop shop for all the top four drama around Europe. Support the show

Manchester United vs. Liverpool did not take place becuase of fan protests, as the fallout from the failure of super league perhaps picks up and enters a new phase. It's fascinating! We talk about what the fans seem to demand, their various interests and how these might enable owners to buy them off, how the media covered these protests, and the fundamental contradictions in the system which...

Tottenham are looking for a manager. The German coaching carousel spins. Weirdly almost all the richest clubs in the world are standing pat. What's going on, what do we expect from the managers who are or may be moving, have teams' approaches to their managerial positions changed?  Support the show

We are joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Robinson to talk about the sudden collapse of the Super League, why it happened, and what comes next. Robinson is also the co-author of a book about the founding of the Premier League, The Club, and we think about why that breakaway succeeded but this one failed. And you absolutely must stick around for his anecdote about how Man City decided to j...

We've got news. Caley and Goodman walk through the setup of the proposed Super League, its apparent business goals, the structural problems in European football that brought us to this point. and what we think is likely to emerge on the other side of this. @Guidetobirds on the wage issue at the heart of the Super League: https://fileundertragicomedy.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/the-super-league-i...

There's a title race in Spain, suddenly! And there was a great Clasico. We break down the game and why we think Barcelona are still favorites despites losing to Real Madrid and sitting third. And we begin our top four profiles, going over how Leicester City and West Ham got here and how the relative stability of their xG numbers in both cases hides some real changes over time. Support the sho...

(Opening from The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzche) Chelsea and Leicester lost, Liverpool and West Ham won, Spurs -- who still technically in the top four race! -- drew with Newcastle. We walk through the small changes in the race this week and our favorites to get through.  Support the show

It's an international break and the US Men's National Team has good players on it, some of whom were even allowed by doctors and public health authorities to play with the team. Dest, Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronsen, formations, Musah, the Gold Cup, it's all here. Support the show

There's Derby talk and Chris Wilder talk and Kelechi explodes but the Premier League ain't giving us much right now. So we get into some of the weird stats of Covidball and the consistently uninteresting big performers of the season. Support the show

A variety of topics, variously arranged! The Manchester Derby, the Madrid Derby, "Der Klassiker", is Milan good or not, the end of the Messi and Ronaldo Era, the era of the supremacy of the Premier League? We get to it all. Support the show

Months of "meh" at the bottom of the table have been transformed into moderate amounts of drama. We discuss how Fulham got, well, not good exactly, but solid enough defensively to get draws, and the risks now for Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton(?) and Southampton(??). Support the show

Managers! xG! Is Klopp doing something wrong now? Is Potter? Our answers are pretty decidedly no, but we get into how you ask questions about managers when something is going wrong under the hood, statistically or tactically or with all of their players getting injured at once, say. Support the show

How PSG pressed Barcelona out of a big tie, how Leipzig failed to contain Liverpool, Dortmund surprising us a bit against Sevilla, all our takes on the latest round of the Champions League right here. Support the show