The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

We're only two matches into the Premier League season but it's already clear that the new midfield/fullback tactics are creating some wild, Bundesliga-esque matches. What's going on, and is this why midfielders have gotten so incredibly expensive? Support the show

Arielle Dror is joined by Kieran Doyle to talk through all the questions before the final. Have Spain been as good as their stats suggest? How many questions do we have about England's path to the final? How will the two defenses hold up under very different kinds of pressure? And how much violence might there be on Sunday? All the analytics you need to get ready for the World Cup final, plus...

Arielle is joined by her colleague Casey Thayer, a former collegiate goalkeeper, to break down the World Cup quarters -- in which there was more than a full share of goalkeeping drama. How Sweden keep rolling, the vibes watching Australia, can Spain play their style and win, England's slow and steady success, and more insight on shootout strategy. It's all here! Support the show

The every team Double Pivot Premier League preview is back and we are working alphabetically so that means Arsenal through Fulham make up part 1 -- the Premier League is quite profoundly alphabetically unbalanced. Support the show

We expect a close race in La Liga this season between the two Spanish megaclubs, but in the medium term one trajectory is angled down the other, way up.  Support the show

Double Pivot women's soccer correspondent Arielle Dror has the reins of the pod from Australia to talk about the first round of group games. She is joined by Arianna Cascone (@casconearianna) and Kieran Doyle (@KierDoyle) to break it all down. A solid US performance but what did we learn for the upcoming matches? Concerns about Canada, Australia, England and France. Sadness for Zambia. And mo...

We are joined not only this week by Double Pivot Women's Soccer Correspondent Arielle Dror for a World Cup preview but Arielle will also be providing regular coverage on the ground in Australia and New Zealand for Double Pivot listeners throughout the tournament. We cover the very in-flux state of the US and of most of their top competitors and suggest a few underdogs to watch as well.  Follo...

Brighton and Aston Villa will be competing in Europe next season despite revenues clearly outside the big six (or financial backing outside the big seven) clubs. We break down the traditional Villa approach, the more modern Brighton approach, and the very projectible young attackers that Brighton will be featuring. Support the show

Szoboszlai to Liverpool, Havertz to Arsenal, Mount to United -- we're seeing a clear trend of top Premier League teams looking to move to systems with more attacking eights. What's going on? We take a little tactical and statistical tour of recent developments in football and explain why this is really all about fullback tactics. Support the show

After a lot of worries about how they might plug the ffp gap, Chelsea found buyers for Kovacic and Havertz in the Premier League and for a bunch of their excess salary in Saudi Arabia. How did this happen, was it a conspiracy, and wait who are Chelsea's good players now? Support the show

The best player in the world, question mark, is one year from being out of contract at PSG and we've got drama. Where might he go, how might he fit, and just how good in Mbappe right now? Support the show

Big day! Lionel Messi rejects both Barcelona and Saudi Arabia to go to MLS. We offer context -- why couldn't Barcelona afford him? why couldn't Saudi Arabia land him with an impossibly large salary, and what does that tell us about the KSA sporting project? And what's going on with the MLS offer? Support the show

Barcelona's bond offering, Saudi Arabia's current account balance -- we talk about the global financial and political context of European football, and why these contexts weigh harder on the game than they do in American sports. Support the show

Drama! Bayern's Bundesliga title streak could end on Saturday. We talk about the frankly bizarre Dortmund team that has a chance to do what no one predicted this summer, and what's gone wrong from Bayern over the season and recently under Tuchel to land them here. Support the show

The Champions League semifinals were a dreadful anti-climax. But it's interesting why they were such. And can anyone stop City? Like, ever? Support the show

Mike Goodman is joined by CBS soccer correspondent James Benge (@jamesbenge) to talk about all things media, analytics and yeah a little bit of Arsenal. Support the show

We got one really live race going but it's a good one. Leeds collapse, Forest bad, Everton bad, Leicester also in trouble, we talk through the teams at the bottom. Support the show

Bad game by Spurs. We break down the set of bad decisions that brought them to this point. Support the show

The 6th and 7th place teams in the Premier League have, otherwise, quite distinct profiles. We break it down.  Support the show

Lots of small takes on Premier League teams. Spurs, Everton, United, Leeds, Villa, Liverpool and on. Support the show

Chelsea sacked their manager. He didn't do a very good job! But is replacing the manager the thing that will set this project on the right path, and is continuing at full speed with this project the right thing for Chelsea? We remain skeptical. Support the show

It's the hottest thing in owning soccer teams: owning lots of soccer teams. But why is it happening, what risks does it pose to the current state of football, and what do we expect to see in the near future? Support the show

At a certain level not all that much has changed but there's drama and we're here to cover it for you. Support the show

What's going on with non-state soccer owners trying to sell their teams? What's going on with the aggressive non-state money coming in to soccer? What, for real, is going on with Chelsea and Clearlake? We talk to Skanda Amarnath (@irvingswisher) about the baseline state of play in the sports business. Support the show

Manchester United are up for sale and the apparent favorite is a debt-free bid by a Qatari businessperson (and royal family member) Sheikh Jassim. We talk about what we expect from the Premier League, the hole they seem to be digging for themselves, and why the source of Jassim's wealth is such a crucial issue here. Support the show