The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

As Beveridge's Law demands, the answer is mostly "no". But we walk through the game and why it suggests a clear floor under United and the bits and pieces of Liverpool concern that it excavated. Support the show

A game that had everything -- fascinating tactical matchups, dramatic goals, terrible refereeing and manager fights.  We mostly talk about the tactical stuff tbh. Support the show

The analytics pod leans hard into tactics and description in the early part of the season. We begin with a discussion of Arsenal's win over Crystal Palace and their underwhelming xG, and Liverpool's draw with Fulham and their rather more whelming shot numbers. Support the show

Part I of our all-twenty-teams Premier League preview and draft extravaganza. Spurs and City, Liverpool and Newcastle, Brentford and Leeds and more, let's do this. Support the show

Lots of questions! The relegation picture and the promoted sides,  our Southampton worries, how to watch preseason football, and Darwin, Vieira and the Primeira Liga transfers. Support the show

They are doing some weird, weird stuff at the Camp Nou. Even if you ignore all the financial questions, the football side of this is a big mess. And they're doing it while the team is still in the midst of an ongoing, if evolving financial crisis. We've got a lot to get into. Support the show

Chelsea are doing more confusing things and we try to piece them all apart. Sterling more or less makes sense but is expensive, and all the rest of it makes somewhat less sense and we still have a lot of midfield questions. Support the show

We dig down into what modern wide attackers are, statistically and tactically, by looking at a variety of players currently on the transfer market. Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, Raphinha, Raheem Sterling, Ousmane Dembele, and a touch of Christian Pulisic at the end. Support the show

Fabio Carvalho, Marc Cucurella and Yves Bissouma are all at different stages in the transfer rumor to actual transfer process, all generally look like good players that good teams are right to target, but all are complicated to evaluate analytically because of the different tactical contexts in which they have produced. (We also talk about Bissouma's sexual assault arrest and how we think abo...

Official Double Pivot NWSL Correspondent Arielle Dror (@arielle_dror) joins us for what is not really a preview of the NWSL season because it's been going on for a little while now, but we take a look at what's going on so far in the league, why San Diego is so good, what's holding back the Reign, why Caley's beloved Gotham are probably not going to give him much joy this year,...

City won the league but are making some big changes in their forward line. Liverpool came close but likewise are looking at some retooling. We also take closer looks at how it all went so wrong for United and what West Ham might do to mount another competitive season. Support the show

There has been a whole lot of Premier League drama and we've got you covered with all the analytics takes on it. Support the show

The PL is giving us everything right now -- stakes at the top and the bottom and dramatic reversals and the best teams playing great. We start with Everton at the bottom and work our way up to the title and top four races with a brief detour through Aston Villa on the way. Support the show

The world's most agreeable Everton podcast is back and we are worried about our beloved Toffees. Support the show

Manchester City are going to sign Erling Haaland, for a lot of money. We break down the signing, from the striking division of wages and fees to what kind of player Haaland is and could be, to our questions about his fitness and the way he'll fit in at Manchester City. Support the show

Big game, big pod -- we discuss the tactical narrative of the match, what it tells us about Liverpool and Man City, how Pep got the drop on Liverpool, as well as the unusual initial expected goals numbers and how to read the statistical profile of this match. Support the show

It's that time again! We have a nearly dead-even top four race between Arsenal and Tottenham. It's time to talk about Antonio Conte's high-variance Tottenham and how they got good and what makes them different from the strangely high-variance Arsenal of early this season. And we return to the well-trod ground of, huh, Arsenal are good now, plus some bonus Declan Rice coverage. Suppo...

Mike's fave episode in a while! We break down the race to survive -- what's gone wrong for Burnley and Everton, what went right for Newcastle, where do we stand on Leeds' recent turnaround? Support the show

Staff Writer at the Atlantic Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) joins the pod for a wide-ranging discussion of his love of Italian football, Roma and Jose Mourinho, racism and fan culture, the politics of sports and more. Support the show

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, we remain earnestly confused by what Arsenal have done over the last five months despite having no particular questions about the real quality of the underlying performances. Plus a little more Chelsea/sanctions coverage. Support the show

We've been talking about it for a long time and it has happened. Chelsea are now a frozen asset under sanctions and we are here to talk it through, what it means now and in the medium term, what is still left in the air (most things!), how it could be resolved, what it means for football generally, let's go. Support the show

Marcelo Bielsa is out at Leeds in the most Marcelo Bielsa of ways, somehow both on his own terms and against the wishes of the universe. What did he accomplish at Leeds, what went wrong, and what do we think of the hiring of Jesse Marsch to replace him? Support the show

Russia invaded Ukraine and it has a lot of football implications. We still really do not know what those implications will in many ways be but we try to provide some context to help you understand what may come next. Support the show

Title race! Top four race! Spurs beat City and now they're both interesting! We break down Spurs-City for a bit and then consider what this means for the title race (mostly that it exists) and what it means for the top four race, which is a lot harder to sort out. Support the show

The Champions League has returned, and both Mike and Other Mike have returned to sufficiently stable living conditions to "watch" the "games" so it's time to talk about Liverpool, Inter, Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern and Salzburg. Support the show