The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary - podcast cover

The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Mike Goodman and Michael Caleywww.buzzsprout.com
Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary with hosts Mike Goodman and Michael Caley

Episodes

Derbies

Arsenal won a messy North London Derby and we talk about what single-match xG means and can tell us about this game, while City won a pretty silly Manchester Derby and we talk about just how good they might be. Support the show

Oct 06, 202235 min

September Mailbag

A lot of great questions! Juventus, Leicester, Fulham, Odegaard, Kulusevski and the North London Derby. Support the show

Sep 29, 202240 min

A Variety of Soccer Topics

Potterball begins, Everton are not particularly bad, and we take on the greatest of all soccer questions: what if America's best athletes played soccer? Support the show

Sep 23, 202235 min

Tuchel Out (Potter In)

Well that was sure something. Thomas Tuchel already sacked, Graham Potter already hired. We talk about the process here (bad!) and the result (interesting, possibly not bad!) and what we are watching to see with Potter at the new club. Support the show

Sep 08, 202232 min

<Borat Voice> My Priors

It&apos;s been four games, are we rethinking anything? On Aston Villa, West Ham, Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton. Support the show

Aug 29, 202230 min

Are We Rethinking United and Liverpool?

As Beveridge&apos;s Law demands, the answer is mostly &quot;no&quot;. 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

Aug 24, 202233 min

Chelsea - Spurs

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

Aug 16, 202226 min

Week One Tactics-Ish: Arsenal and Liverpool

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

Aug 11, 202229 min

Premier League Preview: Part I

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&apos;s do this. Support the show

Aug 03, 202253 min

Summer Mailbag, Part I

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

Jul 25, 202238 min

Emergency Pod: Barcelona WTF

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&apos;re doing it while the team is still in the midst of an ongoing, if evolving financial crisis. We&apos;ve got a lot to get into. Support the show

Jul 17, 202243 min

Chelsea's Deal, What Is It

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

Jul 07, 202227 min

Wingers

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

Jun 23, 202246 min

Analytics is about Context: Premier League Transfers Edition

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&apos;s sexual assault arrest and how we think about a less cut-and-dried but still troubling story.) Support the show...

Jun 17, 202240 min

NWSL with Arielle Dror

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

Jun 02, 202255 min

Looking Back and Looking Forward for the Top Seven

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

May 27, 202241 min

Premier League Roundup

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

May 03, 202234 min

Deep, Deep Blue Something

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

Apr 29, 202231 min

Erling Haaland

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&apos;ll fit in at Manchester City. Support the show

Apr 20, 202226 min

City - Liverpool

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

Apr 12, 202234 min

Return of Top Four

It&apos;s that time again! We have a nearly dead-even top four race between Arsenal and Tottenham. It&apos;s time to talk about Antonio Conte&apos;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. Support the show

Apr 05, 202240 min

Relegation Race

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

Mar 25, 202244 min

Serie A and more with Adam Serwer

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

Mar 18, 202253 min

Were We Wrong About Arsenal?

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

Mar 14, 202237 min

Emergency Podcast: Roman Sanctioned

We&apos;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&apos;s go. Support the show

Mar 10, 202236 min

Football and the War in Ukraine

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

Feb 28, 202227 min

Bielsa Sacked, Bielsa-ly

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

Feb 28, 202220 min

Premier League Races

Title race! Top four race! Spurs beat City and now they&apos;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

Feb 23, 202238 min

The Best Teams

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

Feb 17, 202239 min