The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Arsenal got the three points, but their close-fought 1-0 victory over Manchester United felt strange to watch and was a major statistical outlier in a number of ways. We are joined by CBS Sports' James Benge to discuss what he saw from Arsenal in their opening match and what it might mean for the season.Follow James online: https://bsky.app/profile/jamesbenge.bsky.socialAnd read his article on the match: https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/arsenal-were-faster-than-ever-in-win-at-manchester-united-but-is-new-style-here-to-stay-or-circumstantial/Support the show

It's that time again! We go through all 20 Premier League teams, draft our favorites, and talk about why we picked them. Part II of course available at http://patreon.com/doublepivotSupport the show

We talk about strategies for staying in the Premier League as a promoted side, how much harder it's gotten, what approaches are being employed by Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley, and why we think this season one of them breaks the streak. Support the show

Who do you got?Support the show

We are joined by Sophie Lawson to discuss the Women's Euros, which were heading into their semifinals as we were recording. How Spain have established themselves as the best in Europe, why Germany have made the semis but still disappointed so far, how England have shown fight but not yet the quality of ball that they need, and how Italy are just Italy-ing super hard. Follow Sophie on the various social media sites @lawsonsv including: https://bsky.app/profile/lawsonsv.bsky.socialSupport the show

Talking about all the agreeable soccer analytics you can listen to if you join at https://www.patreon.com/c/doublepivotAnd if you do, here's how to join the Discordhttps://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-Getting-Discord-accessSupport the show

The deal is still held up in contractual, semi-legal limbo, but we talk about Gibbs-White and analyzing players based on per-90 and per-touch metrics, and whether this is a risk worth taking for Tottenham. Support the show

Summer means transfer talk but also maybe a teensy bit of international football. We discuss Malik Tillman to Bayer Leverkusen as well as Malik Tillman within the context of the USMNT. And we talk about Nico Williams to Barcelona, why it hasn't gone through yet, and what the plan is for him at Barca. Support the show

Chelsea has not yet completed most of the many transactions they're reported to be working on, but certainly it looks like another summer for churn. And our question is, why.Support the show

With Crystal Palace in danger of missing out on Europe due to their ownership situation, and Chelsea being, you know, the way that they are, we felt it was time to talk to an actual expert about what private equity is and what is new about private equity ownership in sports. So we asked George Pearkes, all-around finance knower on social media and professionally Global Macro Strategist for Bespoke Investment Group, to talk to us about it.George is also the co-host of the Normal Men podcast: https://peark.es/podcast/Support the show