The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

It's just three weeks in and there are too many takes about the Premier League. We walk through most of the top teams in the Premier League, look at some numbers, and consider whether there's anything here to be learned just yet.Support the show

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 and Kieran Doyle discuss Spain's performance in the Women's World Cup, analyzing their style of play and player performances. They delve into XG and line breaking passes in soccer, analyzing the ball progression of the Spain national team. The emotional impact of the World Cup semifinals is also discussed, along with thoughts on the upcoming final and England's defensive strategy against Australia.

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 more players and matches to watch. Support the show

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. Follow Arielle on twitter at @arielle_dror.Support the show

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