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 about a less cut-and-dried but still troubling story.)Support the show

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, and more.Support the show