The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

There are little stories developing with all of the top teams in Europe and how much they've improved or declined from last year, how much the team is playing up to their talent, how much the table is flattering them. We start with Arsenal and Spurs and then WHEW it's Liverpool and United and Chelsea and Napoli and Juve and Barca and Real and Sevilla and we got ourselves a podcast.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

In this edition of the mailbag: What are the Two Mikes best and worst sports stats hot takes? Would you give Eddie Howe a shot at managing a Top 6 club? Is Arsenal's talent roughly at the level that expected goals predicts, or are they underperforming their talent level? Why do we evaluate soccer managers based on whether they have players to suit their system, when we don't do that in a sport like, say, basketball? What are the current challenges in soccer analytics as a scientific discipline? Just how good was Laurent Koscielny? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Bayern is boring, Real Madrid can't score and Jadon Sancho's on fire, perhaps a bit at Christian Pulisic's expense. After a quick Liverpool vs. Manchester City recap, the two Mikes look at the problems facing some of the clubs we regularly expect in Champions League semifinals, and what it may take to keep them at that level come season's end. Over at Patreon, they look to England to examine Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs' woes.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

It's a tough one. The Mikes are joined by Jessica Luther, who literally wrote the book on the topic of sports and sexual assault, to discuss Kathryn Mayorga's allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo. What do we know? How has this story been reported? And what are the responsibilities of clubs and leagues, fans and analysts, when survivors bring forward stories like this about figures in sports?Thread with a link to Mayorga's story as well as documents used by reporters from Der Spiegel: https://twitter.com/derWinterbach/status/1046478115734720513The extremely good tweet by Sanaa that got us thinking:https://twitter.com/sanaa_mq/status/1047104457442562049Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Over at patreon, we have a subscription episode with even more stats, a bunch of Chelsea discussion, and even we talk ourselves into watching the Bundesliga. It gets real.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Mike and Mike break out some of Caley's stats and a few Statsbomb numbers and pick out some surprising numbers, Who have been the Premier League's best passers? Who plays an unexpectedly key in their team's build up? Are they going to gush about James Milner again? Numbers on Kieran Trippier, James Maddison, Granit Xhaka, Marcos Alonso, Ruben Neves and more. (And by more we mean, James Milner.)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

In this week's premium episode, the two Mikes go deep on some big results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Do we know exactly what Arsenal is trying to do yet? Is it OK to declare the Chelsea is super good or should we hold off? The heck is Everton's deal? And what's up with the weird Bournemouth numbers? These questions are pondered by the two Mikes as the dive deeper into all of them and briefly touch on the West Hams and Newcastles of the world along the way.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

The two Mikes start a light jog into the return of club soccer after the international break, analyzing the most notable performances thus far in La Liga (Barcelona - good!, Atletico - not so good!), Serie A (it's more entertaining than you think!), and the Premier League, including a quick preview of Spurs vs. Liverpool off the top, and some Watford talk at the back. The Bundesliga will have to play more games before being broken down. Sorry, Bundesliga. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Over at the patreon we take a tour of the Premier League week that was, including Watford staying perfect and Spurs not, United winning impressively and Arsenal... also winning, and how bad are things at Burnley and West Ham.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show