The Double Pivot

Opening from Really??? With Mike & Mike The Premier League season resumed and every game seemed to encapsulate a different narrative and statistical issue we've been following. Liverpool, Chelsea, Brentford, West Ham, Newcastle, what have we learned so far? Support the show

Newcastle are now owned by the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. What is the KSA government trying to buy? Everyone calls it "sportwashing" but what exactly is that, what different forms can it take, and what will this mean for how Newcastle gets run in the next few years? Support the show

Two parts of this podcast: what's going on in the NWSL as the players, league and fans negotiate a crisis of abuse of power by management and ownership, and then the big game between Liverpool and Man City. Meg Linehan, "This Guy Has A Pattern": https://theathletic.com/2857633/2021/09/30/this-guy-has-a-pattern-amid-institutional-failure-former-nwsl-players-accuse-prominent-coach-of-sexual-coercion/ Molly Hensley-Clancy, "Women Describe 'Old Boys' Club" Culture At Washington Spirit": https:/...

Barcelona's crisis just keeps rolling. Is the manager the problem? Could anything solve the problem in the near term? And then we stay in La Liga where there is no obvious Real Madrid crisis but it remains unclear that they're, like, particularly good. And while Atletico don't find the theme, Mike has takes y'all. Support the show

It's five matches into the season and everyone knows the table is lying... but is the xG table lying? More specifically, what can statistics tell us this early in the season, what does it mean that statistics "become reliable" after a certain period of time, and how does this inform how we're thinking about Tottenham and Chelsea and Arsenal and Everton? Caley's R2 charts: https://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2015/10/19/9295905/premier-league-projections-and-new-expected-goals Support th...

Berhalter did a bunch of very interesting stuff and it didn't work at all, and Southgate did all the same uninteresting stuff and it wasn't great either. This is mostly about Berhalter because, see above, it was *interesting* but they form a useful counterpoint for thinking about international managers. (sorry for the audio gremlins, still getting used to the transatlantic podcasting and need to update our pre-record checklist) Support the show

content notice: discussion of rape and sexual violence Caley is really mad about the media coverage of the Ronaldo transfer, and Goodman has his own thoughts about the dilemmas that drive and screw up the media here. And there was also an incredibly dramatic transfer window! United and Madrid and Barcelona and Atletico and Chelsea and around we go. We discuss Jessica Luther and Kavitha Davidson's book Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back: https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/luther-davi...

News! Breaking! Kane stays with Tottenham and Madrid lodge a frankly unbelievable bid for Mbappe and PSG even more unbelievably turn it down. What's going on in the striker market, in the business of football at the tippy-top level, and what does it all mean? Support the show

We get into some hard agreements at the five minute mark and just keep rolling. Brentford, Arsenal, Leicester, Wolves, West Ham, Spurs, City, Liverpool, it's all here. Support the show

We try to rank the whole Premier League. Here's part one. Support the show

Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona because they cannot pay him any money. It's a financial story and a football story and we get into it -- what is Barcelona's best way back and how long will it take them? Where is Messi going and if it's PSG, what is that gonna look like? Support the show

We take your questions on soccer and how it works, discussing struggleball and pressing, xG in video games and what it reveals about what analytics is, and the ongoing search for WAR. (also uh lol sorry Heather we'll actually answer your question on an upcoming pod.) Support the show

A dramatic game with a lot to dig in to! We talk about England's impressive opening goal and good first half, how Italy regained control in the second half and what went wrong for England in their attempt to respond in turn. And the penalties, yeah, the penalties. But really it's the stuff before that that matters. Support the show

Italy were fortunate to get through, England were a defensive powerhouse again... without Spinazzola, is there anything Italy can do? We talk about why Southgate has done a very good job despite the Saka and subs weirdness, the dynamics we expect in the final, Kyle Walker, Bonucci and Chiellini, Sterling dribbling... all the stuff. Support the show

The quarterfinals were not quite as compelling as the round of 16 as matches but they set up a ton of fascinating questions for the semifinals. What is Italy without Spinazzola? Why did Spain struggle so much at even strength against Switzerland? Has Denmark run out of gas? Is there any way to get one over on this England team... if Southgate plays the good forwards at least? Support the show

lol we called it a "mini Euro pod" at the start and then we couldn't stop talking about Italy and Belgium and Portugal and went 35 minutes anyway.... enjoy! Support the show

So much Euros! Spain keep falling into bad fortune and Germany and Portugal played a weirdo classic and how about Denmark... so much to get into. Why there are more interesting teams at the Euros than we expected and why the tournament's probable two best aren't among them, where's Bruno, what to do with Verratti, and more. Support the show

All our takes on the first part of the first round of games including Italy, Spain, Belgium, England and Netherlands takes -- why we are still skeptical of the Netherlands but were impressed by Spain even in a draw. Look for more little pods at the tournament continues! (Episode re-uploaded due to an audio issue in the first version.) Support the show

Big international tournaments! Happening soon! We get you up to speed on some of the big teams to watch in the Euros while taking some listener questions and also the USMNT won an international tournament and Goodman saw it happen so we've got a little on that too. Support the show

With Goodman traveling we still do manage to take your questions about what's going on with the manager searches around Europe, what's happened to superclub budgets, what United are gonna do, and we manage to get caught behind the Conte news but still kind of explain what happened avant la lettre imo. Support the show

We look back on the end of the season drama, and then on to manager news. We break down the careers of Antonio Conte and Zinedine Zidane and consider where they'll go next and what are the upsides and downsides of each for potential clubs. Support the show

We've got seasons ending with a lot on the line in England, Spain and Italy, and the podcast takes you around the big games and asks the important questions like, will Atalanta's players feel happy or sad on Sunday, what the hell is wrong with the La Liga table and why won't anyone put some respect on Ronald Koeman's name? Support the show

There's still just about a top four race still ongoing in the PremierLeague, but we've also got big Champions League qualifying drama in Italy and Germany, so this is your one-stop shop for all the top four drama around Europe. Support the show

Manchester United vs. Liverpool did not take place becuase of fan protests, as the fallout from the failure of super league perhaps picks up and enters a new phase. It's fascinating! We talk about what the fans seem to demand, their various interests and how these might enable owners to buy them off, how the media covered these protests, and the fundamental contradictions in the system which will lead inexorably to its overturning. Support the show

Tottenham are looking for a manager. The German coaching carousel spins. Weirdly almost all the richest clubs in the world are standing pat. What's going on, what do we expect from the managers who are or may be moving, have teams' approaches to their managerial positions changed? Support the show

We are joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Robinson to talk about the sudden collapse of the Super League, why it happened, and what comes next. Robinson is also the co-author of a book about the founding of the Premier League, The Club, and we think about why that breakaway succeeded but this one failed. And you absolutely must stick around for his anecdote about how Man City decided to join up with the Super League. The Club: https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/the-club/9780358213...

We've got news. Caley and Goodman walk through the setup of the proposed Super League, its apparent business goals, the structural problems in European football that brought us to this point. and what we think is likely to emerge on the other side of this. @Guidetobirds on the wage issue at the heart of the Super League: https://fileundertragicomedy.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/the-super-league-is-about-wages-too/ Murad Ahmed and Arash Massoudi in the Financial Times on the financing of the lea...

There's a title race in Spain, suddenly! And there was a great Clasico. We break down the game and why we think Barcelona are still favorites despites losing to Real Madrid and sitting third. And we begin our top four profiles, going over how Leicester City and West Ham got here and how the relative stability of their xG numbers in both cases hides some real changes over time. Support the show

(Opening from The Gay Science, Friedrich Nietzche) Chelsea and Leicester lost, Liverpool and West Ham won, Spurs -- who still technically in the top four race! -- drew with Newcastle. We walk through the small changes in the race this week and our favorites to get through. Support the show

It's an international break and the US Men's National Team has good players on it, some of whom were even allowed by doctors and public health authorities to play with the team. Dest, Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronsen, formations, Musah, the Gold Cup, it's all here. Support the show

There's Derby talk and Chris Wilder talk and Kelechi explodes but the Premier League ain't giving us much right now. So we get into some of the weird stats of Covidball and the consistently uninteresting big performers of the season. Support the show

A variety of topics, variously arranged! The Manchester Derby, the Madrid Derby, "Der Klassiker", is Milan good or not, the end of the Messi and Ronaldo Era, the era of the supremacy of the Premier League? We get to it all. Support the show

Managers! xG! Is Klopp doing something wrong now? Is Potter? Our answers are pretty decidedly no, but we get into how you ask questions about managers when something is going wrong under the hood, statistically or tactically or with all of their players getting injured at once, say. Support the show

How PSG pressed Barcelona out of a big tie, how Leipzig failed to contain Liverpool, Dortmund surprising us a bit against Sevilla, all our takes on the latest round of the Champions League right here. Support the show

A lot has changed since we last covered the top teams in Europe. We take on the teams playing this week in the Champions League, including PSG's injury problems, how far Barcelona have rebounded, the peculiar new Leipzig system, Ronaldo's new/old role, and more. Support the show

The Premier League top four race keeps being the story because it keeps changing! Why the table is still lying, why Liverpool and Chelsea haven't put it away yet, what Tuchel is up to, and which underdogs still have a shot. Support the show

That was very nearly another fascinating Spurs-Liverpool match and we get into the first 20 minutes before Kane's injury more or less put it to bed. And right now the top four race is as open as it's ever been, what's up with that? Support the show

Over at patreon.com/doublepivot you can get our subscription level player profiles beginning with Martin Ødegaard and Papu Gomez, and continuing through the week with more every day. And there is even a special deal, 15 percent off when you subscribe for a year so check it out. Support the show

Frank Lampard appears to be on the way out at Chelsea. We look back at his time at Chelsea and consider what we got right and what we got wrong, and we talk a bit about the state of research on analytics about managers -- do they really matter? Support the show

We take a spin around the entire Premier League and answer your (or our) burning questions on each club. Starting with the meaning of Arsenal's recent good results and what we got wrong about Sheffield United, and continuing through Mo Salah's production decline, what Spurs need from the transfer market, the very very badness of West Brom and more. Support the show

We got us a Premier League title race but uhhhhh City are going to win it now? We talk about Liverpool's collapse-that-is-not-a-collapse, Pep's transformation of Man City, Frank and the Chelsea game, and the chance of an upset title winner. Support the show

We keep it rolling! Not too many interesting games but a fascinating pile-up in the top four and title races and we walk through what's going on with Chelsea, City, Villa, Spurs, United, Leicester and Everton. Support the show

We have so many games, so much going on, we got more of your questions on Chelsea and Liverpool who may determine their place in the title race in the next week, and also a bunch of midtable questions because Leeds, Arsenal and Brighton are just fascinating. Support the show

We take a lot of your questions and get technical right off the bat, with discussions of data collection and "post-shot xG" leading into some talk about City, Grealish, Brighton and Chelsea. Support the show

Do we have a better sense of who's going to win the Premier League title? Maybe a little? Spurs-Chelsea analysis, how much are Liverpool favored by, how close are City, and is there anyone else.... maybe? Support the show

A Mourinho Masterclass from Spurs, what does it mean? Why are we feeling so sure that Jurgen Klopp is the best manager in the world right now? And what is Mikel Arteta doing? Support the show

Our listeners can have a little USMNT analysis, as a treat. And then on to more of your questions, including discussions of Gareth Bale, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and the importance of the "utility player". Support the show

We take your questions on Liverpool, penalties, Barcelona, Mason Mount, Southampton, Yunus Musah and more! Support the show

We still don't understand what's happening in football. We bounce a few questions off each other -- Juventus, Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United, what's going on? Support the show

The Premier League table is strange right now, but unlike what you'd expect when the table is weird after five matches, it's not *lying*. It's just weird. We walk through the teams that we still expect to be good but have questions about, the teams we're reasonably convinced are now good, and the teams we're starting to give up on. Support the show