The Double Pivot

Yeah so Man City lost to Norwich City. We get into what happened and what it could mean as we survey the weekend's results in the Premier League and ask if the table is already shaking out about the way we expected? Leicester, Wolves, Spurs, Norwich, City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea all covered.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Mike and Michael are joined by the New York Times' Astead Herndon, a national political reporter and Tottenham Hotspur fan. The conversation winds from Americans finding their Premier League team to polling analytics and diversity in media, back around to why Michael and Astead still feel good about Tottenham this season.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

The North London derby provided all the insanity it normally does, and weird come-from-behind results echoed the sentiment around the league. That all leads the two Mikes to ask what we really know about the Premier League this season after four matches. Then, their attention turns to all the giants having a hell of a hard time getting going in La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

A chronological tour of the weekend's Premier League matches. There were many things to talk about, it was a chance to expand from our top six discussion of last week to look also at the middle of the table and below and see what we're expecting from everyone after a few weeks of matches.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

City vs. Spurs was weird, Wolves vs. United was boring, Chelsea vs. Leicester was confusing, and Liverpool vs. Arsenal could get wild. To close the episode out as a teaser to Serie A talk on the premium side, the two Mikes pen their usual love letter to Atalanta.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Is Chelsea in crisis? Is Mancheter United great now? Are Liverpool and City running away with the league? We pump the brakes a lot, it's the first week. We have questions about Chelsea but they weren't 0-4 awful. We still don't know what United's midfield is, and Liverpool and City were weirdly not their best. Then Caley takes you on a tour of Broadway musicals and ancient feminist hymns.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

We covered the action from Deadline Day for our subscribers (as well as those 10 other PL teams in the second part of the preview) and this is the teaser about it.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

The two Mikes reunite to kick off the season with a mega preview. They cover 10 teams in this episode, and the other 10 over on the subscriber side. Here, they'll touch on Liverpool's lack of movement in the transfer window, Leicester's best case scenario post-Maguire, Everton's looks-can-be-deceiving moves, whether Norwich can stay up, and much more.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

In the first of a series of interviews with people we think are cool who also happen to be soccer fans, I talk to Brandon West (@btwest) the president of New Kings Democrats, about grassroots organizing in Brooklyn, the county committee and Democratic Party reform, and his theories of politics. And also we talk about Liverpool's preseason and Adam Lallana at the 6!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Salacious gossip correspondent Joel Wertheimer (@wertwhile) returns and we give your our best attempt to explain all the drama around Mauro Icardi. There is so much drama. It all starts with an affair. We give you dramatic readings. There are instagram influencers, plural. A "soccer gossip" show called Tiki Taka. And then we talk about Spurs some. The Wanda Derby: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/14/maxi-lopez-sampdoria-wanda-derby-interThe tattoo: https://www.dailymail.co.u...

Goodman is back from paternity, briefly, to fill in this week for a Lost Podcast (which will be re-done soon). We talk about West Ham, Chelsea, Bayern, Dortmund and you know, a bunch of the transfers that have happened.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

With Goodman on paternity leave, Caley has been lining up guests. This week features SB Nation writer, advice columnist and man-about-Twitter Zito Madu (@_Zeets) for a conversation about the confusing (but also not actually bad yet) summer transfer windows of Arsenal and Barcelona, with a little bonus advice at the end.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) goes deep on Megan Rapinoe and the meanings and contexts of her activism, in particular her advocacy for racial justice causes as a gay white woman. Meg calls in the big guns for this pod, joined by a scholar of theology studying racial justice movements, Marjorie Corbman, who also happens to be Meg's wife. That's right y'all, it's a wifepod. Oh and also it's about the World Cup final and stuff.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSup...

We got together this weekend to talk about the US game, how Meg's wife jump-started one of the best news stories of the week, the disappointing Germans, the ehhhhhh Dutch, the sad story of France, and everything else we could jam into a pod.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

When a topic arises too important, too pressing to wait for our normal recording schedule, we bring you the emergency pod you need. Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) is in France, joined by Allison McCann (@atmccann) of the New York Times, to talk about Marta's bold lip and the topic of makeup at the World Cup. It's a good one.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Special Double Pivot World Cup host Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) lined up a great interview with USWNT legend and broadcaster Julie Foudy, and she also recaps the action from the Cup and looks forward to the US' potential lineup issues in the knockouts and against Sweden.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Double Pivot guest host Meg Linehan is joined by Steph Yang to break down the first round of games from France, from the US's impressive victory to Australia's disappointing defeat and all the games in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Over at patreon.com/doublepivot, we've got a special transferpod, going into depth on the moves Real Madrid have made, what this means for their team next season, and how this affects some key Premier League sides, especially Spurs, United and Chelsea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

The women's world cup kicks off on Friday! We have a special expert guest Meg Linehan who will be leading the podcast during the World Cup. Here, Meg walks us through the groups and gives her picks for a tournament that looks as wide open as any World Cup has been in a while. She's also got a few favorite underdogs and a few players to watch, and we've got stats! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Breaking down what to expect in a fascinating game. We come at the tactics through the lineups, how different tweaks to personnel could support different approaches by Spurs and Liverpool.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Mike and Michael get into the final day of the Serie A season -- late Sunday matches are the ones to watch -- and then for the FA Cup. But it's not a game recap, and there's not much to recap. Why has everyone gotten mad at Manchester City suddenly? What must we as fans confront when we think and talk about the sportwashing ownership model practiced by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Who was the best player for each of the Premier League clubs this season? Some teams, like Liverpool and Manchester City, have so many key players it's tough to make a call. Others, like Huddersfield and Cardiff, make this decision harder than it needs to be. The two Mikes try anyway in the first half of this mega show. The other half is over on Patreon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

We're not wasting time here on bits or "league" matches. This Double Pivot gets to the point. We go a full episode on just Spurs-Ajax. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

All across Europe last weekend, teams in Top 4 and title races (outside the top two in England and a hot little potato of an Italian club named Atalanta) fell all over themselves in pursuit of glory. Heck, some of them seemed downright apathetic. Others, like Manchester United, seem unaware of what the points are worth and how many games remain to get more of them. The two Mikes break down all the stumbling and bumbling down the stretch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

Four huge matches and they're all previewed for you in depth on the subscriber side. All our takes on Spurs-Ajax, Liverpool-Barcelona, Arsenal-Valencia and Frankfurt-Chelsea, over at patreon.com/doublepivot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

After floundering performances by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, are we sure any of them actually want to play in the Champions League next year? The two Mikes go through the recent run of results for those clubs, and also touch on Everton, Wolves, Watford and Leicester City battling for that 7th league spot. Also, did you SEE Atalanta's result last weekend?!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

There really was a lot to analyze here. It's just a little weird to reset your brain to thinking after it was blasted into a thousand tiny pieces. Juventus-Ajax and City-Spurs both offered us an array of content to analyze, from key substitutions to unusual player roles to styles of ball progression, not to mention a soupcon of VAR controversies, and we got into it.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

In their final match of the season against a Top 6 opponent, Liverpool passed a big test to remain in the title hunt. A crafty goal kept Arsenal alive away to 10-man Watford. Cardiff City kept the relegation fight going with a big win over Brighton. It may feel like the Premier League fixtures were an eternity ago, but the two Mikes take a look back with the context of the Top 4 and relegation race in the mix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Everton vs. Arsenal was wild, Deulofeu was unreal, Liverpool keeps winning despite some surprising rotation moves, Chelsea torched West Ham, and Barca buried Atletico to all but wrap up La Liga. All football club analysis is welcome in this episode of Deep Blue Something.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

The two Mikes are here to tell you why it was a good week to be a member of either the Pochettino or OGS fan clubs, why Liverpool's approach vs. Spurs was interesting (and why Spurs' plan was even more interesting and weird), and why Jadon Sancho won't be enough to fix what ails United. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

From Fulham's disastrous season to Watford's surprising top half of the table run to Andre Gomes being — pretty good! — there's plenty to reconsider from predictions and assessments made late last summer. The two Mikes hit those topics, plus David Brooks, James Maddison, Wolves, Dortmund, Alvaro Morata and the stark difference between Joe Hart and Tom Heaton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Thanks to a strict policy of never caring about international breaks that involve inconsequential matches, the two Mikes have nothing to talk about. That's where you saved the day with your questions. From Tyler Adams' meteor-like emergence in Germany to better understanding SPI, you brought the heat and the guys took their swings. (A baseball reference on a soccer podcast!)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Spurs, United, Arsenal and Chelsea are in a bit of a scrum for the final two Champions League spots, so who's best positioned, and who's playing well at the right time? The two Mikes dive in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Everybody's bottling everything! Things got weird in North London and on Merseyside over the weekend. Referee decisions played a huge factor in London with strange results, and Everton went extremely conservative to secure a stalemate with Liverpool, leading many to question whether the latter is slipping out of the title race. The two Mikes have plenty to talk about.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

City-Chelsea and Liverpool-United. Neither was, say, fun to watch, unless you're a connoisseur of injuries. At least we had drama with Kepa and Sarri. And for this pod, the fact that the games were bad requires explanation! Why didn't Liverpool and City just whup 'em? Tune in to find out.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Caley's throat was not up to two hours of podcasting this week so the only Double Pivot is on the subscription side, at patreon.com/doublepivot, where Mike and Michael give you their takes on Liverpool-Bayern and Caley wades into the stats to see what he can glean from them on games he did not watch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Chelsea's sudden stumble is on the verge of an all-out spiral, and the two Mikes are trying to figure out why it happened and the reasonable steps should it not get any better. Should Sarri be given another year and allowed to keep shaping the roster for the future? At the other end of the table, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Burnley, Newcastle, Brighton and Cardiff are fighting to stay out of the spot above Fulham and Huddersfield in the relegation battle. Who does enough to stay up?Learn mor...

Thanks to injuries, some key players have been moved around in Liverpool's formation, and it's not going great, as evidenced by draws to West Ham and Leicester. Meanwhile, City don't look like their usual steamroller selves, but it hasn't mattered. What does it all mean? And what would it take for Spurs to get a serious run in the race? The two Mikes are here for you.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Sound the conch! The top six teams in England are nearly all in some state of disarray as January turns into February, so the two Mikes assess the damage and determine what's worth sweating and what's worth dismissing — for now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

This week Mike and Michael are joined by Wall Street Journal sportswriter Jonathan Clegg, co-author of the new book, The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. It's a history of the business of the Premier League, how it was formed and negotiated, how it grew, the structural forces that shaped its growth. It's catnip for a Double Pivot conversation, and we had a lot of fun.You can follow Jonathan on twitter at @cleggjon and read more...

On this week's premium episode, available at patreon.com/doublepivot, we preview the second half of the season in the Bundesliga and Serie A. Lots of scouting the stats as we break down one title race and two top four races with a bunch of intriguing teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Harry Kane is out for a while, so are Spurs doomed? The two Mikes take a look at the stakes while Tottenham Hotspur's talisman is out. Plus, fullback apocalypse at City and Liverpool, and why it may not matter for two very different reasons. Finally, David Wagner's tenure at Huddersfield has come to a close. So, uh, was he actually good? Or sort of good? Or lucky? It's tricky.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Over at patreon.com/doublepivot you can check out the rest of our team. Which strikers were left, which ball progressors and ball winners interest us? Who's popping the goalkeeper stats? Which of these players are in the team of the season because of what they do for their team, and who's there that could be a star in another team's system?Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Most cup matches are irrelevant to the two Mikes. Nevertheless, they attempt to draw sweeping conclusions about the state of affairs with Spurs and Chelsea. Then it's on to Real Madrid, which might be pulling a Manchester United with a sudden fall from the top. Finally, you asked for it, and now you get it. They close out by picking the first few players of the season thus far — from non-top six Premier League clubs.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

Over at patreon.com/doublepivot, the Mikes are trekking to the continent with regularity! A preview of the second half of the La Liga season is on the pod, plus a mailbag with subscriber questions about Marcus Rashford, Spurs transfers, substitute effects and players outside the Champions League that could help the top clubs. And we're also doing some 10-minute game previews for double premium subscribers, that one this week is for Sevilla - Atletico. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

What a game! The Mikes had an incredible amount of fun watching City play Liverpool with the title pretty much on the line, and they take you through the game, hitting on the big moments, the tactical shifts, and what this game means for the title race. Then it's over to the big transfer news and the American Christian Pulisic going to Chelsea for over £50m. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

On the premium side this holiday week, it's Premier League analytics talk. Really out of our comfort zone.Liverpool are, like, way ahead for the title. How did that happen? We take a look at this story from a few angles -- what does it mean about projections, about variance, about tactics and injuries? We can explain Liverpool getting better, but can we explain how City got worse? And we even talk about Spurs because they're there too. who'da thunk it. Check out patreon.com/doublepivot ...

Jose Mourinho's sacking feels like the end of a story. We try to tell it correctly. How did it all go wrong at United? What was new in his failures at United that wasn't present in previous managerial stints? What is "Mourinho ball" anyway, and what have we learned about it at United? Is it outdated? Is it dependent on a certain talent baseline? And finally, where will Jose go next?Plus a little Christmas Bible History Corner.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSuppo...

We talk about the questions of race and racism in sports media that Raheem Sterling has helped surface, about why it's necessary to think critically about race simply to do soccer analysis well, and then over to the weirdness of Chelsea - Man City and why are Chelsea so good at defending sometimes... and finally the relegation scrap. A lot in here! Caley got to talk about discourse.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show

It's our North London Derby --- how bad did Spurs get wrecked --- wait are Arsenal good now --- is Unai Emery figuring it out --- make Caley sad episode but boom he's in Mexico and it's 80 degrees so who's the real loser here episode. Look for Goodman sadness on the Patreon side.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport the show