The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary with hosts Mike Goodman and Michael Caley

New Premier League Team Ratings

Caley has built a new projection and team rating model so we talk through what it tells us about the Premier League right now. Arsenal's incredible defense, Newcastle's confusing defense, Liverpool's problem defense, Palace's attack, Spurs not looking entirely terrible, Sunderland looking strong, and more. Support the show

10-23
36:54

2025 Worst Contracts Draft, Part I

We are joined by two of the Double Pivot's official correspondents -- Salacious Gossip Correspondent Joel Wertheimer and Financial Shenanigans Correspondent Skanda Amarnath -- for the second annual Premier League worst contracts draft. Support the show

10-17
39:40

Premier League Table Sorting

It's analytics podcasting time. We are table sorting and talking Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester United. Support the show

10-10
32:10

Real Madrid and Florian Wirtz

We continue to monitor teams and players that are underperforming our expectations, or, perhaps, overperforming and then suddenly dramatically underperforming our expectations in the case of Real Madrid. What went wrong in the Madrid Derby and what does it tell us about Xabi's new-look Madrid? And after Liverpool's underwhelming early season statistics finally translated into dropped points against Crystal Palace, we consider why Florian Wirtz is not producing at his previous level. Sup...

09-29
31:21

Arsenal, Manchester City, and the Discourse

Ignore the intro, it's a lie. We take up the big Arsenal - Man City match from Sunday and what it tells us about the two clubs and try to intervene in the high-spirited but somewhat misguided discourse that's arisen from the match. Support the show

09-23
37:11

Are We Concerned? Liverpool and Aston Villa

Villa and Liverpool both have underlying numbers are running well behind expectations after four games, but also their slow starts are reflected very differently in the actual table. We get into what's gone wrong so far on tactical and personnel levels, how much we expect things to bounce back, and how much the real points they've taken affect this analysis. Support the show

09-15
30:25

Nottingham Forest Drama, USMNT

Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked by one of the Premier League's more chaotic owners, we talk about that drama and the added factor that Forest hired Ange Postecoglou to replace him, a manager practically his absolute tactical opposite. Plus we talked USMNT a bit. Support the show

09-10
31:08

Transfer Window Roundup

Most of the headline business on deadline way was as expected, but we found both some unexpected transfers lower down the table to discuss. And we consider what it means that the Premier League, and especially the top of the Premier League, spent so much money this summer. Support the show

09-02
35:42

Liverpool, City, and Early Thoughts on the Evolution of Premier League Tactics

Liverpool struggled badly against Newcastle while City lost to Spurs, and both matches captured the current tactical meta in different ways. We walk through the history of where the extreme control tactics of contemporary football came from and how clubs are now responding to control with different versions of chaos, pressing, athleticism and directness. Looking back on Pep, Jose, Klopp, Tuchel and how their ideas shaped the game and what might come next. Support the show

08-26
35:23

A Very Strange Arsenal Match (with James Benge)

Arsenal got the three points, but their close-fought 1-0 victory over Manchester United felt strange to watch and was a major statistical outlier in a number of ways. We are joined by CBS Sports' James Benge to discuss what he saw from Arsenal in their opening match and what it might mean for the season. Follow James online: https://bsky.app/profile/jamesbenge.bsky.social And read his article on the match: https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/arsenal-were-faster-than-ever-in-win-at-mancheste...

08-19
33:13

2025 Premier League Preview, Part I

It's that time again! We go through all 20 Premier League teams, draft our favorites, and talk about why we picked them. Part II of course available at http://patreon.com/doublepivot Support the show

08-12
43:25

Is It Possible to Get Promoted to the Premier League and Stay Up?

We talk about strategies for staying in the Premier League as a promoted side, how much harder it's gotten, what approaches are being employed by Leeds, Sunderland and Burnley, and why we think this season one of them breaks the streak. Support the show

08-05
31:46

Luis Diaz or Rodrygo?

Who do you got? Support the show

07-30
31:46

2025 Euros with Sophie Lawson

We are joined by Sophie Lawson to discuss the Women's Euros, which were heading into their semifinals as we were recording. How Spain have established themselves as the best in Europe, why Germany have made the semis but still disappointed so far, how England have shown fight but not yet the quality of ball that they need, and how Italy are just Italy-ing super hard. Follow Sophie on the various social media sites @lawsonsv including: https://bsky.app/profile/lawsonsv.bsky.social Suppor...

07-22
42:51

Double Pivot Summer Teaser

Talking about all the agreeable soccer analytics you can listen to if you join at https://www.patreon.com/c/doublepivot And if you do, here's how to join the Discord https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-Getting-Discord-access Support the show

07-20
03:10

Morgan Gibbs-White to Tottenham

The deal is still held up in contractual, semi-legal limbo, but we talk about Gibbs-White and analyzing players based on per-90 and per-touch metrics, and whether this is a risk worth taking for Tottenham. Support the show

07-18
26:45

Tillman, USMNT, Williams, Barca

Summer means transfer talk but also maybe a teensy bit of international football. We discuss Malik Tillman to Bayer Leverkusen as well as Malik Tillman within the context of the USMNT. And we talk about Nico Williams to Barcelona, why it hasn't gone through yet, and what the plan is for him at Barca. Support the show

07-03
40:28

Chelsea Summer, Business

Chelsea has not yet completed most of the many transactions they're reported to be working on, but certainly it looks like another summer for churn. And our question is, why. Support the show

06-25
29:46

Private Equity and Football (Soccer?) with George Pearkes

With Crystal Palace in danger of missing out on Europe due to their ownership situation, and Chelsea being, you know, the way that they are, we felt it was time to talk to an actual expert about what private equity is and what is new about private equity ownership in sports. So we asked George Pearkes, all-around finance knower on social media and professionally Global Macro Strategist for Bespoke Investment Group, to talk to us about it. George is also the co-host of the Normal Men podcast: ...

06-16
58:23

Thomas Frank

Tottenham are hiring Brentford's manager to replace Ange Postecoglou. Frank has been adaptable in his career with a few consistent tendencies, and we've got some takes. Support the show

06-10
19:51

Stefan Turk

honestly the best soccer podcast out there if you care about why teams really win and lose.

07-12 Reply

Paul Kennedy

Man U have conceded the 3rd fewest goals in the league and fewer than their expected rate. Defense isn't the problem. Your thesis was absurd.

12-29 Reply

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