The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary
Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary with hosts Mike Goodman and Michael Caley
Episodes
551 episodes
Emergency Pod: Manchester City and the 114 out of 115 charges
It is reported that the Premier League's indepedent panel has ruled that Manchester City committed 114 breaches of league rules. The Double Pivot has been covering this story for nearly a decade and we do not plan to stop. We explain under what...
Does the PL midtable start at third place?
We have tables to sort and Caley has a toy model and some thoughts on regression. It is time to talk about City and Arsenal at the top of the table, why they're the best teams in the league but what concerns the early numbers reveal, and then.....
Is the Meat Wall Cooked? and other early season observations
We take a look at the early season data on set pieces and whether things feel different because they are different, or whether set pieces are still due for a big comeback. And then it's on to Arsenal: are they just the same? Liverpool, United a...
The Champions League Top 10
We talk briefly about some of the very best teams in the world and why Barcelona and Real Madrid are currently rated about equally with Arsenal, PSG and Bayern Munich, why City look one step back, and then we work through the more complicated q...
Transfer Roundup Part I: City's Midfield Rebuild, Bruno at Arsenal
Manchester City spent an enormous amount of money on three midfielders. We have already sufficiently raved about Elliot Anderson, but we are nonplussed about Enzo Fernandez, an excellent player whose usage has been notably odd over time and who...
Xabi Alonso's Chelsea Might Be Crazy
Two exceptionally strange opening matches for Chelsea, two back and forth high scoring matches where Chelsea mostly conceded possession with a lead, but both deserved wins, and both featuring a new thing under the sun in a "box and one" buildup...
Premier League Week One: Spreadsheets vs Eye Test
Caley didn't watch the games because he was off the grid. Goodman managed to watch despite being in the middle of a move. But as befits the whole deal of this podcast, it isn't so much about how these two methods disagree as piecing together th...
Premier League Season Preview Draft: Part I
The Double Pivot Premier League season preview draft is back. We draft our top ten. All the big teams are here. Caley cheated and built a toy model and it has some unexpected picks. We discuss why few of these teams have overwhelmed us this sum...
Premier League Dominance? Private Equity In Europe? The Uncertain New Football Economy
Why have so many of the top signings this summer been within the Premier League? Why does the Premier League keep winning the Europa and Conference Leagues? The reason is simply that the Premier League has more money and the reason for that is ...
Infantin-Out? The FIFA private equity scandal and what comes next
Huge FIFA news post World Cup as Gianni Infantino attempted to sell off shares in the World Cup in a very dubious deal, saw it collapse amid stern resistance from UEFA, and is suddenly facing a potential vote of no confidence. Is it possible re...
Yan Diomande and Real Madrid, and Why the Transfer Market Seems Clogged
All the big attacking signings are delayed, and we have a charming metaphor to describe it. What would it mean if Real Madrid finalize the Yan Diomande signing, where will he fit in their system, who will he displace, and will this finally get ...
World Cup Final Thoughts, or Spain: Pretty Good Team
One more proper World Cup podcast before it's gone. We break down how Spain dominated this match front to the back, the seven minutes where they didn't and how that brief run by Argentina explains what happened in the rest of the match, how oft...
World Cup Semifinals: How Spain Won It, Did England Blow It?
The World Cup semifinals are complete and it's PADDLIN' 2, Our lyin' eyes 0. How Spain controlled the match tactically (and got a little lucky with a penalty), how if at all this makes us reconsider this France side, and then on to Argentina-En...
World Cup Semifinals Preview: France-Spain
The two best teams at this World Cup -- certainly the two teams that have played the best soccer at this World Cup -- square off. We're worried it's going to be pretty bad.
The USMNT have a bad night in Seattle
The United States came up short in the round of 16, in the sense that they got boatraced by Belgium. We discuss the game, offer Rudi Garcia an apology, talk about what to say about a thoroughly bad game, and discuss the state of the USMNT talen...
Round of 16 Preview, Part 3: Spain-Portugal and USA-Belgium
The Round of 16 preview extravaganza continues with the big matches on July 6. How Portugal's tactical system continues to try and fail to work around Ronaldo's limitations, what we want to see from Spain in this match, the importance of the Sp...
Bracket Breakdown
The dynamics of the entire bracket, from Argentina's cakewalk to the interesting but different tests for Brazil and England, to Spain's good path and their fitness and tactical issues, a little model breakdown on Colombia, why the draw for Afri...
Limited World Cup Drama, Raphinha Out, Tuchelball, and More
The World Cup continues and so we did more podcasting about it.
World Cup Potpourri: FIFA Victorious, The Ronaldo Problem, Spuruguay and More
There's so much football and we are not happy about recognizing FIFA for it. But we've got what's wrong with Portugal (mostly Ronaldo), what's gone right for Ivory Coast (both players and coaching), Caley explains "Spuruguay," and we try to fig...
In Which We Rave About England
England won 4-2 over Croatia, dominated the xG, and generally looked like a real football team and a real World Cup contender. We have some slightly different takes on the first half, we get into questions about the PADDLIN' model and England, ...
How to Watch Soccer Like a Nerd
Mike has written a World Cup 2026 update to his classic Grantland piece about how to watch soccer. We discuss expected goals and how to use statistics well and poorly, we talk tactics and "flex back threes" and "five guys" and "rest defense" an...
USMNT 4, Paraguay 1
A big win for the United States Men's National Team (USMNT, pronounced us-mnt) that validated belief in Mauricio Pochettino and the system he built for these players. We get into why the xG isn't quite as impressive as one might expect, the dis...
Champions League Final, World Cup Model, Podcast Announcements
There is so much to get to this week, and this will be the first of many podcasts. We cover the Champions League final and why we did not have much of a problem with Arsenal's defensive approach, our plans for building a World Cup model and som...