The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Latest Episodes:

Arsenal, Manchester City, and the Discourse Sep 23, 2025

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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.

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Are We Concerned? Liverpool and Aston Villa Sep 15, 2025

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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.

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Nottingham Forest Drama, USMNT Sep 10, 2025

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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.

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Transfer Window Roundup Sep 02, 2025

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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.

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Liverpool, City, and Early Thoughts on the Evolution of Premier League Tactics Aug 26, 2025

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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.

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A Very Strange Arsenal Match (with James Benge) Aug 19, 2025

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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-manchester-united-but-is-new-style-here-to-stay-or-circumstantial/

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2025 Premier League Preview, Part I Aug 12, 2025

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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

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Is It Possible to Get Promoted to the Premier League and Stay Up? Aug 05, 2025

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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.

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Luis Diaz or Rodrygo? Jul 30, 2025

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Who do you got?

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2025 Euros with Sophie Lawson Jul 22, 2025

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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

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