The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

Soccer! Sort of!Michael interviews Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan), a reporter from The Athletic who has been covering all the drama with US Soccer, for a recap and analysis of everything that's gone down in the last month with the equal pay lawsuit filed by the US Women's National Team. There's a lot to cover, and it's about soccer, mostly.Support the show

The two Mikes are parents at home with young children in their respective cities, and in today's podcast, they recount their struggles during isolation. Also, they watched some bad comedies and have thoughts. It's a free podcast and you're bored anyway. Enjoy!Support the show

We're back and the Premier League has now shut down, and it raises more specifically the question of what sports will be while we're shut down, so we talked about it on this podcast, too.Support the show

What's this pod going to be during the pandemic? We have a plan! We will be doing shorter podcasts, several per week, on various topics. This week becuase things are nuts, we have a pair of podcasts directly on the news and soccer and coronavirus.We have a little soccer to talk about (Atletico did a soccer) but we're as overwhelmed with the pandemic as anyone and the question of what sports will be, so we talked about on this podcast.Support the show

The COVID-19 not-yet-a-pandemic is already disrupting the Italian football season, and if the projections from epidemiologists are to be trusted, it won't be for just a few weeks and it certainly won't be just Italy. We dig into the newest example of how sports themselves don't stick to sports.Then we talk about relegation, honestly, pretty much as if there will be a normal Premier League season. It's hard to keep your brain in pandemic mode.Support the show

Manchester City have been banned from the Champions League for the next two seasons, and fined $30 million for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. City are appealing to the CAS. The Two Mikes explain what the hell CAS is and also sort through the rest of the mess to clear it all up for you. Der Spiegel article on Football Leaks: https://www.spiegel.de/international/manchester-city-exposed-bending-the-rules-to-the-tune-of-millions-a-1236346.htmlTariq Panja on UEFA and PSG: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/sports/psg-uefa-ffp.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=ArticleSupport the show

The knockout stages of the Champions League are upon us, so the Two Mikes break down each matchup. In this episode, they talk Atleti-Liverpool, Dortmund-PSG, Atalanta-Valencia and Leipzig-Spurs. Support the show

The two Mikes race through the latest results in England (and what we've learned of late about the clubs in the thick of the most noteworthy results) before turning their attention to more of your questions. Support the show

We start with one of our "Mousa Dembele" pods where we scout a player using the stats. Here it's United's new signing Bruno Fernandes, an elite creator who may or may not be a possession sieve, and what to expect from him and why we're excited to watch him in a top league.Then we take listener questions about what "ball progression" means and why different measurements are proliferating, about the ongoing transformation of the fullback position and its knock-on effects on football tactics, on what sorts of attackers United needs to target beyond Bruno, and more.Support the show

These were not two slates of matches that reward analysis. Chelsea-Arsenal and Everton-Newcastle actively defy any attempt to analyze them. But we find our way through, taking stock of the extent of Chelsea's decline, Wolves' rise, and whether there are any new takes we can wring out of Spurs and United anymore.Support the show