The football: We apply the 'Peter Parker Principle' to football statistics, asking if the growing power of data should be wielded in a more responsible way. Can a player's performance be measured by anything other than measurable metrics, and if not, how can there still be room for artistry, and other more intangible, non-data-driven elements of the game? The food: We are asking for your suggestions of local food banks that you'd like us to mention, as while we're unable to eat together, some ar...
Feb 10, 2021•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why are some teams defined by the success or otherwise of the man who leads them, and why is the story of others told through the prism of their players? Whose fault is it when things go wrong? Who is the chief architect of their triumphs? We discuss if there are managers' teams, and players' teams, and what it says about them. The food: After an email last week that wondered whether you might like to donate food to those more in need than the four of us during lockdown, a listener...
Feb 03, 2021•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Following FIFA's threat to bar from their tournaments all those involved in a potential breakaway European Super League, we imagine those 15 clubs have called FIFA's bluff, and envision a World Cup without their players. Rory's done all the research into who would be left, how that effects their national squad, and together we all try to pronounce their names correctly. The food: Hugh's assertion that the best chicken samosas ever come from a local deli is confirmed by someone with...
Jan 27, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Now that it's been more than seven months, and an end is not immediately in sight, have we become so accustomed to behind closed doors football that we're not noticing the potential pitfalls anymore? As we enter the second half of the season, when stakes are raised and competitions are decided, will we start to realise the relationship has become a little more comfortable than we'd like, particularly as we're about to experience those seasonal denouements without fans for a second ...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: We often describe managers or teams as pragmatic, but has football distorted the meaning of the word? Is it actually the case that those labelled as idealists are arch pragmatists, and that we need to find a new way of describing those who subscribe to a different philosophy? The food: For the first time the pod recording takes place during the evening, and both Andy and Rory are having dumplings. Make of that what you will... All emails to setpiecemenu@gmail.com and also don't for...
Jan 13, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Whether it's because of Marcelo Bielsa's philosophy or the official club twitter account, it seems everyone is talking about Leeds. We ask why, and answer that question by, inevitably, talking about Leeds. The food: The pandemic has denied Hugh his normal Christmas cake, traditionally baked for him by his aunt. So into that void steps Steven's partner Katie, who appears to have nailed it first time. Email: setpiecemenu@gmail.com Twitter and Facebook: Search setpiecemenu
Jan 06, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The second part of our festive offering about nostalgia. After the discussion last week about players, we wonder if nostalgia actually most affects the intangible: the feelings, the pictures in our minds, and the incorrectly-sized shorts. The food: Chinch has been banned from eating crisps in public by his wife, who instead insists he hides away in the bathroom. Apparently the level of crunch is directly proportional to the size of one's jaw, which immediately helps you to understa...
Dec 30, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Over the Christmas period we're bringing you a two-parter on nostalgia; how it effects the way we think about football right now, and whether it's a legitimate foundation for our memories of the game in years gone by. On this week's part one, we talk specifically about players, and if nostalgia leads us to always undervalue the current generation of footballers. The food: Rory is complaining about how much he'll be required to eat at Christmas, because his wife Kate has decided on ...
Dec 23, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: After two promotions and glowing notices for his overlapping centre backs, Chris Wilder and Sheffield United are struggling. Has the magic potion he created for his team run out, and if so, how do you replace it? Features an over-extended metaphor about Asterix, and the secrets behind how a modern player avoids giving mixed zone interviews. The food: Rory has found a new local coffee shop that suits his elevated tastes, and he wants to give them some publicity, even though their us...
Dec 16, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why do some pundits wear their allegiances on their sleeve, and has the success of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher changed the age-old convention of impartiality? Tradition has also tended to dictate that journalists keep who they support private as well, but are the exceptions starting to outweigh the rule, and why does it matter to fans anyway? The food: Pie, of the humble variety. Tenuous we know, but Chinch needs a slice of it after trampling over Rory's attempts to showcase h...
Dec 09, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The passing of Diego Maradona prompted a discussion about both his genius and his flaws. But was he the former because of the latter, and would he have been the same without both? And was he a product unique to the time, or can that conflict still be found in modern footballers? The food: Mince Pies. Because it's December. And because everyone knows you shouldn't do ANYTHING Christmas-related before the calendar turns to December. Email: setpiecmenu@gmail.com Follow us on twitter, ...
Dec 02, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: A listener describes his own support of the team he loves as a 'diagnosable masochistic disorder', prompting a question about why fans continue to follow their club if there's no significant prospect of success. He calls his team 's**t', but then he's allowed to. We couldn't possibly comment. Although we do. At length. And with A LOT of bleeps. The food: Chinch is asked if he visited the chippy outside Turf Moor on his way to a recent Burnley game, so we thought we'd start a new fe...
Nov 25, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: What are the crucial criteria that must be met for a game to be considered 'good'? The assumption is that the simple answer is goals; but both high-scoring affairs of little consequence, coupled with the old Italian footballing adage that a nil-nil is the perfect result, suggests there's more of a conversation to be had. Any excuse... The food: Firstly Chinch and Hugh have a homemade cookie-off, and then our former England international behaves completely inappropriately with a mer...
Nov 18, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Following our conversation about sport in general and its relationship with the mainstream, we eventually get around to what last week's episode was originally supposed to be. What happens to a footballer once they enter the mainstream? How are they perceived differently, and how does that e affect the expectations of them on the pitch? The food: Chinch is wolfing down crumpets with cheese. Why? He has a deadline. Why? The reasons are best left unsaid, which is why Chinch outlines ...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: We've had so many intra-episode tangents over the years, why not make a whole episode out of one? An intended conversation about footballers in the mainstream got so sidetracked by Hugh's setup (rant) about sport as a whole and its relationship with the mainstream that we decided to just stick with it. We'll go back to the original plan next week, which we will make appear like a completely planned Part Two... Also, please stick around for the Soccer Story. It's an important one. T...
Nov 04, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Whether it's foresight and proactivity from a position of stability and strength, or alternatively you're in a mess like the current Barcelona, teams need a regular rebuild. We discuss what makes a successful rebuild, how often you need to be planning for one, and whether they're even possible if you don't have money, or a manager with a significant power base. The food: Maltesers, suspended roughly half a centimetre above Rory's mouth. Because, like, he's 12. Please send your emai...
Oct 28, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Can football die? And if so, would football be the reason why? With big clubs attempting to pull the game in one direction, and fans appearing to be resistant to any change whatsoever, is football heading for a potential existential crisis, one that could stretch the relationship between those two sides of the debate to breaking point? Framed in the context of Project Big Picture, pay-per-view Premier League matches, and a potential European Super League, we discuss if football's f...
Oct 21, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: For a long time, and in the last six months more than once, we've been talking on SPM about how football's structure might have to change, particularly in the context of how its flimsy foundations have been exposed by Covid 19. Well, as it turns out, others have also been discussing potentially seismic changes to the traditions of English football. We consider whether Project Big Picture is devised with the spirit of opportunity in mind, or if it's blatant opportunism, with the arc...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: How effective are the words managers use to both his players, and the media? Is the modern team talk more about tactics than broken tea cups, and is the audience for his media appearances not actually the media? Plus: We couldn't let the events of the past weekend go unmentioned, so there's more WTF-ery and handball nonsense to consider as well! The food: Having waved goodbye to daughter and granddaughter, who have moved out of the family home, Andy's wife Nicky immediately cooks t...
Oct 07, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Can anyone please tell us what the **** is going on in the Premier League? Three rounds of fixtures, and a plethora of goals, mistakes and handballs. Oh, the handballs! We, as ever, attempt to answer our own question, while making sure Steven has enough time to rant about the handballs. The food: Hugh is particularly pleased with himself as he's eaten a vegan burger for the first time. Just one of the many cool things from three years ago he's only now catching up on. Don't forget ...
Sep 30, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The second part of our conversation about early season knee-jerk reactions asks if players are immune to them, or whether in the social media age they're more aware of those premature judgements. Are they capable of inoculating themselves, or can the sanctity of their bubble become compromised by all the talk going on outside the club? And if they do hear it, how do they react? The food: Hugh is very proud of his Dutch Spiced Apple Cake, which he has purchased from his local garden...
Sep 23, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why are we so obsessed with coming to such early, sweeping conclusions each and every season? It would appear these knee-jerk reactions are ever-present, and they are opinions that are becoming more and more staunchly held, regardless of how often they are completely disproved. The food: Rory has moved house, and christened his new abode with his mum's lasagna, which he insists is the best around. Chinch disagrees, leading to the proposal of a lasagna-off, probably the first in his...
Sep 16, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Is the pyramid that has so long been the structure of English football still secure? The new season is about to start with the prospect of lower league clubs playing without fans, something that was considered financially unviable just a few weeks ago, and if some of the bricks at the bottom of the pyramid start to crumble, that would dictate the whole building is under threat. But does the Premier League's relative strength even in the face of a pandemic suggest it doesn't need th...
Sep 09, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: As plans were being made for the post-lockdown return of football, many the apocalyptic prediction was made about how the game would suffer without fans being allowed to attend the matches, but have we, the players, and broadcasters come to terms with behind closed doors quicker than we expected, and has that led to us learning something surprising about all three? The food: Chinch parades an avocado, banana and lime loaf baked by his step-daughter. It leads to him being very confu...
Sep 02, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: This year's Champions League last eight tournament had everything we'd expect of the final stages of club football's elite competition, apart from ties played over two legs. If it worked so handsomely, why is it so unlikely to happen again? Rory decides to answer this question by comparing European football to an electric car. The food: Steven has "eaten out to help out" by returning to the Didsbury Deli for coffee and bacon butties. By doing this when everyone else is on zoom, it ...
Aug 26, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: After three (chaotic, mistake-ridden and VAR-affected) exits in three Champions League quarter finals in a row, we try and work out why the best manager of a generation can't get it done in Europe. Is the narrative about Pep Guardiola 'overthinking' things true? Why are Manchester City's knockout games chaotic, mistake-ridden and VAR-affected? And why does Guardiola make significant tactical changes before each one? It's time... for a Pep talk. The food: Rory lovingly describes his...
Aug 19, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: After Juventus took a punt on Andrea Pirlo, a man of legendary status and undoubted elite playing career, to take on their manager's job having had no experience, we consider how rare it is that a world class player becomes a world class manager. Having realised that, as a result, coming up with a (trademarked) SPM Select XI would be a fairly easy task, we do exactly that. The food: Chinch has broken free of his Cheshire shackles to return to Portugal for the first time since the p...
Aug 12, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Covid-19 forced football to think differently about the way football is played, run and financed, but will the game learn any of those lessons? Can the only legacy of the lockdown and restart really be five substitutes? We discuss the things that should stay, should go, and should have been given more consideration. The food: Freshly returned from a trip to Bergamo, Rory reveals the tale of two lunches from his final day in Italy. The second, the one he was eventually culturally sa...
Aug 05, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Many traditions have been delayed in this unique Premier League season, but this is the one you've all been waiting for the most. The 3rd Annual Hot Takes and Takeaways episode brings together our typically jumbled but hopefully consistent (ie: repetitive) thoughts about the last 11 and a half months of Premier League football. And yes, we mention VAR. The food: Steven is on holiday in Devon, and so regales us about the glamorous first breakfast of his summer break. Upsettingly, it...
Jul 29, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why the sudden obsession with records, and attempts to devalue achievements if milestones aren't simultaneously broken? Has modern football discourse become overwhelmed with the idea (to quote coach Coach Reilly in Mighty Ducks) that "it's not worth winning if you can't win big"? The phenomenon we're calling GOATism (TM Rory Smith) applies to teams and players, especially emerging talent, which finds itself burdened with comparisons to icons before their careers have had a chance t...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
