This was supposed to be Pep Guardiola's coronation. A dominant display in the league was going to be capped with Champions League glory, all he had to do was get past a Chelsea squad, fresh after looking like also rans against Aston Villa. Pat, TV pundits and oddsmakers were more concerned with how many goals City would ring up but Pep decided to make it interesting. He left Fenandinho and Rodri off the pitch in an attempt at running Chelsea out of the building and it led to an extremely open first half. But the goals didn't come, until the Blues struck.

And with that goal, Thomas Tuchel, who had already earned credibility based on the club's second half turnaround, earned a contract extension while exorcising last year's demons. We discuss what this Champions League win means for the future of both clubs and try to predict what panic buy City makes to improve a squad with no visible holes.

While taking in the festive atmosphere of watching Europe push towards "normalcy", the guys noticed a jarring new fashion accessory among British hooligans and its not mini bats, chains or flares. With Euros around the corner, will the purse replace the windbreaker or pocket knife as the primary accessory for angry men who need human contact so much that a punch in the face will suffice? Only time will tell.

All that and we give the USMNT some love after their exciting win against Mexico on this installment of The Set Piece

Pat, Mario and Devon had to assemble to give their take on the Billionaire Soft Coup that was last week's Super League announcement and the subsequent spineless about face within 48 hours. The boys provide a day by day breakdown of the news, protests and cheeky social media posts on a week rife with heroes, villains and everything in between.

Tottenham, continued their banner week by sneakily parting ways with Jose Mourinho in the midst of trying to sexually assault the sanctity of football, days before the Spurs' only chance at silverware. This leaves Tottenham with an unknown future on the horizon, will this be the summer of the rebuild? The guys also check in with the bookies on Jose's next landing spot.

All that and the crowning of the first Dickhead of the Match winner on an extremely nationalistic edition of The Set Piece

For most millennial football fans, Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi are synonymous with the Champions League. For a decade plus, it felt like one was lifting the trophy in the final while the other was snatching the souls of world class athletes at the highest stage. But as the round of 16 came to a close, they were on the outside looking in with Juventus losing on away goals and Barcelona looking like a shell of their former self. With both clubs at a crossroads, Pat, Mario and Devon speculate how they get back to the pinnacle of the sport and if they need to shed their once in a generation talent to do so.

The boys also discuss the marquee matchups from the Champions and Europa League draw, the fallout from the heated Rangers v. Slavia Prague match as well as the factors that have made this year’s Europa League more exciting than usual.

They also check in on what David Beckham is up to in Miami, provide an update on the Colleen Rooney WAG drama and discuss Memphis Depay’s latest musical exploit. All that plus the return of Sassy Mourinho on The Set Piece

Pat, Mario and Devon were provided a homework assignment. To look back on the shit year that was 2020 and find one Soccer story that made them say "What the Fuck?". Shock and awe is hard to come by these days, now that we live in a world where you can successfully convince an adult that you can buy a child off Wayfair using rudimentary knowledge of Photoshop. Or that a person will decline a vaccine fearful of surveillance but won't leave home without their cellphone in their pocket, trigger finger on the Facebook live button. The soccer landscape has also changed dramatically as International tournaments were postponed, live fans were replaced with cardboard cutouts and elbow bumps replaced post game handshakes. But the one story that united the boys in audible what the fucks is a tale as old as time...Man buys sex. Kyle Walker breaking his pandemic quarantine to have an escort sex party is a reminder that even when faced with a global catastrophe, footballers will stay the same.

The 2020-21 Premier League season has been just as odd as the year, with no clear number one team and surprise upsets every week, Pat and the boys discuss if parity in the Prem is the norm moving forward. They also pour out a half gallon of ale for Super Frank Lampard, recently sacked by Chelsea and predict the future for his replacement, Thomas Tuchel.

Big Sam returns to the Prem, the crew elect Europe's toughest players with a notable face in goal and more on The Set Piece.

Let’s be honest, 2020 has been a dumpster fire on top of a shitshow. It’s revealed that uniting against a common enemy for the greater good is an adage that no longer applies to large swaths of the country. Unless that enemy is racial equality, democracy, police accountability or science. But at least we have sports, sure we’ll pump some canned audio to help you forget fans aren’t allowed because 3,000 people died today. Let’s forget about Keyontae Johnson collapsing on the floor or Journey Brown being forced to retire due to myocarditis because we need March Madness and Ohio State v. Michigan. Or the fact that you have to forgo a rapid COVID test because Matt Stafford and his family are using them all.

On November 25th, a cherry shaped meteor crashed to top this dumpster fire of a year as the football world lost a real one. Diego Maradona, passed at 60 due to a heart attack in his condo while recovering from brain surgery. Pat, Mario and Devon do their best to explain why this diminutive man had such a gargantuan effect on the soccer world, take a trip down memory lane and add even more respect to the moments that made him legend. Good bad or otherwise.

You can expect all that and a little fan racism with a splash of John Madden on this installment of The Set Piece.

Mesut Özil once had the world in the palm of his hand. He was a World Cup winner and the talisman for Arsene Wenger’s dynamic but underachieving Arsenal squad, making 350,000 a week with a skillset expected to age well. Now, two years later, he's been exiled after the club spent months trying to offload him. The guys discuss his quick fall from the pinnacle of the sport and if he has a shot at coming close to the level he was before.

Since joining Liverpool in a January transfer, Virgil Van Dijk solidified his status as a world class defender and was an integral part in the Reds outrageous run of wins and trophies the past couple years. But after leaving the Merseyside Derby early due to an extremely bad challenge from Jordan Pickford, Liverpool fans spent the remaining 70 minutes of the match holding their breath and when he left the stadium in crutches it was hard not expect the worst. The announcement that Van Dijk suffered ACL damage and would be out for the foreseeable future was a gut punch no one was prepared for. Pat, Mario and Devon discuss the fallout and what this means for a team who's success depends on the familial like chemistry and bro hugs.

We also discuss the scores from the first week of the Champions League and how CBS is broadcasting one of the greatest competitions in the world. A progress report on Gonzalo Higuain's MLS journey, Pele turns 80, Covid mucks up the Milan derby and more on The Set Piece.

As we sit in Europe's first international break and watch players jetset all over the world without the 14 day quarantine, the Premier League table looks a little different. New look Everton and their dynamic front three sit atop while the Manchester clubs both sit in the bottom half while they sort themselves out. Match day 4 was the week of the ass kicking where multiple teams had video game scorelines put up on them. The defending champs were not immune from a beating as they suffered a 7-2 drubbing from Aston Villa, a club that just survived relegation a few weeks prior. Manchester United welcomed back former manager, Jose Mourinho, who's Tottenham Hotspurs have definitely been paying attention in his Dark Arts class. 45 minutes and a Lamela bitch move later, Ole and his boys were heading into the dressing room losing 4-1 and a man down. The boys break down the two losses and discuss whether they were just a bad day at the office or signs of trouble ahead.

The fall transfer window has come to a close but it wasn't without some last day excitement. Pat, Mario and Devon cover all the notable moves from a period that saw the Premier League spend a billion dollars during a pandemic.

The USMNT celebrate a Barcelona milestone, an Israeli club finds out why you don't taunt Harry Kane, Cocaine D takes PPE to infinity and beyond and more on The Set Piece

In France, domestic club football has returned after a long vacation due to the pandemic but Paris St. Germain, fresh off falling short of Champions League glory, are hungover. Maybe they didn't have enough time off, they are still nursing their wounds or still recovering from a wave of Covid infections but they are not lighting the league on fire at the moment. Which makes this a perfect time for Le Classique, a fiery rivalry between Marseille, a club that lacks the talent to match PSG on the pitch but make up for it with an abundance of assholery. The game lacked goals but made up for it with the best scrape you'll see in any of the major European leagues. 5 Red Cards, spit and a racism claim later, Neymar was suspended for two games and Marseille got all 3 points at the Parc des Princes for the first time in nine years.

The Premier League is also underway and Jose Mourinho's resting bitch face is already in peak form. He seems underwhelmed despite the investment in new talent and could already be losing the locker room. The guys take a look at the Maturing Bros and try to predict when the inevitable implosion begins. They also look at the rest of the league after the first few matches and determine which clubs are forreal at the top half of the table.

Gareth Bale, fresh off of an excellent year of golfing and hair maintenance in Madrid has returned to the Premier League. Back to Tottenham on a season long loan, the club where he became a superstar not so long ago. The Spurs hope that this move propels them back to the top of the league while Bale gets to put the drama with him and Real Madrid behind and get back to balling. With his return from injury in the coming days we'll all find out if this was genius move by the Spurs brass or if this is the beginning of the end for Bale and Jose.

Elsewhere, Covid 19 is still undefeated as it claims the USMNT friendlies and the Ginger Zombie. Luis Suarez proves he's the ultimate scumbag by trying to cheat on the Italian citizenship test, Neymar spurns Nike for Puma and Mario finds an early favorite for Golazo of the year, on The Set Piece.