Problematic satire about you and I, in a manner of speaking (2,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
as it were
'in a manner of speaking' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'problematic satire about you and i' is the wordplay.
'problematic' indicates an anagram.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'you and i' becomes 'we'.
'satire' anagrammed gives 'asitre'.
'asitre' placed around 'we' is 'AS IT WERE'.
(Other definitions for as it were that I've seen before include "As if it was actually so" , "you may say" , "you might say" , "Just like if really so" , "In a manner of speaking" .)