Matchweek 8: Cool, calm & collected

Introduction  

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.

Rich: Hi there. I’m Rich. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: We want you to use and practise these phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Rich: If you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

Jack: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: Let’s start our round-up of Matchweek eight with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: City bitten by Wolves.

Rich: The Premier League Champions were beaten 2-0 at home by a determined Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolves defended brilliantly and had more bite in attack as two goals in the final 10 minutes by Adama Traore meant City lost at home for only the fourth time under Pep Guardiola.

Jack: Liverpool make it eight out of eight.

Rich: Liverpool beat Leicester 2-1 at Anfield to make it eight wins out of eight in the Premier League and go eight points clear in the Premier League table. It was a hard-fought win and the Reds needed a 95th-minute penalty to win the game. James Milner was cool, calm and collected from the spot.

Jack: Brothers give Newcastle a lift.

Rich: Newcastle United jumped out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win against Manchester United. The winner came from Matty Longstaff who was making his debut for Newcastle alongside his brother in the Newcastle midfield.

Jack: That’s something kids dream about, isn’t it? Making your debut against Manchester United and scoring the winner!

Rich: And with your older brother in the same team. It‘s a great story.

Vocabulary alert!

Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in the headlines.

Jack: We have some interesting phrases this week. Our six phrases are: to have some bite in attack, to work under someone, to go clear, to be cool, calm and collected, the relegation zone and to make your debut.

Rich: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the Manchester City - Wolves match. Unsurprisingly, we’ve used a word that we can connect with Wolves, (the animals) - biting.

Jack: We said that Wolves (the team) had more bite in attack. If something has a lot of bite it means it has a powerful effect.

Rich: So, to have bite in attack means Wolves’ attack was very effective.

Jack: The next phrase or word is ‘under’ and it’s one that we hear a lot when we talk about managers. In the headlines, we said City lost for only the fourth time under Pep Guardiola. 

Rich: Pep Guardiola is the manager at Manchester City and the players work at a lower level than him - they work under him. We also use the phrase to say a manager has control of an entire club. Manchester City have only lost four times at home while under the control of Pep Guardiola.

Jack: Let’s talk about the Liverpool-Leicester match. We said that Liverpool have gone eight points clear at the top of the table.

Rich: To go clear is a phrase we use to say that a gap has been created between one team and another or others.

Jack: Liverpool have gone clear at the top thanks to James Milner’s injury-time penalty. We described him as being cool, calm and collected.

Rich: This is an idiom we use to describe someone who can keep calm in a stressful situation.

Jack: Let’s talk about the Newcastle United-Manchester United match. We said that Newcastle jumped out of the relegation zone.

Rich: The relegation zone is the bottom three places in the Premier League table. If you finish in the relegation zone you get relegated to the Championship.

Jack: Matty Longstaff made his debut for Newcastle in this match and scored the winning goal.

Rich: To make your debut means to play for a club for the first time.

Jack: And he couldn’t have made a better debut!

Jack: OK, so there are our six words and phrases. Listen to this part of the podcast again if you are not sure how to use them.

Rich: The words and phrases are:  to have some bite in attack, to work under someone, to go clear, to be cool, calm and collected, the relegation zone and to make your debut.

Football Awards

Jack: Right, every week, we give out three Matchweek awards. 

Rich: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.

Jack: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices.

Rich: Let’s start with Player of the Week. Wolves’ Willy Boly was brilliant in defence and Adama Traore got both goals against Manchester City. 

Jack: Aaron Conolly got two goals for Brighton against Spurs, too but we’re going to go for the teenager who made his Premier League debut at the weekend: Matty Longstaff.

Rich: Team of the week is a difficult one. Brighton beat Spurs 3-0, Newcastle beat Manchester United and there were big away wins for Chelsea and Aston Villa.

Jack: But we’re going to go for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A tremendous win at the Premier League Champions.

Rich:  Finally, our Goal of the Week. We’re going to leave this one to you. We’re going to give you three options and you need to tell us which you think was best. Rich.

Jack: Goal number one: Matty Longstaff for Newcastle united against Manchester United. A fine finish against one of the world’s best goalkeepers.

Rich: Goal number two: Jeff Hendrick for Burnely versus Everton. A sweet volley that gave Burnley all three points.

Jack: Goal number three: Adama Traore for Wolves v Manchester City. His second was a fine breakaway goal from the speedy winger.

Rich: OK. Those are our three options. Did you see them? Which do you think was the best? Let us know your choice and if you agree with our other weekly awards in our comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Matchweek Prediction 

Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.

Rich: We all have to wait two weeks for the next round of the Premier League.

Jack: No, not another international break!

Rich: I’m afraid so. This means that this prediction for matchweek 9 is for the weekend of the 18th of October.

Jack: But it’s a good one to look forward to, isn't it?

Rich: Yes, Matchweek 9 will see Liverpool take on Manchester United at Old Trafford. Liverpool have had a blistering start to the season while Manchester United’s start has been poor but the Red Devils will be desperate to stop Liverpool running away with the Premier League title. The problem is I don’t think United have the defence to stop Liverpool from scoring or the attack to trouble Liverpool’s defence. I think this could be one of Liverpool’s most comfortable wins of the season. Final score: Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool

Jack: You’re sticking your neck out there! 

Rich: You can make your predictions on the Premier Skills English website in the comments section and talk about the big match at the same time!

Jack: Remember we also have some questions for you to answer that give you a chance to use this week’s vocabulary.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for. I hope you have enjoyed this football round-up. Join the discussion at the bottom of the page on the Premier Skills English website. 

Jack: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, don’t forget to leave us a review. We’d love to hear from you.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.