This Week: Dream Debuts

This Week: Dream Debuts  

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up 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: If you are listening to this podcast on Apple podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at britishcouncil.org/premierskillsenglish where you’ll be able to download the podcast. 

Rich: On the Premier Skills English website, you can read the transcript and join the Premier Skills English community by completing a language task in the comments section. This will really help you remember the new words and phrases we talk about from the stories from the Premier League. 

Jack: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: to cheer (on), to break the deadlock, to mar something, to be stretchered off, to get going and to come off the bench. Listen out for these phrases in the headlines and stories.

Rich: After we look at the language we’ll have a task for you to do then, we’ll announce our Player of the Week, and then there will be a new football phrase for you to guess.

Jack: OK, let’s hear this week’s three football stories!

Headline 1

Rich: Ronaldo revels in United return

Jack: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on his second debut for Manchester United as they comfortably beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford to move top of the Premier League table. Cheered from the warm-up to the final whistle, Ronaldo scored with a tap-in to break the deadlock before adding a second after the break.

Rich: I was watching the game and you just knew that it was going to happen and it did - Ronaldo getting on the scoresheet.

Jack: And not once but twice. I reckon he’ll score a few goals this season.

Rich: Just a few? OK, Let’s look at some language from the headline. Jack said that Ronaldo was cheered from the warm-up to the final whistle.

Jack: To cheer is to shout to show support. We could have said the United fans cheered Ronaldo on from the beginning of the match to the end. To cheer on is a phrasal verb with a similar meaning.

Rich: The fans cheered Ronaldo on - they shouted their support and encouragement to Ronaldo.

Jack: We also use cheers as an informal way of saying thank you. When I get off a bus, I say ‘cheers’ to the driver.

Rich: And we also say cheers when we toast each other when drinking. If you are out with friends and get some drinks, before you start drinking, it’s common to clink everyone’s glasses together and say cheers.   

Jack: The second bit of language I want to look at is a bit more difficult. It’s the phrase to break the deadlock.

Rich: This phrase is used when the first goal in a match is scored. 

Jack:  But, more than that, it emphasises that defences had been very strong on both sides and it looked like neither team would score up until the point the first goal was scored. It is often used when a game is 0-0 for a long time.

Rich: The match between Manchester United and Newcastle United was 0-0 until just before half-time and then United broke the deadlock.

Jack: Let’s move on to our second headline.

Headline 2 

Jack: Ton up for Salah in Liverpool win at Leeds

Rich: Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal as Liverpool beat Leeds 3-0 at Elland Road. Salah opened the scoring with Fabinho and Sadio Mane getting the other two. The game was marred by a serious injury to Harvey Elliot who was stretchered off in the second half.

Jack: A great win for Liverpool and 100 goals for Mohamed Salah.

Rich: Yes, a great achievement. I don’t think many people thought he’d turn into such a Premier League legend when he signed for us from Roma.

Jack: After the match, most people were speaking about that nasty injury to Harvey Elliot and we want to talk about the language connected to that.

Rich: I said that he was stretchered off. When we use this phrase - stretchered off, we’re describing an injured player who has been put on a stretcher and taken off the pitch.

Jack: A stretcher is usually a rectangular frame of some kind that is used so a person can be carried as they are unable to walk.

Rich: In sports, when an injured player leaves the pitch on a stretcher we say that they have been stretchered off.

Jack: The other word I want to look at is a word that is not that common but is often used in football when a player is injured during a game. The word is mar.

Rich: I said The game was marred by a serious injury to Harvey Elliot.

Jack: If something is marred it means that it’s less successful than it should be or somehow spoiled. It’s similar in meaning to ruined but maybe not quite as strong. The match was a fun, exciting spectacle but was marred by the injury - fans probably didn’t enjoy it so much because of the injury.

Rich: It’s actually a word that we see a lot when there is an injury to a player. The match was marred by a serious injury to … and then we usually add the player’s name.

Jack: I hope it’s not something I have to read too much this season. Let’s move on to our final headline.

Headline 3

Rich: Dream debut for Edouard in Palace win

Jack: Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace got their first win of the season as they ended Tottenham’s 100% record. Wilfried Zaha got Palace going before Odsonne Edouard came off the bench to score twice - his first arriving just 28 seconds into his debut - a Premier League record.

Rich: What a way to start a Premier League career - a goal after just 28 seconds.

Jack: Yes, he couldn’t have dreamt of a better debut.

Rich: Let’s look at some language. The first phrase I want to look at is to get going.

Jack: The phrase means to start happening and in a football context to start playing better. It’s similar to a phrase we used last week - up and running. Palace and Tottenham were drawing and then Palace got going - they scored and started playing better.

Rich: The phrase has a common use outside of football, too. It means to leave a place often because you need to be or go somewhere else. 

Jack: You might say something like, come on let’s get going or we’ll be late for kick-off. The final phrase we want to look at this week is to come off the bench. 

Rich: This phrase is used when a substitute comes on to the pitch.

Jack: The bench refers to the seats as where players sat in the past was a long seat or bench – where players not in the starting line-up sat.

Rich: The phrase is often used when a substitute has a positive impact on a game. Odsonne Edouard came off the bench to score twice

Jack: OK, we’ve looked at quite a lot of language. Have a listen to the headlines again and maybe look at the transcript on the Premier Skills English website at the same time. Can you hear the vocabulary we’ve been talking about?

Headlines - Repeat

Rich: Ronaldo revels in United return.

Jack: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on his second debut for Manchester United as they comfortably beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford to move top of the Premier League table. Cheered from the warm-up to the final whistle, Ronaldo scored with a tap-in to break the deadlock before adding a second after the break.

Jack: Ton up for Salah in Liverpool win at Leeds.

Rich: Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal as Liverpool beat Leeds 3-0 at Elland Road. Salah opened the scoring with Fabinho and Sadio Mane getting the other two. The game was marred by a serious injury to Harvey Elliot who was stretchered off in the second half.

Rich: Dream debut for Edouard in Palace win.

Jack: Patrick Viera’s Crystal Palace got their first win of the season as they ended Tottenham’s 100% record. Wilfried Zaha got Palace going before Odsonne Edouard came off the bench to score twice - his first arriving just 28 seconds into his debut - a Premier League record.

Language Challenge

Rich: Right, now we’re going to give you a chance to think about the language again. 

Jack: We’re going to give you six sentences with gaps in them and you have to complete the gaps with the words and phrases we spoke about in this podcast. 

Rich: The match was __________ by a serious injury to the home team’s goalkeeper.

Jack: It took United a while to _________ but once they did there was no stopping them.

Rich: The fans __________ as the new signing was introduced to the crowd.

Jack: She _______________ to hit a second-half hat-trick.

Rich: City struggled to _____________ against Watford’s blanket defence.

Jack: He was _____________ with suspected ligament damage.

Rich: Leave your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Player of the week

Jack: Rich - I think it’s time to tell everyone who we’ve chosen as our Player of the Week. 

Rich: I know you are all thinking that we are going to go for the obvious choice. He had a brilliant game, scored twice but we’re not going to do it, are we?

Jack: No, not this week. Cristiano Ronaldo is not our Player of the Week. He was a strong contender though.

Rich: As was Odsonne Edouard for Crystal Palace after coming off the bench to score twice.

Jack: We’ve actually gone to the other end of the pitch this week and chosen a goalkeeper.

Rich: That’s right. Our Player of the Week is another Edouard. It’s Chelsea’s, Edouard Mendy. The Chelsea stopper has had a fantastic start to the season and got another clean sheet last weekend and made some brilliant saves.

Jack: So Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy is our Player of the Week. Tell us what you think about our choice and who you think should be player of the week on the Premier Skills English website.

Football Phrase 

Rich: OK, it’s time for our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Jack: When you know the answer, go to the podcast page on the Premier Skills English website or the review section on Apple Podcasts and write the word or phrase in the comments. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast. So what is this week’s football phrase, Rich?

Rich:  This week’s football phrase is just a word and it’s a *****. Generally, this word is used to describe two of the same thing and comes from shooting – a ***** of pistols means two pistols, a ***** of birds are two birds that have been shot for food. In football, you can score a ***** - two goals in one match. Last weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo and Odsonne Edouard both got a ***** for their clubs.

Jack: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for but we will be back later this week on Apple Podcasts and Spotify with the Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope all of you stay fit and healthy.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.