This week: To have the last laugh

Hello, my name’s Jack and welcome to the weekly round-up called This Week on Premier Skills English.

In This Week, we’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

If you are listening to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org where you’ll be able to download the podcast.

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 from the stories from the Premier League.

This week, I’m talking about Liverpool who hosted Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur who welcomed Brentford.

The words and phrases I am going to talk about today are:

• To run out of
• High-octane
• High-calibre
• To dismantle
• To take the initiative
• Sloppy
• To wind up
• To have the last laugh

Listen out for this vocabulary in the story.

After each story, there will be a language focus and then there will be a language challenge for you and then at the end of the podcast, there will be a new football phrase.

But before that, I want to look at last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week’s football phrase to ***** the ball. This is quite a strange verb, though it comes up quite frequently in football commentary and it means to pass the ball perpendicular or at a 90-degree angle to the touchline. The word is also a noun and it means a shape and in American English it's an adjective that describes someone who isn’t cool.

This was a tough one and lots of people made good guesses but didn’t quite get the word I was looking for.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine, Elchueco from Argentina, Mobeckhame from Turkey, Wojciech M from Poland, Denis2000 from Belarus, Lukáš from Chechia, Toha_23 from Ukraine, and Strong from Vietnam.

You all worked out that the phrase I was looking for was to square the ball.

Keep listening till the end of the podcast for a new football phrase.

Now it’s time for this week’s first story.

The Reds batter the Blues at Anfield

Jürgen Klopp announced that he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, saying that he is running out of energy. The same can’t be said for his players who outplayed Chelsea in a high-octane, high-calibre performance. Pochetino admitted that Klopp’s team were better than Chelsea “in all areas”.

When Klopp leaves Liverpool, he will be leaving his successor a formidable unit, that he has built over eight seasons. The latest team member to rise through the ranks of the academy and ascend to the first team is 20-year-old fullback Conor Bradley. Bradley played a key role in the dismantling of Pochettino’s Chelsea, scoring his first goal and racking up two assists.

Diogo Jota got the first goal, then Bradley, and his goal was followed by further goals from Dominik Szobaszlai and Luis Diaz. This goes to show the breadth of the talent Liverpool can field. And at some point, Darwin Nunez’s luck has to change and then the Reds will be unstoppable. Nunez somehow managed to hit the woodwork four times and took 11 shots at goal. He’s hit the woodwork 12 times so far this season and has been described as the unluckiest striker in Europe.

Chelsea do have some incredible talent in their squad and so they can’t be dismissed. Christopher Nkunku pulled a goal back when they were three goals down, but they never looked like they could stage a comeback.

Final score: Liverpool 4 - 1 Chelsea

The words and phrases from the story that I want to talk about are:

• To run out of
• High-octane
• High-calibre
• To dismantle

To run out of

If you run out of something, you use all of that thing so that you have none left. I think we use this to talk about things we have normally. So I always have tea bags. In my house, running out of tea bags is a disaster and if we do ever run out, I have to go straight to the shops to buy some more. I very rarely have pizza so I don’t think I’d say that we’ve run out of pizza when the last slice has been eaten, though that would be just about OK. It’s just more commonly used with things that we have normally. So cars can run out of petrol and my phone’s batteries can run out when there’s no power left. Jurgen Klopp said that he is running out of energy. He hasn’t quite run out yet, but he’s not feeling as energetic as he used to.

The next two phrases are similar and I used them in the same sentence. I said that Liverpool outplayed Chelsea in a high-octane, high-calibre performance.

The adjective high-octane means full of energy. It comes from petrol. Petrol has an octane rating which has something to do with the pressure that the fuel will explode at. High-octane fuel is more stable so is better for high-performance engines. As a result, we associate high-octane with fuel for fast cars so a high-octane performance is a fast and energetic performance.

High-calibre means good quality. This time, I think the adjective comes from guns. The calibre of a gun refers to the diameter of the barrel. So a high-calibre gun has a wider barrel and will fire a larger bullet. So a high-calibre weapon is more powerful than a smaller-calibre weapon. The adjective has come to mean high quality rather than very powerful. If someone is looking for someone to work for them and they get lots of really good applications, they might say that it is hard to choose because the applications were so high-calibre. The word calibre is a noun so you can find lots of examples of phrases like the calibre was very high and I was impressed by the high calibre of applicants. I think that this is slightly more common than the adjective form.

To dismantle

The verb to dismantle means to take something apart completely. If you dismantle a car engine, you unscrew everything and remove all the nuts and bolts and separate the parts. In football English, we use it to say that a team completely dominated their opponents and were able to break through their defence, a bit like they had taken the team apart so that it no longer worked as a team. The word comes from an old French word that meant to destroy the walls around a fort which I think fits the football English usage better than to take apart.

Let’s move on to the second story.

Tottenham triumphant on home turf

Brentford took the initiative in the first half, scoring the opening goal after some sloppy Spurs play in the midfield. Some pundits said it was like watching Spurs in the bad old days.

After Neal Maupay scored for Brentford, he tried to wind up James Maddison by copying Maddison’s signature goal celebration and mimed throwing a dart. Maupay and Maddison exchanged words at halftime, but the rivalry seemed to be good-natured.

In the end, the Spurs midfielder had the last laugh after a double substitution that completely changed the dynamic on the pitch leading to three goals for the home side in eight spectacular minutes. First came Destiny Udogie with the equalizer, then a minute later Brennan Johnson put Spurs ahead and 7 minutes later Richarlison secured the win.

Ivan Toney halved the deficit in the 67th minute, but in the second half, Spurs looked in control and deserved the win.

Final score: Tottenham Hotspur 3 - Brentford 2

The words and phrases from the story that I want to talk about are:

• To take the initiative
• Sloppy
• To wind up
• To have the last laugh

To take the initiative

This is an idiom that means to be the first person to do something, often, the first person to find a solution to a problem. The noun initiative can be used to talk about a person’s ability to use their own judgement to make a decision about something rather than going to their boss or superior. If you show initiative, it means you make active decisions and as long as your decisions aren’t well ... bad, showing initiative at work is normally a good thing. I said that Brentford took the initiative at Spurs because they were the first to score. Spurs were not playing well and so Brentford attacked and that was taking the initiative.

Sloppy

In the story, I said that some of Spurs’ play was sloppy. Sloppy has three main meanings. The first is kind of wet and unpleasant. The second is very emotional and often about love and romance and the third means not taking care or not making an effort. Can you guess which meaning I was using to talk about Spurs’ play? I was of course, saying that the team was not taking care and playing with enough attention. They made a lot of mistakes which is something that happens if you are sloppy. It’s quite common in football English to describe a pass or a clearance as sloppy if it’s not played well and the opposition get the ball.

To wind up

This phrasal verb has several meanings, the most common is figurative and it means to make someone tense and annoyed. The old literal meaning described wrapping a rope or a string around something to keep it all together. When you do this, the string is tight and could snap and break. And this is what people are like if someone has wound them up. Sometimes, people tell their friends things that aren’t true to try to get them excited or irritated. Your friends might try to tell you that your boss said something strange about you or that there is something wrong with your car and if you believe them and start to get really worried, they might say,. Don’t worry ... we’re only winding you up. Or you might ask is that true or are you winding me up? Maupay tried to wind up Maddison by copying his signature goal celebration and I think he succeeded a bit, but not enough to put him off his game.

To have the last laugh

This is a hard idiom to explain, but I think it’s quite easy to understand. If you are in some sort of competition or argument with someone and you are the one laughing at the end, then you are happy at the end of the competition or argument so you have won or succeeded. It’s a bit mean to laugh at your opponents when you beat them, but in some situations, if you are losing and your opponents are a bit smug about it, or if you think your opponents have been unfair and then you gain an advantage, it can be quite satisfying and you might be tempted to celebrate with a last laugh. So if you have the last laugh, then you finish on top or finish with an advantage when it looked like the people you were competing with were going to win or come out on top.

Today, I’ve spoken about 8 useful words and phrases. The words and phrases I have spoken about are:

• To run out of
• High-octane
• High-calibre
• To dismantle
• To take the initiative
• Sloppy
• To wind up
• To have the last laugh

Listen to the stories one more time to hear this language in context.

 

The Reds batter the Blues at Anfield

Jürgen Klopp announced that he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, saying that he is running out of energy. The same can’t be said for his players who outplayed Chelsea in a high-octane, high-calibre performance. Pochetino admitted that Klopp’s team were better than Chelsea “in all areas”.

When Klopp leaves Liverpool, he will be leaving his successor a formidable unit, that he has built over eight seasons. The latest team member to rise through the ranks of the academy and ascend to the first team is 20-year-old fullback Conor Bradley. Bradley played a key role in the dismantling of Pochettino’s Chelsea, scoring his first goal and racking up two assists.

Diogo Jota got the first goal, then Bradley, and his goal was followed by further goals from Dominik Szobaszlai and Luis Diaz. This goes to show the breadth of the talent Liverpool can field. And at some point, Darwin Nunez’s luck has to change and then the Reds will be unstoppable. Nunez somehow managed to hit the woodwork four times and took 11 shots at goal. He’s hit the woodwork 12 times so far this season and has been described as the unluckiest striker in Europe.

Chelsea do have some incredible talent in their squad and so they can’t be dismissed. Christopher Nkunku pulled a goal back when they were three goals down, but they never looked like they could stage a comeback.

Final score: Liverpool 4 - 1 Chelsea

 

Tottenham triumphant on home turf

Brentford took the initiative in the first half, scoring the opening goal after some sloppy Spurs play in the midfield. Some pundits said it was like watching Spurs in the bad old days.

After Neal Maupay scored for Brentford, he tried to wind up James Maddison by copying Maddison’s signature goal celebration and mimed throwing a dart. Maupay and Maddison exchanged words at halftime, but the rivalry seemed to be good-natured.

In the end, the Spurs midfielder had the last laugh after a double substitution that completely changed the dynamic on the pitch leading to three goals for the home side in eight spectacular minutes. First came Destiny Udogie with the equalizer, then a minute later Brennan Johnson put Spurs ahead and 7 minutes later Richarlison secured the win.

Ivan Toney halved the deficit in the 67th minute, but in the second half, Spurs looked in control and deserved the win.

Final score: Tottenham Hotspur 3 - Brentford 2

Language Challenge

Right, now it’s time for you to think about the language again. I have found examples of today’s words and phrases in stories online and edited them slightly. I have removed today’s vocabulary so I want you to fill in the gaps with the correct forms of the language from the podcast.

Number 1. Schools and parents in the County Wicklow town _____________ last month and banned smartphones from primary schools amid concerns they were fuelling anxiety.

Number 2. The young midfielder tries to be the most awkward, irksome and devious opponent possible. He _________ players, he _________ officials, he _________ fans. And he does it all on purpose.

Number 3. When long-haired Jonny Farrell went into his local butchers as a young student looking for a job, he was laughed out of the door and told he had "no chance".
Now more than a decade later, the 36-year-old who lives near Ormskirk has _______________ after his business received the New Butchery Business of the Year award.

Number 4. Hijack, the ____________ TV thriller from George Kay and Jim Field Smith, has been renewed for a second season.

Number 5. A new fried chicken restaurant opened its doors in Newport city centre on Friday and was so popular it __________ chicken on its opening night.

Number 6. Birmingham manager Wayne Rooney laments his side for conceding '_______' goals in their defeat against Coventry.

Number 7. Aston Villa fell to their first home league defeat in over 11 months as Newcastle United ____________ Unai Emery's side at Villa Park.

Number 8. Liverpool need more ____________ signings like Mac Allister, says Van Dijk.

Leave your answers to the language challenge in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Football phrase

Now it’s time for this week's football phrase.

I have a really tricky one for you this week. When players score lots of goals, they sometimes have a special gesture they do afterwards. Alan Shearer raised one hand in the air, Daniel Sturridge did a special dance and Son Heung-Min makes a frame with his fingers to take a photo. These acts are their ********* **** ************.

If you know the answer, be sure to leave it in a comment on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

Before I finish, I am going to go through the answers to last week’s language challenge.

Number 1. Jennifer Aniston spoke about the benefits of getting enough sleep saying: “When you're younger, you kind of take it for granted. You think, 'I can survive on three-to-five hours of sleep and feel great,' and then, all of a sudden, it just starts not to feel great.

Number 2. A deer broke through the front window of a kitchen shop on Thanksgiving Day around 1 p.m. The animal ran around the store before officers helped escort it out safely.

Number 3. A creative criminal gang disguised cocaine as broom handles in an audacious smuggling plot.

Number 4. England rugby star Dan Cole has warned that Argentina 'will be formidable' and can unleash 'some magic' ahead of the Rugby World Cup opener.

Number 5. Everton welcome Aston Villa to Goodison Park on Sunday, looking to end their run of consecutive defeats and get away from the drop zone.

Number 6. Campana went close to a hat-trick after the break with a deft touch goalwards from a low Jordi Alba cross but Melia got down well to save.

Number 7. Mikel Arteta is not content with Arsenal's achievements in his reign as Gunners boss. He believes they "haven't won enough" in his four years.

Number 8. It looks like a 34-year-old Chatham man's luck has run out as he has been arrested in connection with a string of break-ins.

Number 9. Flooding in Leicester is expected to subside but the county could continue to suffer the consequences, the council said.

Number 10. Once again, Villa were committed to holding a high defensive line but Mikel Arteta's team were unable to make more of the space on offer.

And that’s all I have time for today. Before I finish, I just wanted to say that I hope you found this podcast useful, and I hope everyone stays fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.