This Week: Make or break

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 an unbelievable play in the Dutch league, the impact of international duty on the top teams and a legal lifeline for Burnley.

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

• To sort something out
• To catch someone off guard
• To take its toll
• Make or break
• A lifeline
• To gift
• A points deduction

Listen out for this vocabulary in this week’s stories.

But before I get to the stories, I want to look at last week’s two football phrases. If you didn’t hear them last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

The first was a ******* ***. This phrase describes the judgement of the referee when they send a player off, if the player has not been shown a yellow card first. This is for really serious fouls, for reckless fouls or for when a player blocks a clear goal scoring opportunity.

The second phrase was the ***-**. This phrase means the final games of the season. We’re down to the last 10 games now and so newspapers are running stories on which teams face the most difficult ***-***. Arsenal has got quite a tough ***-** as they have some really hard matches coming up.

Congratulations to Ryohei from Japan, Douglas Carter from Brazil and Hasan from Turkey. You all got one of the phrases!,Well done to Wojciech M from Poland, AndreTorre 102 from Brazil, Lukáš from Czechia, Denis2000 from Belarus, Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, and LeoFabiano from Brazil. You all worked out that the phrases I was looking for were a straight red and the run-in. And great to see Vinicius77 from Brazil back on the website, though you only got part of one of the phrases right. See if you can do better this week?

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

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

A deceptive game of rock, paper, scissors

I want to start today by talking about one of the cheekiest plots I’ve ever seen played out on a football pitch. This was in the Netherlands about 10 days ago and I saw it reported in the news just the other day. Feyenoord Rotterdam were two goals up against Heracles Almelo when they were awarded a free kick right on the edge of Heracles Almelo’s area and so as the defenders sorted themselves out, the Feyenoord strikers got into a conversation about who would take the free kick. It looked like it had come down to a decision between two left footed players who looked like they settled it by playing rock paper scissors. So when the referee blew his whistle and the right footed Igor Paixão darted through to strike, the goalkeeper may have been caught off guard as the ball sailed into the bottom left corner. The Feyenoord players looked like they were sure the trick had worked and ran back into their half laughing.

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

• To sort something out
• To catch someone off guard

To sort something out
This is an expression that has quite a few meanings. They are all related to sorting or organising things to solve a problem. So the most common use is to solve a problem or a disagreement between two or more people. If two of your friends are angry with each other about something, you might say “you two really need to sort it out”, meaning, solve the problem and stop being angry with each other. We also use the phrase to talk about tidying or organising. So Last weekend, I spent a few hours sorting out my garage. It was really messy, so I bought some shelves to store things on and it’s much tidier now. I said that the defenders sorted themselves out. You see this before a set piece. The team has to get into position and sometimes that means the captain has to tell people where to stand or who to cover and things like that. This process is similar to tidying or organising. I also used the reflexive pronoun because the players were the thing that needed sorting and they did it themselves.

To catch someone off guard
This means to surprise someone. I think that this phrase might have a slightly funny origin. You see, if you are on your guard, you are alert and ready to defend yourself. This comes from the sport of fencing where at the beginning of a bout or an attack, the attacking fencer calls ‘en garde’. This is comes from a French expression, that's written e-n then g-a-r-d-e. But it sounds like on, o -n, guard, g-u-a-r-d. And if you have to defend something, it sort of makes sense to be on guard, but as I say, I suspect the phrase to be off guard, meaning not ready for an attack is the mistaken negative of en garde. I might not be right about this. Anyhow, If you catch someone off guard, it means you surprise someone who is not prepared to defend themselves against an attack.

Time to move on to the next story.

International duty takes its toll

Arteta, Guardiola and Klopp will no doubt be concerned about their talented players after Bukayo Saka had to leave the England training camp early with muscle injury, Erling Haaland limped out of training in Norway with a suspected ankle injury and Darwin Nunez pulled out of the Uruguayan squad. Saka and Haaland were set to meet each other in their next Premier League fixture which may turn out to be make or break for the Gunners. Arsenal are top of the table, equal with Liverpool on points and only ahead on goal difference. Manchester City are just one point behind. For Arsenal to stay ahead, they are probably going to need to defeat City at the Etihad and nobody has been able to beat City at home for a long time.

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

• To take its toll
• Make or break

To take its toll
The word toll is an old word that means fee. Most roads in the UK are free, but there are some special roads that you have to pay to use. The money that you pay is called a toll. In the past, it was more common to find barriers across roads where you had to pay a toll to pass. You don’t see them often these days, but there are old buildings with names like Tollgate. More commonly, these days, we use the word in the expression to take a toll or take its toll to say that there is a penalty or some damage or negative result of an activity. Usually, we use the phrase when the negative result is not seen immediately, but happens over time, So if you stay up late every night for a week, at the beginning of the week, you’ll be OK, but by the end of the week, the late nights will really take their toll.

Make or break
If something is make or break, it means that if you are successful, you will be very successful, it will resolve a bigger issue. However if you are not successful then things will go badly wrong. So if you are at work and you’re hoping to get a promotion and you take a risk, if it works out and is successful, you will get the promotion, but if it goes wrong then you might lose your job. So the risky move is make or break ... it will either make you or break you.

Time now for the final story.

A legal lifeline

Last week, I said that Burnley had a 1% chance of surviving in the Premier League and then the Clarets were gifted a legal lifeline in the form of a points deduction for Nottingham Forest with the possibility of further deductions for Everton who have also had points taken from them. Now, it’s still not going to be easy for Burnley, but this ruling might give them hope and lift their spirits before their next match against Bournemouth at the end of the month.

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

• A lifeline
• To gift
• A points deduction

A lifeline
A lifeline is normally a rope on a boat or next to a lake or river that you can throw to someone if they fall in. It is used to save the life of a drowning person. The word is more commonly used in a figurative sense when someone is in danger and something happens to give them a chance to get out of the dangerous situation. So Burnley are in danger of being relegated. Their chances of survival in the Premier League are low, but they were lower before Nottingham Forest had a points deduction and as there’s a chance that Everton may have another points deduction, this might help Burnley survive in the Premier League. So these points deductions are a lifeline for Burnley.

To gift
The word gift is normally a noun. It’s something nice that one person gives to another person, usually on a special occasion, like their birthday. However, the word is also a verb and it is very similar to the verb to give. It means to give someone something, but in a formal or official way. I used the verb to gift because Burnley received a lifeline through a legal decision. This is a very formal situation so I could use the verb gift rather than give.

A points deduction
This is quite an easy term to understand. The verb deduct means to take an amount away from the total number of something. It’s very common in sports that award points. If a player of team breaks a rule, usually something technical, they might have some points taken away from them. This would be a points deduction. The player had points deducted from their total score. At the moment, there are lots of stories about Premier League teams that have broken some financial rules and that are being punished by having some points taken away so there are lots of points deduction rumours in the sport news.

Today, I’ve spoken about 7 useful words and phrases.

The words and phrases were:

• To sort something out
• To catch someone off guard
• To take its toll
• Make or break
• A lifeline
• To gift
• A points deduction

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

A deceptive game of rock, paper, scissors

I want to start today by talking about one of the cheekiest plots I’ve ever seen played out on a football pitch. This was in the Netherlands about 10 days ago and I saw it reported in the news just the other day. Feyenoord Rotterdam were two goals up against Heracles Almelo when they were awarded a free kick right on the edge of Heracles Almelo’s area and so as the defenders sorted themselves out, the Feyenoord strikers got into a conversation about who would take the free kick. It looked like it had come down to a decision between two left footed players who looked like they settled it by playing rock paper scissors. So when the referee blew his whistle and the right footed Igor Paixão darted through to strike, the goalkeeper may have been caught off guard as the ball sailed into the bottom left corner. The Feyenoord players looked like they were sure the trick had worked and ran back into their half laughing.

International duty takes its toll

Arteta, Guardiola and Klopp will no doubt be concerned about their talented players after Bukayo Saka had to leave the England training camp early with muscle injury, Erling Haaland limped out of training in Norway with a suspected ankle injury and Darwin Nunez pulled out of the Uruguayan squad. Saka and Haaland were set to meet each other in their next Premier League fixture which may turn out to be make or break for the Gunners. Arsenal are top of the table, equal with Liverpool on points and only ahead on goal difference. Manchester City are just one point behind. For Arsenal to stay ahead, they are probably going to need to defeat City at the Etihad and nobody has been able to beat City at home for a long time.

A legal lifeline

Last week, I said that Burnley had a 1% chance of surviving in the Premier League and then the Clarets were gifted a legal lifeline in the form of a points deduction for Nottingham Forest with the possibility of further deductions for Everton who have also had points taken from them. Now, it’s still not going to be easy for Burnley, but this ruling might give them hope and lift their spirits before their next match against Bournemouth at the end of the month.

Language challenge

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

Number 1. Kim Jong Un has taken a ride in a luxury black limousine _______ to him by Vladimir Putin.

Number 2. As UK landlines go digital, fears grow for vulnerable people whose home phone is a _______.

Number 3. Mauricio Pochettino is facing what could prove to be a __________ showdown over his long term Chelsea future.

Number 4. A financial expert has warned that Chelsea face a “more severe” _________ than Everton and Nottingham Forest if they are found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules.

Number 5. Liverpool’s new transfer chief has three problems that he needs to ________ immediately.

Number 6. A BBC News presenter was _____________ swearing on the camera as she hadn’t realised that she was live.

Number 7. The pressure of performing at the highest level has ___________ on the toughest of competitors.

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

Football phrase

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

This week, the phrase is the word *******. This is the official word for an arranged match in the future. So you can visit the Premier League website and look at the league table and also the results of past matches and read all about the news from the Premier League and what’s happening on and off the pitch, but you can also look up the future matches to see when your team is playing and who they are set to play against in the ******** section.

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. Despite the unexpected turbulence during the flight, the passengers were grateful to survive the scare and land safely.

Number 2. The dancer lost her footing during the performance but quickly regained her balance.

Number 3. Bruno regretted his reckless spending spree when he saw his credit card bill.

Number 4. The artist's bold artwork made her presence felt in the local art community, garnering attention and acclaim.

Number 5. Completing the marathon was a monumental achievement for the runner, who had trained tirelessly for months.

Number 6. The boxer anticipated his opponent's lunge and quickly countered with a powerful jab.

Number 7. As the negotiations progressed, there was a glimmer of hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Number 8. The unexpected visit from a friend helped lift her spirits during a challenging time.

Number 9. The chef's blunder in the kitchen resulted in a burnt dish that had to be remade.

Number 10. The fans erupted into chants of support as their team scored the winning goal.

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.