Football Shout-out: Set-Pieces

Jack: Hello and welcome to Premier Skills English - Football Shout-out 

Rich: Football shoutout is the series that teaches you the language you need when you’re watching the game.

Jack: Hi everybody my name’s Jack 

Rich: and my name’s Rich and welcome to our latest Football Shout-out where we talk about the English you need when you’re watching football.

Jack: If you listened to our last lesson, you will remember this:

Jack: Oh no! That was shocking defending. I can’t believe. We’ve let that one in.

RIch: The goalkeeper had no chance. The shot was too good.

Jack: But … the defending … shocking. Where was the defence?

Rich: I don’t know. We don’t deserve to be 1-0 down. No way. We’ve been the better team - we can still get back into this.

Jack: We always freeze on the big occasion. Look! The board is going up. Two minutes? There’s got to be at least 5 minutes extra!

Rich: Two minutes? You’ve got to be joking. Come on. We just need one more chance.

Jack: The final whistle. Rubbish!

...

Rich: You know … the best team won.

Jack: You’re joking, right? We were robbed!

Rich: It’s only a game. We’ll win next week.

Jack: Did you just say it’s only a game?

Rich: Err .. no?

Rich: Our last lesson was all about what we shout when your team is losing or loses a match. If you haven’t heard the lesson, there is a link on the side of this page for you to go back and listen and learn lots of phrases and words we use after a defeat.

Jack: This lesson is all about what we say when there is a set-piece.

Rich: What’s a set piece?

Jack: You know … corners, free-kicks, penalties, throw-ins. When the ball is dead.

Rich: When the ball is dead??

Jack: Not in play.

Rich: Got it. Listen to this:

Jack: Another long throw coming up. They’re just going to launch it again. 

Rich: It’s all they do. That’s it. Get it out! Clear it!

Jack: Nice. Down the line. Pass it. Go on go past him.

Rich: Corner.

Jack: Get it swung in. Ahh! They’ve played it short again. Pass it. That’s it. Penalty!!

Rich: Outside the box. Free-kick.

Jack: We never score free kicks come on. He’s never going to get it over the wall.

Rich: Top corner this. You watch. Crossbar! How unlucky!

Jack: Penalty! Handball!

Rich: Which way is going to put it?

Jack: Down the middle, I reckon.

Rich: Goal. He got a hand to it but he was never going to stop that one.

Jack: A set-piece is either a throw-in, a corner,  a free-kick or a penalty. When there is a set-piece there is a break in play we are often say something when there is one.

Rich: Let’s look at each set-piece and the phrases that fans often say. Let’s start with the throw-in. This set-piece, in most parts of the pitch, is just a way to get the ball back into play.

Jack: But when the throw-in is in the attacking third of the pitch it can be used to create a chance to score.

Rich: This is the long throw when a player will throw the ball directly into the penalty area from the touchline.

Jack: Some players can throw it longer than I can kick it!

Rich: You might hear fans, especially near the end of a game, saying ‘launch it’ or ‘get it in the box’. This means they are telling the player to do a long throw.

Jack: The next set-piece is a corner. The phrases are similar to a throw in because you can take a short corner or cross the ball directly into the box.

Rich: Fans sometimes get tired of short corner routines and might shout ‘swing it in’ which means they want the ball to go directly into the penalty area.

Jack: The next set-piece is a free-kick. Like throw-ins, free-kicks, in most parts of the pitch, are just a way to get the ball back into play.

Rich: But when a free-kick is in the attacking third of the pitch it can be used to create a chance to score or to shoot directly at goal.

Jack: Fans often discuss whether a player is going to shoot or cross the ball. Is the player going to try to put the ball around or over the defensive wall is another common discussion.

Rich: ‘He’s not going to shoot from there’ and ‘It’s too far out for a shot’ are common things fans say if we think the player is unlikely to shoot.

Jack: Our final set-piece is the penalty. Fans usually discuss which direction the player will shoot: down the middle, bottom or top corner.

Rich: After a goal, we might say something like ‘he gave the goalkeeper no chance’ or ‘the keeper dived the right way’ if it was a good penalty or maybe ‘keeper got a hand to it’ if it wasn’t so good but the player still scored.

Jack: We’ll look at these phrases and a few more in the lesson which you can find below this podcast.

Rich: Listen again. Do you understand everything now?

Jack: Another long throw coming up. They’re just going to launch it again. 

Rich: It’s all they do. That’s it. Get it out! Clear it!

Jack: Nice. Down the line. Pass it. Go on go past him.

Rich: Corner.

Jack: Get it swung in. Ahh! They’ve played it short again. Pass it. That’s it. Penalty!!

Rich: Outside the box. Free-kick.

Jack: We never score free kicks come on. He’s never going to get it over the wall.

Rich: Top corner this. You watch. Crossbar! How unlucky!

Jack: Penalty! Handball!

Rich: Which way is going to put it?

Jack: Down the middle, I reckon.

Rich: Goal. He got a hand to it but he was never going to stop that one.

Jack: So, there are a few expressions you can use when a player is taking a set piece. 

Rich: We’ve got some activities to help you remember the phrases that we’ve been speaking about in the lesson below this podcast.

Jack: We’ll be back soon with our final football shout-out lesson, which will be about phrases football fans use after a match.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.