Matchweek 14: Under new management

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 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: Coming up later this week, we’ll have a new podcast for you. On Thursday, we’re going to publish a new podcast: Understanding Grammar: Superlative adjectives

Jack: We’re going to try something new this week. We want to try to get some of you into the podcast. So... what we’re proposing is...

Rich: Well, we want to talk to some of you on the phone and record you for the podcast. If you’re a listener and would like to get involved, we have three questions for you.

Jack: Question 1: Which is the most popular Premier League team in your country?

Rich: Question 2: What’s the funniest or craziest or silliest thing you have ever seen on a football pitch?

Jack: Question 3: Who’s the best footballer of all time?

Rich: If you want to have a go at answering these questions, send us an email with your answers and we’ll get in touch to talk to you tomorrow or on Wednesday so we can get you into the Podcast on Thursday.

Jack: The email address is premierskills@britishcouncil.org.

Rich: Let’s get on our round-up of Matchweek fourteen with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Liverpool race eight points clear.

Rich: Liverpool beat Brighton 2-1 to stretch their lead at the top of the table. Two Virgil van Dijk headers both set up by Trent Alexander Arnold gave the Reds a 2-0 lead at the break. A blatant handball by Allisson meant the keeper was sent off and Brighton scored from the free-kick. The end was tense but Liverpool held on.

Jack: City pegged back by Magpies.

Rich: Manchester City were held to a two-all draw by Newcastle in a game of wonderful goals. Raheem Sterling gave City the lead following a lovely backheel, but Newcastle pegged City back just three minutes later. City went ahead again in the 82nd minute when Kevin de Bruyne blasted the ball home off the crossbar but the Magpies pegged City back again when Jonjo Shelvey scored a stunning long-range effort.

Jack: Arsenal under new management.

Rich: Arsenal could only manage a two-all draw at struggling Norwich under their new interim manager, Freddie Ljungberg following the sacking of Unai Emery last week. Norwich took the lead twice through Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell but two equalisers form Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang, the first a retaken penalty, saved a point for Arsenal.

Jack: There was also a brilliant win for West Ham away at Chelsea. Southampton won their bottom of the table battle with Watford which resulted in the sacking of Watford manager, Quique Sanchez Flores. There were also good wins for Leicester, Crystal Palace and Tottenham.

Rich: There was a great story in that West Ham match. David Martin made his Premier League debut at 33 years old for West Ham and kept a clean sheet. His dad Alvin Martin played for West Ham for 21 years and at the end of the match David climbed into the crowd to celebrate with his dad - both of them were crying.

Jack: It was a great moment.

Vocabulary alert!

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

Rich: Our six words and phrases this week are: to stretch a lead, blatant, to peg a team back, to blast home, to be under new management and struggling.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the Liverpool - Brighton match. We said that Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the table.

Rich: To stretch means to extend or increase, to make something longer or wider. Liverpool’s lead at the top was seven points before the weekend but it’s eight points now.

Jack: We also stretch our muscles when we warm up. Stretching is usually part of a warm-up routine before we play sport or do exercise.

Rich: The next word is blatant. If something is blatant it means that it is very obvious. We might say to someone ‘that is a blatant lie’ or a ‘that is blatantly unfair’.

Jack: The most common example in football is a blatant handball when a player uses his hand or arm in a very obvious way.

Rich: Its often used when fans are complaining that a referee hasn’t given a decision. We say things like ‘I can’t believe it’s not been given, it was a blatant handball’.

Jack: This was a very common word when I was at school and I’m not so sure it’s as popular now. I grew up in the south-east of England and we’d always drop the ‘t’ in the middle and pronounce it ‘blay-unt’ and say things like ‘ that was blatantly obvious’. How about you Rich? In your parts did you always pronounce it properly?

Rich: I’ve always pronounced things properly.

Jack: Right, let’s look at the phrases from the Newcastle - Manchester City match. The first is to peg someone back. This is a phrasal verb which means to stop someone or a team winning.

Rich: In football, this is usually done by scoring an equaliser. Newcastle pegged CIty back twice this weekend. Each time City went ahead Newcastle pegged them back.

Jack: The next phrase is to blast home. We said that Kevin De Bruyne blasted the ball home.

Rich: To blast a ball means to kick it with a lot of force. He didn’t think about accuracy he just blasted it as hard as he could.

Jack: Home is often used to describe the back of the net. He blasted the ball home.

Rich: Finally, let’s look at the Norwich - Arsenal match. We said that Arsenal are under new management.

Jack: To be under new management means to be under the control of new people. We sometimes see it on the windows of restaurants or other businesses.

Rich: We used it in the headlines to describe the situation at Arsenal as they have a new manager.

Jack: Our final word this week is struggling. It’s quite difficult to say, let’s say it again: struggling.

Rich: It means to be finding things difficult. Norwich City are struggling at the bottom of the table. We often use it to describe teams. We said Arsenal could only draw at struggling Norwich City.

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 stretch a lead, blatant, to peg a team back, to blast home, to be under new management and struggling.

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. There were some great individual performances last week. Virgil van Dijk was great at both ends of the pitch, Dele Alli was brilliant again for Spurs and the Aston Villa captain, Jack Grealish was the best player on the pitch against Manchester United.

Jack: But our Player of the Week is Kelechi Ihenacho. The Leicester City striker came on as a sub in the 62nd minute with his team 1-0 down to Everton. An assist and an injury-time winner followed - what a super substitution.

Rich: Now Team of the Week. Good wins for Leicester, Liverpool and Southampton but our Team of the Week is West Ham. An away win against high flying Chelsea.

Jack: 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: Goal number one: Jack Grealish for Aston Villa against Manchester United. A wonderful curling finish.

Jack: Goal number two: Kevin De Bruyne for Manchester City versus Newcastle United. A long-range blast that went in off the crossbar.

Rich: Goal number three: Jonjo Shelvey for Newcastle United v Manchester City. Another long-range finish that won a point for Newcastle.

Jack: 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: This week we’re going to move on to Matchweek 16.

Jack: Matchweek 15 is in mid-week this week and we hope to have a live episode on our Facebook page and Youtube channel so keep an eye out for that.

Rich: Matchweek 16 sees one of the biggest matches of the season take place. It’s the Manchester Derby. Neither of the teams are going into this match in top form but it’s United that have the biggest worries. They are down in 9th place after one of their worst ever starts to a Premier League season. City have lost one and drawn one of their last three so are not in great form either. I think the match might be closer than some think but City will make home advantage count in the end. Final score: Manchester City 1-0 Manchester Utd

Jack: I’m going for a draw in this one. Derby matches so often finish in draws. One all. Let us know in the comments section what you think the score will be.

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: And remember to get in contact with us now at premierskills@britishcouncil.org if you want to appear in this week’s podcast Understanding Grammar: Superlative adjectives.

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

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.