This Week: Save the Day

This Week: Save the Day

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 deflection, come back to haunt, controversial, pull a goal back, convincing and to seal all three points: 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: De Gea saves the day for United.

Jack: Manchester United had David De Gea to thank for all three points as they beat West Ham 2-1. West Ham took the lead when Said Benrahma’s shot took a huge deflection off Raphael Varane. Cristiano Ronaldo equalised a few minutes later before Jesse Lingard came back to haunt his old club with a brilliant last-minute winner. The drama wasn’t over however as De Gea brilliantly saved an injury-time penalty to send United to the top of the table.

Rich: A very exciting game. West Ham were unlucky.

Jack: And Ronaldo scored again. That’s four goals in his first three games back in a United shirt.

Rich: But he wasn’t the hero this time. The heroes were Jesse Lingard and David De Gea.

Jack: It was a brilliant save but I’m not sure about bringing on a substitute just to take a penalty.

Rich: OK, let’s look at some language. The first word I want to look at is deflection.

Jack: In the headline, I said Said Benrahma’s shot took a huge deflection off Raphael Varane.

Rich: Benrahma shot and the ball hit the defender which sent the ball in a different direction and into the net.

Jack: It was quite lucky but I suppose if you don’t shoot, you’ll never score. 

Rich: So a deflection is when something changes direction, usually after hitting something else. Deflection is usually used with the verb take so the collocation is to take a deflection. Benrahma’s shot took a huge deflection off the defender.

Jack: You might also see the word being used as a verb or an adjective. The ball deflected off Varane on its way into the goal or Benrahma scored with a deflected shot.

Rich: The second bit of language I want to look at is to come back to haunt. We said that Jesse Lingard came back to haunt his old club.

Jack: Jesse Lingard was on loan at West Ham last season where he played really well but this weekend he was playing for Manchester United and scored against his old club.

Rich: The phrase to come back to haunt your old club is a bit of a cliche but I hear it a lot when a player scores a goal against the team they used to play for.

Jack: Yes, it is a bit of a cliche and seems to be the phrase that commentators always use when it happens. To haunt is something that ghosts usually do. Ghosts haunt old castles for example. 

Rich: We also use haunt to describe things that cause problems over a long time because of something you did. A bad decision you make may come back and haunt you.

Jack: It’s a bit like this in the way that we use it in football. It was a bad decision to sell or not to try to buy the player in this case and then the player comes back to haunt you by scoring a goal against you.

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

Headline 2

Jack: Things are looking bright for Seagulls.

Rich: Brighton beat Leicester 2-1 to continue their fine start to the season and move into the Champions League places. Neal Maupay gave the Seagulls an early advantage with a controversial penalty before Danny Welbeck added to the scoreline. Jamie Vardy pulled a goal back for the Foxes but it wasn’t enough to deny Brighton all three points.

Jack: What a brilliant start to the season for Brighton. That’s four wins out of five.

Rich: Yes, they’re doing really well and that was the first time they’ve beaten Leicester since they were promoted four seasons ago.

Jack: OK, we’ve pulled out some language to look at in a little more detail. I want to start with the word controversial. Rich said that Brighton were given a controversial penalty.

Rich: Controversial is an adjective and it is used to describe things that cause a lot of disagreement.

Jack: Penalties are often controversial as some people will agree with the decision and others will disagree.

Rich: It often depends whether the decision goes with or against your team!

Jack: Yes, but referees usually get it right and most penalties are very clear and not controversial at all.

Rich: The second phrase I want to look at is to pull a goal back. I said that Jamie Vardy pulled a goal back for the Foxes.

Jack: To pull a goal back means to score a goal when losing by two or more goals. The team that scores are still losing but have a chance to get back into the match because they have reduced the number of goals they are losing by.

Rich: We can also just say pull one back. Leicester pulled one back in the second half. The context is enough for us to know that one refers to a goal in this situation.

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

Headline 3

Rich: Chelsea move top with win at Spurs.

Jack: A convincing second-half display from Chelsea was enough to beat Tottenham and moved the Blues to the top of the Premier League. Thiago Silva opened the scoring before a deflected N’Golo Kante shot and an injury-time goal from Antonio Rudiger sealed a 3-0 win.

Rich: Chelsea looked really strong in the second half. I know that we’ve tipped Manchester United to win the Premier League this season but Chelsea do look very good.

Jack: Yeah, they were very good. Tottenham didn’t get a sniff.

Rich: Didn’t get a sniff?

Jack: When you have a cold and feel unwell you sniff through your nose. You might also sniff a glass of wine or some perfume to get the smell. However, to not get a sniff is an idiom. It means not to get even a small chance or opportunity of doing something.

Rich: Tottenham never got a chance of a goal. They didn’t get a sniff. Let’s look at some more language.

Jack: I want to start with the word convincing. I said it was a convincing second-half display from Chelsea.

Rich: This is a common word in football. A convincing display or a convincing win is usually when a team wins by two or more goals and plays well, too. The opposite would be a narrow victory. 

Jack: If you convince someone, you make someone believe that something is true. After a convincing win or display, there is no doubt which team played the best.

Rich: And I’m sure that Chelsea win has convinced some people that they can win the Premier League this season.

Jack: The final word I want to look at this week is to seal. I said that an injury-time goal from Antonio Rudiger sealed a 3-0 win.

Rich: To seal something means to close something like an envelope or to cover something up like a crack in a surface. Seal can mean to make something safe and secure. It can also mean to make something sure or definite.

Jack: Chelsea sealed all three points with that late goal from Antonio Rudiger. They made the game safe; they made sure of all three points with that goal.

Rich: 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: De Gea saved the day for United.

Jack: Manchester United had David De Gea to thank for all three points as they beat West Ham 2-1. West Ham took the lead when Said Benrahma’s shot took a huge deflection off Raphael Varane. Cristiano Ronaldo equalised a few minutes later before Jesse Lingard came back to haunt his old club with a brilliant last-minute winner. The drama wasn’t over however as De Gea brilliantly save an injury-time penalty to send United to the top of the table.

Jack: Things are looking bright for Seagulls.

Rich: Brighton beat Leicester 2-1 to continue their fine start to the season and move into the Champions League places. Neal Maupay gave the Seagulls an early advantage with a controversial penalty before Danny Welbeck added to the scoreline. Jamie Vardy pulled a goal back for the Foxes but it wasn’t enough to deny Brighton all three points.

Rich: Chelsea move top with win at Spurs.

Jack: A convincing second-half display from Chelsea was enough to beat Tottenham and moved the Blues to the top of the Premier League. Thiago Silva opened the scoring before a deflected N’Golo Kante shot and an injury-time goal from Antonio Rudiger sealed a 3-0 win.

TASK - 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’ve spoken about in this podcast. 

Rich: The first penalty decision may have been _________ but the second was clear as day.

Jack: And that makes it 2-0 and surely ______ all three points for the home team.

Rich: Fans will hope she doesn’t come back to ________ them after leaving for their local rivals.

Jack: The shot took a huge _______ and went straight into the bottom corner.

Rich: They’ve pulled a goal _____ but I don’t think it will be enough.

Jack: It finishes 5-0 and what a ________ performance from the hosts.

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: Lots of great individual displays this week - David De Gea with that penalty save and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane got his 100th Premier League goal.

Jack: But we’re going with a Chelsea player this week and we’ve gone with their Brazilian defender Thiago Silva.

Rich: Yep, a clean sheet and a goal as Chelsea go top of the table. You couldn’t ask for any more really, could you?

Jack: So Chelsea’s Tiago Silva 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 **** ** ****. This phrase describes a striker who is often facing away from the opponents net. It’s usually a big, strong striker that can control long passes and hold up play to bring teammates into the action. Burnley strikers like Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes are often described as strikers who are very good at playing with their **** ** ****.

Jack: It’s quite a tough one this week. 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.