This Week: Another hat-trick for Haaland

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 a controversial decision in Arsenal’s match against Brighton, a top-class performance by Erling Haaland against West Ham and the 215th Northwest Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool.

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

• Controversial
• To penalise
• The letter of the law
• To pounce on something
• Exquisite
• Barely
• A given
• To cement
• To settle on something

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 football phrase and last week’s fiendish football phrase. If you didn’t hear them last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week, the football phrase was just a word and the word was ******. This is something that you hold, but it’s not a physical thing. You set one of these when you’re the first person to do something. If someone does it better than you, often faster or for longer or at an earlier age, then your ****** will be broken and you will no longer hold the ******.

The fiendish football phrase was to **** **** ******. This means to reach a point where you are comfortable and confident in what you are doing. In football, sometimes a team takes a while to **** ***** ****** and they play badly. Passes are missed, runs are mistimed and the performance is poor. However, sometimes a team settles down and starts playing well together. When this happens, you can say that they ***** ***** ******.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine, Hasan from Turkey, Idzingirai from Zimbabwe, Gapa from Korea, Bicoooz form Egypt, Mobeckham from Turkey, Leofabiano fropm Brazil, AndreTorre102 from Brazil, Lukáš from Czechia, Denis2000 from Belarus and Gustavo Fonseca from Peru. Welcome back Gustavo. We've not seen you here for ages. It's great to have you back.

You all managed to work out that the football phrase was record and the fiendish football phrase was to find your rhythm.

Now it’s time for the first story.

Rice sees red against Brighton

Declan Rice was shown his first ever red card on Saturday following a controversial decision by the referee to book the Arsenal midfielder for tapping the ball out of play as he walked away from Joel Veltman who had just been awarded a free kick. Rice was wrong to do this and the referee was entitled to reach for a card, but his decision was controversial as he’d chosen not to penalise a Brighton player for a much clearer example of the same offence earlier in the match. Since Rice was already on a yellow card, the decision to book him for this incident had significant consequences and changed the dynamics on the pitch, likely contributing to João Pedro’s second-half equaliser.

Gary Lineker, the ex-footballer and presenter of the BBC’s football programme Match of the Day described the incident as a classic example of where football has lost its mind. When you watch the replays, it doesn’t seem like Rice was deliberately trying to interfere with the free kick, as he barely tapped the ball. However, the referee decided to apply the letter of the law on this occasion and showed Rice the red card.

Final score: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion

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

• Controversial
• To penalise
• The letter of the law

Controversial
The adjective controversial describes something that people disagree about. A controversial topic is something that people argue about and that people often have strong feelings about. In almost every match, some of the referees' decisions will be controversial because fans on different teams will often see the decisions differently; some fans will agree and think that the referee made a good decision while others will think that the decision is unfair. Outside of football, we talk about controversial topics in politics and in the media. Sadly, there are lots of topics or viewpoints that are controversial and that people argue about. In the match at the Emirates Stadium, the referee’s decision to book Rice knowing it would result in him being sent off was controversial as many Brighton fans agreed with the referee while Arsenal fans thought that the decision was unfair.

To penalise
The verb to penalise means to punish someone because they have done something wrong. In football, it usually means giving a disadvantage to one of the teams because they broke the rules. The result of the act of penalising is a penalty. You all know what that means in football terms, but we use the noun penalty commonly to talk about fines or punishment for small offences, such as driving offences. If you break the speed limit in the UK, the penalty is usually a fine and penalty points on your licence. If you get caught speeding multiple times and get 12 penalty points, you will be suspended from driving. I think that we only use the verb to penalise when we are describing the punishment that is given by an authority. So a referee might penalise a team or a player. A traffic police officer might penalise a driver for breaking the speed limit and a teacher might penalise a student for handing in an assignment late, perhaps by taking marks off which could affect their grade.

The letter of the law
We use the phrase the letter of the law when someone follows rules exactly, usually when this seems unnecessary or unfair. If a teacher tells their students that they must hand in their homework by 9am on Monday morning. If a student is two minutes late and the teacher rejects their homework and refuses to award them a grade, then they are being very strict and following the letter of the law ... they are also being a bit of a meanie, but rules are rules. We talk about following the letter of the law, applying the letter of the law and sticking to the letter of the law.

Now it’s time for the second story.

Another Hat-Trick for Haaland

Erling Haaland grabbed the headlines as he took home another match ball following a top-level performance against West Ham. While it’s uncertain if Haaland would score as many goals without the vision and confidence of the incredible City players supporting him, when the team is functioning well and able to get the ball to Haaland, he is unstoppable. He demonstrated this with flair at the London Stadium on Saturday.

First, he struck the ball past the keeper after a defensive error that Bernardo Silva had pounced on. Then, 20 minutes later, following an exquisite build-up that saw the ball passed between the City forwards, cutting through West Ham's defensive lines, Haaland blasted the ball into the top of the net.

The hat-trick came towards the end of the second half. Haaland had barely touched the ball since the break when he noticed an attacking opportunity before the West Ham defenders had. He was already sprinting towards goal as the ball was played, staying just onside but behind the defenders, and into space; one-on-one with the keeper. Haaland capped his perfect run with a delicate chip, lifting the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Final score: West Ham United 1 - 3 Manchester City

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

• To pounce on something
• Exquisite
• Barely

To pounce on something
The verb to pounce means to react quickly and eagerly when you spot an opportunity. I think that the verb comes from talking about animals, or cats at least. When a cat, a lion or tiger, is hunting its prey, it creeps up very slowly and sneakily until it is close to the animal it’s hunting. Then, when it’s ready, it pounces on its prey. So for cats, to pounce means to jump on its prey. So if you react quickly to an opportunity and seize that opportunity like a cat jumping on its prey, we say that you pounce on it. When Lucas Paqueta failed to control the ball, Bernardo Silva pounced on the opportunity and set up Haaland to score.

Exquisite
The adjective exquisite means really beautiful. I think it’s normally used to talk about something that is considered high quality, that is appreciated by experts or connoisseurs who appreciate and recognise when something is really high quality. So an art expert might describe a painting as exquisite and a chef might describe a sauce or some other fantastic food as exquisite. I included the adjective because it was used in the football commentary about Haaland’s second goal.

Barely
The adverb barely means only just or by the smallest amount. So if you have barely enough money to buy something, you do have enough money, but only just. It’s quite an expressive adverb. I said that Haaland had barely had a touch in the second half before he scored. He might have had one or two touches, but he had almost none. Earlier, I said that Rice barely tapped the ball when he was sent off. He did touch the ball, but only a little, it was a very small tap.

And now it’s time for the third story.

Salah Makes It Seven

The Northwest Derby, contested between two giants of English football, Manchester United and Liverpool, is an age-old rivalry that has been built over 130 years and played out 215 times. When the teams met on Sunday, fans knew that some sort of drama was almost a given. Historically, the Red Devils have won more, but in recent years, Liverpool have had one key advantage—and his name is Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian forward is the top scorer in the derby and cemented that record on Sunday when he scored in his seventh consecutive meeting with Manchester United.

In the first half, Salah set up Luis Diaz to score twice before finding the net himself in the second half. Mac Allister muscled Mainoo off the ball and quickly passed to Szoboszlai as Liverpool players streaked forward. Szoboszlai had his pick of three Liverpool players running in. In the end, Szoboszlai settled on Salah as the safest option. Salah struck for goal with his first touch, scoring in his seventh consecutive match against Liverpool’s biggest rivals.

Final score: Manchester United 0 - 3 Liverpool

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

• A given
• To cement
• To settle on something

A given
This is an interesting phrase. I think it’s quite common, but I’m not sure I’ve ever taught it before. If something is a given, it is something that everyone accepts is true. I think that most of the time, it’s used when you’re making plans and part of the plan is so obvious, you don’t need to say it ... but if you do, you can say that it’s a given. For example, if I go camping with my kids, it is a given that we’ll have a bonfire and roast marshmallows. For my kids, bonfires and roasting marshmallows is part of camping. It’s as much of a given when camping as sleeping in a tent. I said that drama in the Northwest derby was a given. I meant that all the fans were confident that they were going to see an exciting match, that the match would not be boring. And of course, they were right.

To cement a record
To cement means to make something stronger. Cement is a sort of glue. Most of the time when people talk about cement in the UK, they mean the hard stuff that goes between bricks in a wall to stick them together. Now, bricklayers don’t call that stuff cement. The grey stuff between the bricks is mortar which is made of sand and cement mixed together with water. However, I think it’s quite common to call mortar cement. When we use the word cement as a verb, it means to make something strong or fixed as if we have encased it in cement or mortar. Mohamed Salah is the top scorer in the Northwest Derby and when he scored on Sunday, he made his record more difficult to break, he cemented that record.

To settle on something
The phrase to settle on something means to make a decision, often after spending some time considering different options. So if you are trying to decide where to go on holiday, you might be thinking about a beach holiday or a city break or a trip to the mountains or perhaps you want to visit a historic monument. If it’s hard to make a decision, perhaps because all your options are attractive, when you do make a decision, you can say that you settled on ... a city break, for example. So I said that Szoboszlai had three Liverpool attackers to choose from when he ran with the ball towards United’s goal. All three were in good positions and would have had a good chance of scoring. When Szoboszlai made the decision to pass to Salah, I said that he settled on Salah. I will admit that part of the reason I chose the phrasal verb was the sound of the sentence: Szoboszlai settled on Salah as the safest option.

Today, I’ve spoken about 9 useful words and phrases.

The words and phrases were:

• Controversial
• To penalise
• The letter of the law
• To pounce on something
• Exquisite
• Barely
• A given
• To cement
• To settle on something

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

 

Rice sees red against Brighton

Declan Rice was shown his first ever red card on Saturday following a controversial decision by the referee to book the Arsenal midfielder for tapping the ball out of play as he walked away from Joel Veltman who had just been awarded a free kick. Rice was wrong to do this and the referee was entitled to reach for a card, but his decision was controversial as he’d chosen not to penalise a Brighton player for a much clearer example of the same offence earlier in the match. Since Rice was already on a yellow card, the decision to book him for this incident had significant consequences and changed the dynamics on the pitch, likely contributing to João Pedro’s second-half equaliser.

Gary Lineker, the ex-footballer and presenter of the BBC’s football programme Match of the Day described the incident as a classic example of where football has lost its mind. When you watch the replays, it doesn’t seem like Rice was deliberately trying to interfere with the free kick, as he barely tapped the ball. However, the referee decided to apply the letter of the law on this occasion and showed Rice the red card.

Final score: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion

 

Another Hat-Trick for Haaland

Erling Haaland grabbed the headlines as he took home another match ball following a top-level performance against West Ham. While it’s uncertain if Haaland would score as many goals without the vision and confidence of the incredible City players supporting him, when the team is functioning well and able to get the ball to Haaland, he is unstoppable. He demonstrated this with flair at the London Stadium on Saturday.

First, he struck the ball past the keeper after a defensive error that Bernardo Silva had pounced on. Then, 20 minutes later, following an exquisite build-up that saw the ball passed between the City forwards, cutting through West Ham's defensive lines, Haaland blasted the ball into the top of the net.

The hat-trick came towards the end of the second half. Haaland had barely touched the ball since the break when he noticed an attacking opportunity before the West Ham defenders had. He was already sprinting towards goal as the ball was played, staying just onside but behind the defenders, and into space; one-on-one with the keeper. Haaland capped his perfect run with a delicate chip, lifting the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Final score: West Ham United 1 - 3 Manchester City

 

Salah Makes It Seven

The Northwest Derby, contested between two giants of English football, Manchester United and Liverpool, is an age-old rivalry that has been built over 130 years and played out 215 times. When the teams met on Sunday, fans knew that some sort of drama was almost a given. Historically, the Red Devils have won more, but in recent years, Liverpool have had one key advantage—and his name is Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian forward is the top scorer in the derby and cemented that record on Sunday when he scored in his seventh consecutive meeting with Manchester United.

In the first half, Salah set up Luis Diaz to score twice before finding the net himself in the second half. Mac Allister muscled Mainoo off the ball and quickly passed to Szoboszlai as Liverpool players streaked forward. Szoboszlai had his pick of three Liverpool players running in. In the end, Szoboszlai settled on Salah as the safest option. Salah struck for goal with his first touch, scoring in his seventh consecutive match against Liverpool’s biggest rivals.

Final score: Manchester United 0 - 3 Liverpool

Language challenge

Right, now it’s time for you to think about this language again. I have used AI to come up with examples of today’s words and phrases 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. She _______ passed the exam, scoring just enough to get through.

Number 2. The politician introduced a _________ policy that divided public opinion.

Number 3.The two companies signed a contract to _________ their partnership for future projects.

Number 4. It was difficult to __________ a name for their newborn, but they eventually chose Erling.

Number 5. The critics were quick to _________ the new movie for its controversial content.

Number 6. Hard work is ________ if you want to achieve your goals.

Number 7. The violinist played an _________ piece of music that moved the audience to tears.

Number 8. The football team was _________ with a loss of points for breaking the league’s financial rules.

Number 9. The police officer enforced _____________ when issuing the fine, regardless of the circumstances.

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’s football phrases come from an article on the Premier League website that analyses Arne Slot’s approach and the impact it had against Manchester United.

The football phrase is a ***** *****. This is a phrase which means that a team has not conceded a goal. In Fantasy Premier League, your goalkeeper and defenders score extra points if they manage to keep a ***** *****.

The fiendish football phrase is very tricky. It’s a ******* ****. This is a type of kick, that is supposed to go from one player to another, but that actually flies off in an uncontrolled way and is impossible for the target player to collect and control. The adjective in this phrase is more commonly used to describe a person who is a bit of a rebel, often in relation to their family and who does unexpected things and is unpredictable and a bit wild.

I think that this is a really tricky phrase and I suspect that it will finally fox you guys. Until now, loads of you have found my fiendish football phrases ... not fiendish enough. See how you do with this one!

If you know the answers, be sure to leave them 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. The coach had high expectations for the team this season, believing they could win the championship.

Number 2. With the way the storm was approaching, it was inevitable that the outdoor concert would be cancelled.

Number 3. Winning the championship was incredible, but being named MVP was the cherry on top.

Number 4. Saying the project is running behind schedule is putting it kindly—we're months late and nowhere near finished.

Number 5. She wasn’t selected for the role initially, but when the first choice dropped out, she got a second bite at the audition.

Number 6. Landing a role in a blockbuster movie alongside your favourite actor is the stuff of dreams for any aspiring actor.

Number 7. The team's lead in the game was short-lived, as the opposing team quickly scored two goals.

Number 8. My little brother is smart, but he's a handful in class because he gets bored easily and starts distracting others.

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.