Football Shout-out: Instructions

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:

Rich: We’re going to beat this lot today. They’re just going to park the bus. Play with eleven behind the ball.

Jack: I’m not so sure. They’re pretty solid at the back and quick on the counter-attack. Lots of people have been saying they could go quite far in the tournament. They’re a bit of a dark horse.

Rich: Nah! It’ll be attack against defence, like a training match. They play nice football but there’s no end product.

Jack: Mmm .. I hope you’re right but we need to keep an eye on their number nine. He’s pretty quick.

Rich: Mmm … he’s alright but they haven’t got anyone else. We should turn them over easily.

Jack: We’ll see.

Rich: Our last lesson was all about what we say when we talk about the other team - the opposition.  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 fan language about this.

Jack: This lesson, though, is about the opposite of the opposition. It’s about our team - it’s about your team ... and what you shout at your own players when you’re watching the match.

Rich: I love this. Shouting instructions at the TV screen. I know the players can’t hear me but I shout and scream anyway! Pass it!, cross it!, shoot! My favourite is ‘man on!’ - you shout this when a player from the other team starts closing down your player.

Jack: We all shout at our players through the TV sometimes so we’re going to look at some of the words and phrases we use to shout at our own players. Listen to this:

Rich: Come on! We need to get the ball off them. Get stuck in!

Jack: That’s it! Good tackle. You’ve got time. Pass it. Pass it! Man on! Ohh. Straight into touch. Come on?!

Rich: We need to keep hold of the ball.

Jack: We need to get it in the box. There’s only a couple of minutes left.

Rich: That’s it. Down the line. Go on skin him. That’s it, go on ... cross it!

Jack: Go on. Have a pop! Goal!! Get in!! 

…

Rich: We need to hold on to this. Here they come. Get rid of it!! Get it out!

Jack: That’s it. Take it to the corner. That should do. Referee! Come on! That’s got to be it (final whistle sounds - crowd cheers)

Rich: Every fan shouts at the screen sometimes. Why do we do it?

Jack: I suppose we want to be the coach. We might shout at the stadium, too. It’s probably from that. 

Rich: Do you think the coach is shouting the same things?

Jack: Maybe ... sometimes. The coach probably sounds less desperate though!

Rich: So, what we shout at our own players are usually instructions. 

Jack: That’s right. Short instructions using the imperative. We say pass it, tackle, shoot.

Rich: We say it a lot. This refers to the ball. Pass the ball, cross the ball, get the ball in the box all become pass it, cross it and get it in the box.

Jack: Get it in the box is what we often shout near the end of a game when our team is losing. We just want the ball to be in the opposition penalty area as quickly as possible to create a chance to score.

Rich: Another useful phrase is get stuck in. We use this when we want our team or a player to tackle more or e more aggressive.

Jack: Down the line is another common expression. This means to pass the ball down the sides of the pitch in an attacking position.

Rich: That’s when a winger might get the ball in a wide position. He usually has two options to cross the ball into the area or try to dribble the ball past a defender.

Jack: This is where you can use the expression skin him.

Rich: It sounds disgusting but it actually means to dribble the ball past a defender.

Jack: It’s really common for football fans to shout shoot! But some alternatives are ‘go on! Have a crack!’ or ‘go on! Have a pop!’ both of these mean to have an attempt at goal.

Rich: Football fans usually shout when they are excited or nervous. You are probably really nervous when your team is winning near the end of the game and the opposition is attacking.

Jack: Some common expressions here are ‘get rid’ and ‘get it out’.

Rich: They both mean to clear the ball as quickly as possible preferably the ball leaving the stadium and not coming back!

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?

Rich: Come on! We need to get the ball off them. Get stuck in!

Jack: That’s it! Good tackle. You’ve got time. Pass it. Ohh. Straight into touch. Come on?!

Rich: We need to keep hold of the ball.

Jack: We need to get it in the box. There’s only a couple of minutes left.

Rich: That’s it. Down the line. Go on skin him. That’s it, go on ... cross it!

Jack: Go on. Have a pop! Goal!! Get in!! 

…

Rich: We need to hold on to this. Here they come. Get rid!! Get it out!

Jack: That’s it. Take it to the corner. That should do. Referee! Come on! That’s got to be it.

Rich: So, there are a few expressions you can use to shout at your team in English while watching a match. 

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

Rich: We’ll be back soon with our next football English lesson, which will be about the language football fans use when a player misses a chance.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.