Matchweek 11 - Sour grapes
Matchweek 11 - Sour grapes
Welcome to This Week from Premier Skills English, a weekly review of football action for learners of English from across the globe. In This Week, Jack and Rich talk about the latest action from the Premier League. They keep you up to date with our new prediction competition and have lots of football English for you to learn.
Transcript
Introduction
Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.
Jack: Hi there. I’m Jack. That’s right. We’re going to discuss all the latest football action from last weekend in the Premier League.
Rich: And not only that, we’ve also got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.
Jack: And we want you to use and practise these phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.
Rich: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page.
Jack: Let’s start with this week’s headlines!
Headlines
Rich: City hit Southampton for six.
Jack: Manchester City walloped Southampton 6-1 to open up a two-point gap at the top of the table. Southampton just couldn’t handle City’s attacking play. An own goal, two from Raheem Sterling and one each from Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane and David Silva saw City get their biggest win of the season.
Rich: Chelsea beat Palace to keep up the pace at the top.
Jack: Chelsea are up to second place after a 3-1 win against Crystal Palace. Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Alvaro Morata scored, but Palace equalised early in the second half with a lovely goal by Andros Townsend. Chelsea struggled to break Palace down but within a minute of Eden Hazard coming on as a substitute, Morata scored his second and five minutes later Pedro scored Chelsea’s third.
Rich: Newcastle win at last.
Jack: Newcastle got their first win of the season at the eleventh attempt. One goal was enough to beat Watford and also lift the Magpies out of the relegation zone.
Jack: We haven’t mentioned the Arsenal - Liverpool match? It finished 1-1.
Rich: No, I’m a bit disappointed we had a goal disallowed unfairly and hit the post.
Jack: Sounds like sour grapes to me. I thought Arsenal were the better team and definitely deserved their equaliser.
Vocabulary alert!
Rich: In our vocabulary alert, we look at some football English that we used in this week’s headlines.
Jack: The six words and phrases this week are: to hit a team for six, to open up a gap, to not be able to handle something, to struggle to do something, to break a team down and sour grapes.
Rich: They’re all quite difficult this week let’s start with: to hit a team for six.
Jack: This phrase means to score six goals against a team and at the same time beat them very comfortably.
Rich: The phrase actually comes from cricket. A six is the best shot you can do in cricket to score the most points.
Jack: It also has a more general meaning. You can be hit for six by a piece of sad or shocking news which means you are very upset by something.
Rich: The next phrase is to open up a gap. City have opened up a two-point gap at the top of the table.
Jack: This phrase is often used in football and describes the gap between two places or parts of the table. You could say Newcastle have opened up a gap between themselves and the relegation places.
Rich: The next phrase is to struggle. We have spoken about this before but it’s very common in football English. To struggle means to find something difficult.
Jack: It is often used with our next phrase ‘to break down’ which means to score or make chances against a strong defence.
Rich: So, you often hear people saying ‘they struggled to break the other team down’.
Jack: The next phrase is to handle which is often used in the negative in football English. Southampton couldn’t handle City’s attacking play.
Rich: It means to be able to control or manage something.
Jack: The final phrase is my favourite this week. It’s sour grapes.
Rich: When I said I thought Liverpool should have won against Arsenal, Jack said it sounded like sour grapes.
Jack: It’s used when someone thinks another person is jealous or being unsporting because something happened that they didn’t want to happen.
Football Awards
Rich: Right, every week, we give out three matchweek awards.
Jack: The awards are Player of the Week, Team of the Week and Goal of the Week.
Rich: In the comments section, you need to tell us if you agree with our choices.
Jack: Last week we also asked you about goals that shouldn’t have counted; that should have been disallowed.
Rich: Thaitn from Vietnam remembered Diego Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ goal for Argentina against England and Ahmed Adam remembered a goal by Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League in 2017.
Jack: Keep the comments coming - it’s a great way to practise your English.
Rich: Let’s start with this week’s Player of the Week.
Jack: All of the Leicester players showed great emotional strength to play in their win against Cardiff but on an individual level Paul Pogba was good for Manchester United and Tottenham’s Erik Lamela was good for Spurs, especially in the first half of their game.
Rich: But our Player of the Week is West Ham Utd’s, Felipe Anderson. Two goals for the Brazilian and he was the star player in West Ham’s 4-2 win against Burnley.
Jack: Right, now Team of the Week. A last-gasp win for Manchester United and a big win for Manchester City but our Team of the Week is Leicester City. A difficult week for the club ended with the team back in action and a good win although the three points were not of real importance.
Rich: And finally, Goal of the Week, Andros Townsend’s goal for Palace was a good hit and Javier Hernandez’s chip for West Ham was great.
Jack: But our Goal of the Week goes to Everton’s Richarlison. The way he went around the goalkeeper he made it look so easy.
Matchweek Prediction
Jack: Every week, Rich predicts the result of one Premier League match and we want you to make your prediction, too.
Rich: Lots of you made predictions last time for the Arsenal - Liverpool match and a special well done to Liubomyr from Ukraine who got the score exactly right. A one-all draw.
Jack: Which match are you going to predict this week, Rich?
Rich: The big match in Matchweek 12 is the Manchester Derby. It’s Manchester City against Manchester United at the Etihad. If you remember last season, United won 3-2 after being 2-0 down at half-time which stopped City winning the Premier League title on that day. It was a brilliant attacking display from United. Can I See the same thing happening? No, I don’t think so. United will go to City and defend and try to play on the counter-attack. I think City will also be looking for some revenge for last season’s defeat. My prediction is Manchester City 3-1 Manchester United.
Jack: I think United will park the bus and come away with a draw. I think it’ll finish nil-nil.
Rich: We will see. Make your predictions on the page below. You get one point if you predict the right result and three points if you predict the right score.
Jack: 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.
Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.
Results
Matchweek 11:
Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester Utd
Cardiff 0-1 Leicester City
Everton 3-1 Brighton
Newcastle 1-0 Watford
West Ham 4-2 Burnley
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
Wolves 2-3 Tottenham
Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace
Manchester City 6-1 Southampton
Huddersfield L-L Fulham
Vocabulary Alert
Football English
We looked at phrases connected to disallowed goals. Take a look at the words in bold. Do you undertand what they mean?
Southampton hit for six by Manchester City.
Chelsea struggled to break down Crystal Palce's defence.
Southampton couldn't handle City's attacking play.
Can you use the words in bold in a different sentence? Write a sentence at the bottom of the page. If you're not sure, listen to the audio for more explanations and examples.
Matchweek Awards
Do you agree with our choices?
Player of the Week: Felipe Anderson (West Ham)
Team of the Week: Leicester City
Goal of the Week: Richarlison (Everton)
The Big Match
Manchester City v Manchester Utd
Rich's prediction for Matchweek eleven is the Manchester Derby. Rich has predicted a 3-1 win for City while Jack has gone for a goalless draw.
What is your prediction? Have a listen to what Rich and Jack say and then enter our prediction competition below. You get one point for the correct result and three points for predicting the exact score.
Where are you in our prediction league?
Who will be our Premier League Prediction Champion?
Form
Premier League Prediction: Manchester City v Manchester Utd
Use this form to make your prediction. You can only make one prediction so take care! When you have made your predictions, the form will vanish.
You need to be logged in to make your prediction!
Check out the league table for our prediction competition. What position are you in?
Four Questions
What do you think?
Jack and Rich have spoken about Matchweek 10 in the Premier League. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions and write your answers in the comments section below.
- Rich and Jack chose Felipe Anderson of as Player of the Week. Do you agree?
- Jack and Rich chose Leicester City as their Team of the Week. Do you agree?
- Rich chose Richarlison's goal for Everton as Goal of the Week? Did you see it? Do you agree?
- Use this week's vocabulary: Tell us about a team that was hit for six or an example of sour grapes.
Don't forget to make your prediction for this week's Big Match!
Let's get the conversation started and create a community!
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Comments
17/12/2020
points
to hit a team for six- In November 2020; Turkish 1st League’s match, my city's team Ankara K. F.K hit away team Akhisar F.K for six. At least three goals were faults of inexperienced goalkeeper. Manager of defeated team resigned after match.
Another phrase-Shareholders were hit for six by sudden and sharp fall of prices at the stock-exchange market.
to open up a gap-Liverpool opened up a three point gap at the top spot by last night winning.
to not be able to handle something- Team were hit for six. It was disaster for them. During the match , manager wasn't able to handle her/his team’s game by giving tactic from by side of the pitch. She/he just hopelessly watched.
to struggle to do something- Midfielders set up a very powerful defensive line therefore opponent players were struggling to pass second zone.
to break a team down- Forward players broke opponent’s defence easily by going ahead with short passes.
sour grapes- After match; at the press-meeting, defeated team manager blamed referee’s for her/his wrong desicions. Sour grapes. It's an excuse for not being well on the football grounds.
A proverb from here-:) Literally----“With patient, sour grapes turn to halvah” (Turkish origin dessert)
17/12/2020 17:23
Tottenham Hotspur
5558
to hit a team for six- In November 2020; Turkish 1st League’s match, my city's team Ankara K. F.K hit away team Akhisar F.K for six. At least three goals were faults of inexperienced goalkeeper. Manager of defeated team resigned after match.
Another phrase-Shareholders were hit for six by sudden and sharp fall of prices at the stock-exchange market.
to open up a gap-Liverpool opened up a three point gap at the top spot by last night winning.
to not be able to handle something- Team were hit for six. It was disaster for them. During the match , manager wasn't able to handle her/his team’s game by giving tactic from by side of the pitch. She/he just hopelessly watched.
to struggle to do something- Midfielders set up a very powerful defensive line therefore opponent players were struggling to pass second zone.
to break a team down- Forward players broke opponent’s defence easily by going ahead with short passes.
sour grapes- After match; at the press-meeting, defeated team manager blamed referee’s for her/his wrong desicions. Sour grapes. It's an excuse for not being well on the football grounds.
A proverb from here-:) Literally----“With patient, sour grapes turn to halvah” (Turkish origin dessert)
10/11/2018
points
Good games this week but Liverpool shouldn't haveManchister City opening a gap.
10/11/2018 16:18
Liverpool
325
Good games this week but Liverpool shouldn't haveManchister City opening a gap.
09/11/2018
points
Hi,
I couldn't manage to watch the Hammers and Leicester last weekend but I think your choices are really good. Felipe Anderson was deserving such an acknowledgment.
After every match José Mourinho loses (or sometimes wins), he sounds like sour grapes.
09/11/2018 16:03
Tottenham Hotspur
615
Hi,
I couldn't manage to watch the Hammers and Leicester last weekend but I think your choices are really good. Felipe Anderson was deserving such an acknowledgment.
After every match José Mourinho loses (or sometimes wins), he sounds like sour grapes.
07/11/2018
points
A new name for player of the week, it is quite unusual. However Felipe Anderson may have been famous in Brazil!
The team of the week award is of well deserved for Leicester.
I am sorry not saying Richardson goal, I was too busy with Man U and the Citizen.
Southampon was hit for six by Man City.
When the Gunners got the equaliser it tasted like sour grapes for Liverpool fans.
07/11/2018 15:56
Manchester City
3988
A new name for player of the week, it is quite unusual. However Felipe Anderson may have been famous in Brazil!
The team of the week award is of well deserved for Leicester.
I am sorry not saying Richardson goal, I was too busy with Man U and the Citizen.
Southampon was hit for six by Man City.
When the Gunners got the equaliser it tasted like sour grapes for Liverpool fans.
09/11/2018
points
Hi, elghoul. I don't think Felipe Anderson is a famous player here in Brazil. When he was playing here, he was known and played well but many people, including one of his former coaches, complained about his ability to defend. In this sense, I think he improved a lot playing in Italy.
09/11/2018 15:44
Tottenham Hotspur
615
Hi, elghoul. I don't think Felipe Anderson is a famous player here in Brazil. When he was playing here, he was known and played well but many people, including one of his former coaches, complained about his ability to defend. In this sense, I think he improved a lot playing in Italy.