Matchweek 13: Pile on the pressure

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: Let’s start our round-up of Matchweek thirteen with our headlines.

Headlines

Jack: Mourinho back in the big time with Spurs.

Rich: It was a winning start for Jose Mourinho as Tottenham beat West Ham 3-2 at the London Stadium to win away in the Premier League for the first time since January. Goals from Son Heung-Min, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane made the game safe for Spurs despite two late goals from West Ham. Mourinho replaced the sacked Mauricio Pochettino last week and this result piles the pressure on West Ham boss, Manuel Pelligrini.

Jack: Leaders moving away from the pack.

Rich: There was a big win for Manchester City as they beat Chelsea 2-1 while Liverpool won by the same scoreline in a hard-fought match at Crystal Palace. Leicester stay second after they won 2-0 at Brighton. Jamie Vardy scored again - this time it was a retaken penalty after the first was disallowed. The gap between Chelsea in fourth and Wolves in fifth is up to seven points.

Jack: United in thriller at United.

Rich: Sheffield United and Manchester United shared the spoils in a three-all draw at Bramall Lane. The Blades were comfortable at 2-0 with 70 minutes gone but three goals in seven minutes from teenagers Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood and then Marcus Rashford turned the game on its head. The final twist came in injury time when Oli McBurnie got the equaliser for the Blades.

Jack: There were also good wins for Norwich City, Wolves and Burnley this weekend.

Rich: Some great games this weekend. My favourite was that 3-3 draw between the two Uniteds. A great advert for the Premier League.

Jack: It was good, but City - Chelsea was my favourite. A high-quality match between two really good teams.

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 be sacked, to pile on the pressure, a retaken penalty, disallowed, to share the spoils and to turn a game on its head.

Jack: Let’s start with the phrases we used to talk about the West Ham - Tottenham match. We mentioned the sacked Mauricio Pocchetino. To sack someone means to dismiss someone from their job.

Rich: If you’re not very good at your job or do something wrong, you may be sacked or fired or dismissed. You can also get the sack or get fired. So, we can use sack as a verb or a noun to mean dismissed from your job.

Jack: The past participle can often be used as an adjective. When we spoke about the sacked Mauricio Pocchetino we were using sacked as an adjective. 

Rich: The next phrase is to pile on the pressure. We said that West Ham’s bad result had piled the pressure on the West Ham manager. 

Jack: To pile on is a phrase which means to increase something by a large amount.

Rich: So, to pile the pressure on someone means to increase the pressure or stress on someone by a large amount.

Jack: It’s often used to talk about the manager’s position at a club but it can be used on the pitch too. For example, Manchester United are piling the pressure on now.

Rich: This means Man United are attacking a lot and piling the pressure on the other team or the other team’s defence.

Jack:  Our next two phrases come from the match between Leicester City and Brighton. The first is a retaken penalty. Leicester City scored a penalty, but the referee said Jamie Vardy had to take the penalty again because something was wrong.

Rich: This is a retaken penalty. A retaken penalty is a penalty that is taken twice or even three times because maybe there is encroachment by some defenders or the goalkeeper is not on his line.

Jack: Jamie Vardy had to take the penalty again because it was disallowed.

Rich: To disallow a goal means a goal was not permitted because a rule or law was broken. The referee disallowed the goal and the penalty had to be retaken.

Jack: Our final two phrases come from the Sheffield United - Manchester United match. We said that the two teams shared the spoils. This means the match finished in a draw.

Rich: The spoils are the profits you get from being successful or what you win from war - the spoils of war. In a football match, the spoils are the points.

Jack: Our last phrase is to turn a game on its head. To turn something on its head means to make something happen in a completely different way or get someone to think in a completely different way.

Rich: Sheffield United were winning 2-0 then, seven minutes later, Manchester United were winning 3-2. They turned the game on its head. 

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 be sacked, to pile on the pressure, a retaken penalty, disallowed, to share the spoils and to turn a game on its head.

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: Let’s start with Player of the Week. There were some great performances last week. Jamie Vardy got a goal and an assist and Norwich City’s Todd Cantwell was great as the Canaries got themselves off the bottom of the table.

Rich: But our Player of the Week is Tottenham’s, Dele Alli. The Spurs player didn’t score but he ran the show against West Ham and already looks like a new player under Jose Mourinho.

Jack:  Now Team of the Week. Great wins for some of the top clubs, but this week we’re going to look to the bottom of the table. A 2-0 away win for Norwich City and the Canaries get our award.

Rich: 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.

Jack: Goal number one: Joao Moutinho for Wolves against Bournemouth. A stunning free-kick.

Rich: Goal number two: Riyad Mahrez for Manchester City versus Chelsea. A brilliant individual goal.

Jack: Goal number three: Lys Mousset for Sheffield United v Manchester United. A lovely pass and an even better finish past David De Gea.

Rich: 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: Last week I went for a Manchester City win and Manchester City won.

Jack: Good prediction although not totally unpredictable. Which match is it this week?

Rich: Matchweek 14 sees Jose Mourinho play his first home match as Spurs manager so I thought I’d make a prediction for Tottenham against Bournemouth. Only one point separates the two teams but Bournemouth are probably quite happy with their mid-table position while Spurs fans will definitely not be. Tottenham have brought in Mourinho to get them back up the table and they got off to a good start last week with a win at West Ham. Bournemouth lost at home to Wolves and look like the could start sliding down the league table so I’m going for a comfortable first home win for Mourinho’s Tottenham. Final score: Tottenham 3-0 Bournemouth

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

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.