This Week: Blood in the Water

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 britishcouncil.org/premierskillsenglish 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.

The words and phrases I am looking at this week are: a strong hand, blood in the water, to run rings around someone, to outplay, spirited, to rattle, to burst someone’s bubble and to hold someone at bay.

Listen out for these phrases in the headlines and stories.

After each story there will be a short language focus and then there will be a task for you to complete and then at the end of the podcast there will be a new football phrase.

But before that, I want to look at last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week’s football phrase was ******* *******. This can be a verb or a noun and it describes an offensive response to an opponent’s attempt to score. Some teams play well on the ******* *******. They let their opponents come forward and stretch their defence and midfield and when the team make a mistake or the ball is won, the team surges forward to make the most of the space between and behind the opponents attackers. This worked well for Spurs against Man City, but not so well against Man Utd.

Congratulations to 258963 from Vietnam, Hayato from Japan, Daniel 06 from Mexico, Hsn from Turkey, Taha Gashout from Libya, Mehmet Sisman from Turkey and RamonRuiz from Mexico. You all correctly worked out that the phrase I was looking for was counter attack. Keep listening till the end of the podcast for this week’s new football phrase.

OK, let’s get on with this week’s three football stories!

Viera plays a strong hand

Crystal Palace hosted Everton in the FA Cup this weekend. Earlier in the week, the Eagles had held league leaders Manchester City at bay and this may have given the manager the confidence to play his entire hand of attacking players. Everton started strong and dominated possession early on until after 17 minutes, Andros Townsend left the field with a knee injury. This was like blood in the water for the Palace attackers. Eze, Gallagher, Olise, Zaha and Mateta ran rings around their opponents and dished up a mouthwatering blend of energy and movement. By the time the referee blew the final whistle, Palace had put four past Pickford. Final score: Crystal Palace 4, Everton 0.

The phrases I want to talk about from this story are a strong hand, blood in the water and to run rings around somebody.

When you are playing cards, your hand is the set of cards that you are given in a round of the game you are playing. In a game like poker, your hand is the two cards that you keep secret and use to make winning combinations with the cards that are on the table. If you have a strong hand, you are more likely to win. There are a couple of common expressions that use the word hand, to show your hand and to play your hand. If you show your hand in cards, you show the other players what your cards are. This is used in a figurative way to mean to reveal your plans, to reveal your intentions and perhaps whatever advantage you have. For example, if you are in competition for a promotion at work, you might want to keep your application a secret. If you let your colleagues know that you are applying and any advantages you might have when it comes to the job, you are showing your hand. The other expression is to play your hand. In cards, this means to continue to play and not fold or quit. The figurative use is to do what you can with the resources you have. So Patrick Viera has five young attacking players in his squad, but the match against Everton was the first time he played all five. He had a strong hand going into the match with Everton.

The phrase blood in the water suggests the power of a shark. Sharks are very sensitive and can smell a drop of blood in water for ... well, a long distance. To the shark, the scent of blood is a sign that there is an injured animal that will make for an easy lunch. So if someone says that there is blood in the water, this is a sign that someone can be easily attacked because they are weak.

If someone runs rings around you, they beat you at something very easily. They are much better than you at whatever the game. I said that the attacking Palace player ran rings around Everton because they played so well, they were much better than them.

Let’s move on to the next story.

Wolves fall apart after Jiménez dismissal

By the first half whistle, Wolverhampton Wanderers were sitting on a two-goal lead having easily outplayed visiting Leeds Utd. However, both teams had put on a spirited display and the referee had been kept busy. Shortly after the start of the second half Raúl Jiménez was shown a second yellow card for a bad foul and was sent off. This sending off rattled Wolves and Leeds took full advantage scoring two goals in four minutes. With their lead gone, Wolves switched tactics and held the draw till extra time when Luke Ayling scored the winning goal for Leeds. Final score: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Leeds United 3.

The words I want to talk about from this story are to outplay, spirited and rattled.

If you outplay someone, you play much more cleverly and skillfully than your opponent. I said that Wolves outplayed Leeds United. At least for the first part of the match, Wolves were the better team. They outplayed their rivals and built up a two-goal lead.

The adjective spirited means enthusiastic and determined. It is often used in a slightly indirect way to say that there was arguing and fighting. If someone gets really angry at work and screams and yells, you might refer to their behaviour as spirited to be delicate. In football, if a team puts on a spirited performance, you might mean that they played with lots of enthusiasm, but you probably mean that they were aggressive and there were lots of fouls.

The word rattle normally describes a noise. It’s a bit like a knocking sound. Babies are sometimes given toys that make a rattling noise when they shake them. These toys are called rattles. As a verb, the word rattle can mean to make a rattling noise but it also has another meaning. If you rattle someone, you make them feel nervous or worried, usually about something that they would have been confident about otherwise. So in the example from the story, I said that Wolves were playing confidently and then when Jimenez was sent off, they were rattled. They were suddenly not confident and were worried.

Let’s move on to the final story.

Gunners burst Coventry’s bubble

In the women’s FA Cup, Coventry United had been living out a fairytale journey. From the jaws of administration just two months ago, to the prospect of an FA Cup semi-final, could bottom of the Championship Coventry United LFC play their way into FA Cup history? Well, no. 14-time FA Cup winners and Women’s Super League leaders Arsenal were held at bay for 38 minutes before Stina Blackstenius opened the scoring. After three more goals, Arsenal had made their point and earned their semi-final place. Final score: Arsenal 4, Coventry 0.

The phrases I want to look at from this story are to burst someone’s bubble and to hold at bay.

If you burst someone’s bubble, you do something which shows someone that what they thought was happening or likely, was not true or is not likely to happen. So, lots of children dream of being a Premier League footballer. They think that if they train hard and keep practising that there’s a chance that one day, they might get to play for Liverpool. However, you have to be so good to play for a Premier League team that for most kids, it’s never going to happen. However, you wouldn’t tell a little kid that they don’t have a chance, would you? I mean, even if they were pretty rubbish at football ... If you do, then you burst that child’s bubble. I think we normally use this expression when someone has a dream, a bubble, that is not realistic. So whether it’s a child with no talent dreaming of becoming a professional footballer or Coventry United’s hope of FA Cup glory, when reality hits, it makes you feel a bit sad.

The last phrase I want to talk about is to hold someone at bay. I said that Arsenal were held at bay for 38 minutes. This means they were not allowed to score in that time. They were held back, away from the goal. So to keep someone or hold someone at bay means to stop them from getting any closer. So you might hear that the police kept the rioters at bay or the brave defenders held the aggressors at bay or even that eating oranges and fresh fruit keeps colds at bay.

OK. That’s 8 words or phrases today. The words and phrases from the stories were: A strong hand, blood in the water, to run rings around someone, to outplay, spirited, to rattle, to burst someone’s bubble and to hold someone at bay.

Listen to the headlines one more time to hear these words and phrases in context.

Viera plays a strong hand

Crystal Palace hosted Everton in the FA Cup this weekend. Earlier in the week, the Eagles had held back league leaders Manchester City and this may have given the manager the confidence to play his entire hand of attacking players. Everton started strong and dominated possession early on until after 17 minutes, Andros Townsend left the field with a knee injury. This was like blood in the water for the Palace attackers. Eze, Gallagher, Olise, Zaha and Mateta ran rings around their opponents and dished up a mouthwatering blend of energy and movement. By the time the referee blew the final whistle, Palace had put four past Pickford. Final score: Crystal Palace 4, Everton 0.

Wolves fall apart after Jiménez dismissal

By the first half whistle, Wolverhampton Wanderers were sitting on a two-goal lead having easily outplayed visiting Leeds Utd. However, both teams put on a spirited display and the referee had been kept busy. Shortly after the start of the second half Raúl Jiménez was shown a second yellow card for a bad foul and was sent off. This sending off rattled Wolves and Leeds took full advantage scoring two goals in four minutes. With their lead gone, Wolves switched tactics and held the draw till extra time when Luke Ayling scored the winning goal for Leeds. Final score: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2, Leeds United 3.

Gunners burst Coventry’s bubble

In the women’s FA Cup, Coventry United had been living out a fairytale journey. From the jaws of administration just two months ago, to the prospect of an FA Cup semi-final, could bottom of the Championship Coventry United LFC play their way into FA Cup history? Well, no. 14-time FA Cup winners and Women’s Super League leaders Arsenal were held at bay for 38 minutes before Stina Blackstenius opened the scoring. After three more goals, Arsenal had made their point and earned their semi-final place. Final score: Arsenal 4, Coventry 0.

Language Challenge

Right, now it’s time for you to think about the language again.

Here are eight sentences with gaps in them and you have to complete the gaps with the words and phrases from this podcast.

Number 1. I don’t mean to _________ but I don’t think you are cut out for ballet, you’re just not graceful enough.
Number 2: After the government’s defeat, the opposition sensed ___________ and launched a series of fierce attacks.
Number 3: The business executive knew that the buyer needed his product so had a _______ going into the negotiations.
Number 4. She was so much better than me. She really _________ out there.
Number 5. I thought I had a strong hand going in, but when she made her move, it really ________ me and I went to pieces after that.
Number 6: Thank you for visiting. It’s a shame you have to leave so soon. You have such _________ children. The house will seem very quiet when they have gone.
Number 7: The champions launched wave after wave of attacks, but the defenders managed to __them _______.
Number 8: United should have done better but they were ______ on the night.

Leave your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Football phrase

Now it’s time for this week’s football phrase. This phrase will be the same in this podcast and the podcast on Friday so I will announce the answer and the usernames of people who have got it right next Monday ... or Tuesday.

This week’s football phrase is a phrasal verb with a number of meanings. The phrasal verb is to **** ****. In sport, this means to do exercises, especially strength training exercises to improve your strength and to build and condition muscle. You can also use it to mean to find the solution to a puzzle. I like to **** *** in the morning because it invigorates me and makes me feel fit and healthy throughout the day.

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 all of you stay fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.