This Week: A Boxing Day thriller

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 two matches that were played on the 26th of December, on the day we call Boxing Day. But before I get to the football stories, I want to talk about football at Christmas in the UK. You see, football at Christmas has a long history in the UK. Even before the Football Association was created and the first leagues were formed, festive football was part of the holidays.

The word festive is an adjective that we use to describe something that makes us happy and that is related to a special time or festival. The time around Christmas is often described as the festive period and if you go somewhere that has lots of Christmas decorations you might say that it looks very festive.

As I said, festive football has a very long history. Years and years ago, the game was quite different. We call it medieval football and it was played in towns and villages and there were often tens or even hundreds of players on each team.

The adjective medieval is used to say that something happened in the Middle Ages, that is between around 600 to around 1500.

In medieval football, teams were based on where you lived or where you were born and a goal or marker was set up on either side of a town and the two teams would battle to get the ball, usually an inflated pig's bladder, to the marker or into the goal. Inflated means filled with air, like a balloon. It was a very physical game. I read that the only rules were that you could not kill your opponents. Apart from that, there were no rules.

On Christmas day, in Kirkwall, the largest town in the Scottish Orkney Islands, the town turns out for a game of Ba’ which is also the name for the ball. Kirkwall ba’ is a version of medieval football. On Christmas morning, around 100 boys gather or meet together in the same space outside St Magnus’ Cathedral. The teams are the Uppies who have to get the ball up the town to the site of the old town gates and the Doonies who have to get the ball down the town and into the sea. At ten o’clock, the ba’ is thrown into the crowd of boys and the game begins. At one o’clock, the men’s game starts. The men’s game attracts over 300 players and is supposed to be quite impressive to watch. Once the ba’ is thrown into the crowd, the players form a massive scrum to push and jostle for the ball. A scrum describes a situation where two teams try to physically push each other to get to a ball. It’s an important part of rugby. It might look like a bit of a scrap, but it’s all just part of the game. If a player gets the ball, they try to dodge their opponents and weave through the crowd to reach the goal.

Nowadays, Premier League teams don’t play on Christmas day, but in Victorian times there were matches on Christmas day. This was partly because it was the only day off for many workers so it was their only chance to watch a match. In 1871, the day after Christmas Day was made an official holiday. This day is called Boxing Day and very quickly, Boxing Day fixtures became an important feature of the festive period. Now that people have TVs and can watch films as well as football at home, the number of matches over the holidays has fallen, but when most of the country eats too much and relaxes with their families, footballers have to be ready to put their boots on to entertain their fans.

And now, I want to talk about two matches that were played on Boxing Day. Aston Villa travelled to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United and Nottingham Forest went north to St James’ Park to take on Newcastle United.

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

• To break the deadlock
• To surge forwards
• To evaporate
• To break through
• To bamboozle
• A cheeky shot

Listen out for this vocabulary in the stories.

After each story, there will be a language focus and then there will be a language challenge for you 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 a *** *****. A *** ***** is a tactic that has been practised on the training ground. These moves are practised from predictable setups, like from throw-ins, corners and free kicks. Some managers are very good at designing tactics from these positions that are hard to defend against. Teams that practise these a lot are described as dangerous from *** ******.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine, AndreTorre102 from Brazil, Mobeckham from Turkey, Ryohei from Japan, Hasan from Turkey, Goku from Japan, Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Wojciech M from Poland, YurriPrado from Brazil, Lukas from Czechia and Denis2000 from Belarus.

You all worked out that the phrase I was looking for was a set piece.

Keep listening till the end of the podcast for a new football phrase.

Now it’s time for the first story.

United and Villa in five-goal thriller

Manchester United had not lost a home match on Boxing Day since 1978, the Red Devils were unbeaten in 19 Boxing Day home matches. Aston Villa have been playing brilliantly under Unai Emery and looked like they were set to break that record.

John McGinn broke the deadlock at Old Trafford. A slightly rash challenge by Fernandes on Dendonker outside the box on the right wing and Villa were awarded a free kick. McGinn’s ball in sailed over everyone and bounced straight into the goal.

The second goal came from another set piece, this time a corner. McGinn played the ball over the box to the rear post where Lenglet headed the ball back into the middle. Dendonker caught the ball with a backheel and scored his first Aston Villa goal.

In the second half, Garnacho halved the deficit with a good finish for a well-worked team goal that started when Fernandes intercepted Diego Carlos’s pass. Fernandes surged forwards before passing to Rashford who slipped the cross through to Garnacho who guided the ball into the net.

Not long after, Garnacho brought the scores level. Garnacho started the attack running with the ball. He passed the ball wide and when the cross came back, it was to Hojland who had slightly overrun it so tapped it back to Garnacho who powered the ball into the net and Villa’s 2-goal lead had evaporated.

In the 82nd minute, United had a corner. When the ball was played, McGinn was the first to the ball. He caught the ball on his thigh to control the ball ... but in the end, he controlled the ball for Rasmus Hojlund who volleyed it into the net, scoring his first Premier League goal.

Final score: Manchester United 3 - 2 Aston Villa

The word and phrases from the story that I want to talk about are:

• To break the deadlock
• To surge forwards
• To evaporate

To break the deadlock
This has come up before because it’s quite common in football English, but I’ve not spoken about it for a long time. A deadlock is a situation where two or more people or organisations are competing for something and neither side can make progress and win. In sport, this is easy to understand. When two teams are very equally matched, sometimes, neither team can gain an advantage and so neither team can score. We also use the word deadlock when two groups or organisations are negotiating a deal and each side is being stubborn, that is, they won’t compromise over something that the other side is also being stubborn about. We can say that there is a deadlock in the negotiations if neither side is prepared to compromise. When someone finds a way through to score or when a negotiator finds a compromise that the deadlocked companies can agree on, this breaks the deadlock. In football English, more simply, it just means that in a well-matched game, one team has been able to score. For the first 20 minutes at Old Trafford, both Manchester United and Aston Villa looked good and neither team had a clear advantage. It didn’t look like either team would score until John McGinn broke the deadlock for Villa.

To surge forwards
A surge is a sudden increase in something. I think most commonly, we talk about surges in electricity and in money. In some places, the electricity supply is not very stable so you can buy a surge protector that stops any surges or sudden increases in voltage from reaching your TV or computer. The verb form, to surge, means to increase suddenly and strongly if you’re talking about electricity or perhaps prices going up but you can also use it to talk about people and then it means to move quickly and powerfully. So you read about crowds surging towards the pitch at a football match and on the pitch, when a team all attacks at once, the team surges forwards. You can also say that an individual player surged forwards if they moved forwards quickly and powerfully.

To evaporate
The verb evaporate’s literal meaning is to turn into a gas. When you boil water in a pan, it turns into steam. The word evaporate has the word vapour in it. Vapour is not technically the same as steam, but you get the idea. As well as the literal scientific meaning, we use the word to say that something has disappeared completely as if it turned into vapour or gas. We use the word evaporate when something disappears surprisingly or in an unexpected way. So when Garnacho equalised for United, Villa’s advantage had disappeared, it evaporated.

Let’s move on to the next story.

Newcastle bamboozled by Tricky Trees

Newcastle broke through Forest’s early resistance from the penalty spot. Alexander Isak was clipped when he tried to turn to shoot in the penalty area and the referee didn’t hesitate to point to the spot. Isak took the penalty well and Newcastle had the lead.

Just before half-time Newcastle were attacking and looked good, but Almiron played a weak cross that was intercepted by Montiel and knocked forwards for Gibbs-white who ran back up the pitch. He played the ball for Elanga who managed to cut the cross back for Chris Wood to tap in.

Chris Wood is a New Zealand forward who played for Newcastle for part of last season. He only scored one Premier League goal for the club at St James’ Park in 20 appearances before he was loaned to Forest who signed him officially last June.

In the second half, Forest went ahead. Once more, on the counter, Elanga ran with the ball with Isak on his heels. Chris Wood was the only Forest player making a run and Elanga picked him out among half a dozen Newcastle players. Wood bamboozled Dan Burn and got a cheeky shot away before the rest of Newcastle's defence could close in. Wood played a gentle chip over Dubravka and into the Newcastle goal.

Wood got a hat-trick in the 60th minute after a clever run saw him beat the offside trap. In a few strides, he’d rounded Dubravka and calmly fired the ball into the open goal.

Final score: Newcastle United 1 - 3 Nottingham Forest

The word and phrases from the story that I want to talk about are:

• To break through
• To bamboozle
• A cheeky shot

To break through something
If you break through something, you force your way through something. We normally use this phrasal verb in situations where there are barriers or other things that are supposed to hold you back. So you might hear that protestors broke through a police barricade. It’s also common in sport to hear about a player breaking through the opposition’s defence.

To bamboozle
This is a nice word. If you bamboozle someone you trick or confuse them, usually so you can beat them or steal from them. However, magicians also try to bamboozle their audience so it’s not always about swindling or stealing. I tried looking up the origin of the word because bamboozle doesn’t sound like other words, but the origin isn’t clear. The word has been around for a while though; people have been bamboozling each other for over 300 years. I don’t think it’s that commonly used in football English but I did hear it in the commentary, describing Wood’s second goal in which he cleverly sent a defender the wrong way by tricking him; Wood bamboozled the defender.

A cheeky shot
Cheeky is a fun adjective. It basically means disrespectful but in a good way or at least not in a very serious way. It’s most commonly used to talk about children because we expect children to be respectful towards their parents and teachers. So if a child is not respectful, if they call their teacher a name for example, that is rude. But if it’s also funny, then it’s cheeky. When Wood chipped the ball over Dubravka, it was a bit cheeky. It was a good shot and absolutely the right shot to play in that situation, but a little chip looks like it’s not that serious compared to a thundering strike.

Today, I’ve spoken about 6 useful words and phrases. The words and phrases I have spoken about are:

• To break the deadlock
• To surge forwards
• To evaporate
• To break through
• To bamboozle
• A cheeky shot

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

United and Villa in five-goal thriller

Manchester United had not lost a home match on Boxing Day since 1978, the Red Devils were unbeaten in 19 Boxing Day home matches. Aston Villa have been playing brilliantly under Unai Emery and looked like they were set to break that record.

John McGinn broke the deadlock at Old Trafford. A slightly rash challenge by Fernandes on Dendonker outside the box on the right wing and Villa were awarded a free kick. McGinn’s ball in sailed over everyone and bounced straight into the goal.

The second goal came from another set piece, this time a corner. McGinn played the ball over the box to the rear post where Lenglet headed the ball back into the middle. Dendonker caught the ball with a backheel and scored his first Aston Villa goal.

In the second half, Garnacho halved the deficit with a good finish for a well-worked team goal that started when Fernandes intercepted Diego Carlos’s pass. Fernandes surged forwards before passing to Rashford who slipped the cross through to Garnacho who guided the ball into the net.

Not long after, Garnacho brought the scores level. Garnacho started the attack running with the ball. He passed the ball wide and when the cross came back, it was to Hojland who had slightly overrun it so tapped it back to Garnacho who powered the ball into the net and Villa’s 2-goal lead had evaporated.

In the 82nd minute, United had a corner. When the ball was played, McGinn was the first to the ball. He caught the ball on his thigh to control the ball ... but in the end, he controlled the ball for Rasmus Hojlund who volleyed it into the net, scoring his first Premier League goal.

Final score: Manchester United 3 - 2 Aston Villa

Newcastle bamboozled by Tricky Trees

Newcastle broke through Forest’s early resistance from the penalty spot. Alexander Isak was clipped when he tried to turn to shoot in the penalty area and the referee didn’t hesitate to point to the spot. Isak took the penalty well and Newcastle had the lead.

Just before half-time Newcastle were attacking and looked good, but Almiron played a weak cross that was intercepted by Montiel and knocked forwards for Gibbs-white who ran back up the pitch. He played the ball for Elanga who managed to cut the cross back for Chris Wood to tap in.

Chris Wood is a New Zealand forward who played for Newcastle for part of last season. He only scored one Premier League goal for the club at St James’ Park in 20 appearances before he was loaned to Forest who signed him officially last June.

In the second half, Forest went ahead. Once more, on the counter, Elanga ran with the ball with Isak on his heels. Chris Wood was the only Forest player making a run and Elanga picked him out among half a dozen Newcastle players. Wood bamboozled Dan Burn and got a cheeky shot away before the rest of Newcastle's defence could close in. Wood played a gentle chip over Dubravka and into the Newcastle goal.

Wood got a hat-trick in the 60th minute after a clever run saw him beat the offside trap. In a few strides, he’d rounded Dubravka and calmly fired the ball into the open goal.

Final score: Newcastle United 1 - 3 Nottingham Forest

Language Challenge

Right, now it’s time for you to think about the language again. I have found examples of the words and phrases in stories online and edited them slightly. I have removed today’s vocabulary so I want you to fill in the gaps with the correct form of the language from the podcast.

Number 1. Passengers waiting on the station's concourse often ______________ when the platform their train is departing from is announced.

Number 2. From ChatGPT to machine learning, 2023 was the year artificial intelligence ______________.

Number 3. “Through the legs,” reflected Jurgen Klopp. “That was a bit _______.” This word sums up Curtis Jones, who brings an impishness and an impudence to his duties.

Number 4. A fresh perspective from an outsider was exactly what the team needed to ______________ in their brainstorming session.

Number 5. Boris Johnson was “__________” and “confused” by the scientific modelling and data presented to him during the pandemic, the UK’s Covid-19 public inquiry heard on Monday.

Number 6. The most powerful anti-Trump argument in the Republican party has _________ now that Biden’s poll numbers are plummeting.

Leave your answers to the 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 phrase is to **** *** ******* ****. This is quite difficult to explain without using the words in the phrase. The phrase is an action and to do it, a player has to time a run forwards perfectly so that they can run onto and behind the last defenders without breaking the ******* rule. Defenders try to catch attackers out by pressing forwards and so that attacking players are ******* when the ball is played forwards. This is the ******* **** and attacking players have to get their timing right if they want to **** *** ******* ****.

If you know the answer, be sure to leave it 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. A bad week for Wall Street closed with big drops in stock value as worries worsened about the banking industry and strength of the economy.

Number 2. Police have reported that mopeds (small motorbikes) are being driven recklessly on the streets of Oxford.

Number 3. On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was beheaded on Tower Green at the Tower of London. She protested her innocence until the last.

Number 4. A man has admitted being too drunk to care for a toddler after he staggered around a bowling alley with a bottle of beer in his hand. The man has narrowly avoided jail.

Number 5. UK psychologists say slow motion helps referees to better distinguish yellow card and red card incidents during football matches.

Number 6. Stargazers hopes of a glimpse of the Northern Lights were dashed when clouds rolled in and covered the night sky on Wednesday.

Number 7. A man was so angry with his neighbour who had been tipping leaves over his fence, so he took matters into his own hands and blew all the leaves back into his neighbour's garden using leaf blowers.

Number 8. Marc Polmans was on the brink of victory, but had it all snatched away after a moment of madness. The Aussie tennis star was disqualified from the Shanghai Masters qualifying tournament after smashing the ball into the umpire's face.

Number 9. The state of Minnesota in the USA has a new flag that has riled up some right-wing conservatives who really don’t like change.

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 all of you who are celebrating are having a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to the new year and I hope everyone stays fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.