This Week: A comfortable win

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 want to talk about today are to be on track, tally, vulnerable, insecurity, into submission, to play a part in, tribute, to have something to prove and to cap it all off. These are all quite advanced items today so I hope you have your notebooks with you.

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.

The phrase was ******** **** which means a weak spot. The phrase comes from a Greek myth about a hero whose mother dipped him in the river Styx as an infant to make him invulnerable. However, where his mother held him, as she lowered him into the river, the magic waters could not touch so there was one spot on his body where he was vulnerable. In football English, you might hear about a common injury to a player’s ******** tendon.

Congratulations to Wilson 2103 who was first again. In fact, Wilson 2103 had posted the right comment before I’d even finished embedding the podcast on the podcast page on Premier Skills English. Congratulations to Hayato from Japan, Hermosillo Moreno from Mexico, Wujuxin from China, Hsn from Turkey - thank you for the compliment Hsn. I like the use of ambitious as an adjective to describe a plan or event because it can be said with humour. Congratulations to Horacky 16 from Japan and Habibul Gustian from Indonesia. Welcome to the podcast Habibul. Well done Taher Koshen - I’m sorry, but I still haven’t updated that mistake - thank you for pointing it out. Congratulations Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, FJChavez1991 from Brazil - welcome back FJChaves1991, we’ve not seen you for a couple of years.Well done Mehmet Sisman from Turkey, and Kiendzx1 from Vietnam - welcome to the site Kiendzx1, Renan from Brazil. Goku from Japan, Juntheman from Korea- I’m delighted you enjoyed the podcast, Gustavo Fonseca from Peru, Tiago Delkazari from Brazil, Osa from Poland - well done getting it right on your first submission, Cristyabala from Chile and a huge welcome back anc congratulations to Sabanoleg from Ukraine. I am so relieved to see you back on the site Sabanoleg.

You all managed to work out that the phrase was achilles heel.

Before I get on with the football stories, I have a favour to ask you. I have a friend who is working on the British Council’s Teaching English podcast and he’s working on a podcast about football and English that’s going to be published during the World Cup and he asked me about people who listen to this podcast and who complete the activities on the Premier Skills English website. His name is Chris Sowton and he’s an international education consultant, specialising in ELT. He made a series of podcast for teaching English called Climate Connection. I’ll put a link on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English. He would like to interview some of you or perhaps get you to answer some questions by sending him Whatsapp voice notes. If you would be happy for Chris to get in contact with you, please let me know in the comments section on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English or you could send me an email at jack.radford@britishcouncil.org and I’ll put you in touch.

OK now it’s time to get on with this week’s three football stories!

City sink the Seagulls

When Brighton took on Manchester City at the weekend, stopping City’s Norwegian goal machine must have been high on their list of priorities. Erling Haaland is well on track to beat the Premier League goal record that was set by Andy Cole in 93-94 and equalled by Alan Shearer in 94-95 and in those years the league was a 42-match competition. Some are even suggesting he may break the all-time top-flight record of 60 goals in a season that was set by Dixie Dean 95 years ago.

As it happened, the Seagulls were not able to contain Haaland who added another double to his tally and has now racked up 17 goals from only 11 games.

Brighton may have lost the game, but they put up a fight and probably deserved a better result. They matched their hosts for possession and only had one fewer chance. In the second half, when City were only a goal up, they were looking vulnerable. In the end, Kevin de Bruyne made the difference with a beautiful strike from 25 yards in the 75th minute.

Final score: Manchester City 3 - Brighton and Hove Albion 1

The words and phrases I want to talk about from this story are to be on track, tally and vulnerable.

If you are on track to do something, you are doing the things required to do or achieve what you are on track to do. So if you’re on track to finish your studies by the end of the year, you are doing what you need to do to finish your studies by the end of the year. We often use this phrase to say that we are working towards a goal and that we are still confident that we will achieve it. Have you found a new job? No, but I’ve got some interviews lined up so I’m still on track.

A tally is the number of things that have been counted. You can use tally marks to keep track of the number of things you are counting. Normally, tally marks are made in little vertical lines for one to four and then a kind of diagonal line through the four for number five. You see these in films when someone is being held in a prison, they might scratch tally marks into the wall to keep track of how long they have been in prison. In the example, I referred to Haaland’s tally, meaning the number of goals he’s scored so far this season. Each time he scores, his tally goes up. You might be asked to keep a tally of something, meaning to count the number. For example, you might keep a tally of the number of customers going in and out of a shop.

The last word from this story is vulnerable. If something is vulnerable, it is easy to attack or hurt in some way. You might be vulnerable because you are weak, generally or you might be vulnerable temporarily. You can also talk about how or where someone is open to attack. So a team may be strong in attack, but might be vulnerable when the ball is deep in their half. Or a team might be vulnerable because their best players are injured. I quite like the pronunciation of this word because the middle syllables merge together. There are four syllables: vulnerable, but it sounds more like vul nera ble.

Let’s move on to the next story.

Calvert-Lewin leads Everton to a comfortable win

When Everton hosted Crystal Palace at the weekend, they looked confident and in control. There was no sign in their performance on Saturday of the last three matches. Three consecutive defeats might lead some managers to try a low risk strategy, but Lampard showed no sign of insecurity against the Eagles and his team pressed Palace into submission early on.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has not had a great season to date. His struggles with injuries and fitness means that this was only his second start of the season. However, he played for 78 minutes on Saturday and showed how valuable he can be, scoring the first goal and playing a part in the second.

However, he was playing against a team that were not at their best. Crystal Palace’s manager Patrick Viera was not at all happy, saying afterwards: “We didn’t play, we didn’t compete and we made it easy for Everton.”

His old rival Frank Lampard was much happier saying “It’s nice to have a comfortable win at Goodison Park. We haven’t had many of those.”

Final score: Everton 3 - Crystal Palace 0

The words and phrases I want to talk about from this story are insecurity, into submission and to play a part in.

Insecurity is a noun. The adjective is insecure. This is the opposite of secure which means safe. If you are feeling insecure though, it doesn’t really mean you are feeling unsafe or vulnerable. It’s more that you are not confident about your own ability. So if you have a new colleague who is employed to do the same job as you, but they are much better than you, that may leave you feeling a bit insecure. You might be insecure at work or you might be insecure socially and unsure if people like you. I said that Lampard showed no sign of insecurity; it didn’t look like he was feeling insecure.

Submission is another noun. The verb is to submit. This has two meanings. If you have to give paperwork to someone, perhaps an important form in a government office or an essay at school or university you submit that document. But that’s not the meaning here. The meaning here is quite tricky. To submit to someone means to let them have power over you and to give up fighting. I think in wrestling, if you tap the floor to show that you give up, you are submitting. If someone does something to you into submission, they do it so much that you give up. So in the story, I said that Everton pressed Palace into submission; they pressed so hard that Palace gave up and allowed them to control the game. In wars, you hear about one army trying to bomb their enemy into submission; to make them give up and stop fighting, though I’m not sure that’s a strategy that has worked that many times.

The third phrase from this story is to play a part in something. This means to be one of the people responsible for something. I think it comes from the theatre. If you act in a play, you play a part. We don’t just use it for people. Anything that is partly responsible for a situation could be said to play a part. The weather often plays a big part in my weekend plans. In the story, I said that Calvert-Lewin played a part in the second goal. He didn’t get credited with the assist, but he was part of the build up. I mean, in a way, all the players on a team play a part in every goal, but the players that are more directly involved are more likely to be said to play a part.

It’s time to move on to the final story.

Villa make a four goal statement

Steven Gerrard must have been sick. Aston Villa have not got off to the the best start this season and when Villa lost to Fulham on Thursday, the team thought that Gerrard as manager had taken them as far as he could. Now the discussion online is divided over whether the way they played on Sunday was a tribute to a manager fired too soon or whether they were a team with something to prove now that Gerrard had gone. Whatever the cause, they completely dominated Brentford and the result was tied up in less than a quarter of an hour.

Leon Bailey opened the scoring after only 2 minutes with a powerful strike that gave Brentford’s keeper David Raya no chance.

Five minutes later, a perfectly weighted through ball from Ashley Young found Leon Bailey who set up Danny Ings with a short cross. All Ings had to do was tap it in.

Seven minutes later, Tyrone Mings was dragged down in front of goal when the ball was being played from the corner and earned Villa a penalty which Ings powered into the centre of the net giving his team a three-goal lead after less than 15 minutes.

To cap it all off, Ollie Watkins scored a fourth for the Villains and his first Premier League goal in nine games.

Final score: Aston Villa 4 - Brentford 0

The words and phrases I want to talk about from this story are tribute, to have something to prove and to cap it all off.

The word tribute is a noun. It means a gift or a statement that is given or made to show gratitude and respect. We often use the phrase to pay tribute. When Queen Elizabeth died, 250,000 people queued to pay their respects and many paid tribute by leaving flowers or cards. Another common use is in the phrase tribute act. A tribute act is usually a musical group that plays the music of a famous band. For example, there are lots of Beatles tribute acts that play the music of the Beatles.

If you have something to prove, you want people to believe something about you. It often means you really want to do something because you are insecure and believe that people doubt your skill or ability. Or it can mean you are incredibly determined to show everyone that you can do something. I think we often use this when someone tries too hard or takes an unnecessary risk. You might ask: what are you trying to prove? And comment: I think she’s got something to prove.

The final phrase today is to cap it all off which means to finish something off completely with a final act or gesture. The word cap comes from old English and it means hat or hood. We still use the words cap in baseball cap and cape, though nowadays, I think most people think of superheroes when they hear the word cape. The phrase to cap it all sometimes means to complete something. If you are describing a really fun day out to a friend, you might say, we went to the zoo and then we went to see a play and then to cap it all, we want for a late drink in the pub. This means that the final thing you did, completed the day. Now, in the dictionary, it says that this phrase is usually used to add a final bad event or statement that completes a list of other bad things. In the dictionary, it also says that the phrase to cap it all off is the American English version and that I should just say to cap it all, but I think it feels more satisfying with the off. To cap it all off.

OK. That’s nine words and phrases from the stories today. Listen to the stories again to hear the language in context.

City sink the Seagulls

When Brighton took on Manchester City at the weekend, stopping City’s Norwegian goal machine must have been high on their list of priorities. Erling Haaland is well on track to beat the Premier League goal record that was set by Andy Cole in 93-94 and equalled by Alan Shearer in 94-95 and in those years the league was a 42-match competition. Some are even suggesting he may break the all-time top-flight record of 60 goals in a season that was set by Dixie Dean 95 years ago.

As it happened, the Seagulls were not able to contain Haaland who added another double to his tally and has now racked up 17 goals from only 11 games.

Brighton may have lost the game, but they put up a fight and probably deserved a better result. They matched their hosts for possession and only had one fewer chance. In the second half, when City were only a goal up, they were looking vulnerable. In the end, Kevin de Bruyne made the difference with a beautiful strike from 25 yards in the 75th minute.

Final score: Manchester City 3 - Brighton and Hove Albion 1

 

Calvert-Lewin leads Everton to a comfortable win

When Everton hosted Crystal Palace at the weekend, they looked confident and in control. There was no sign in their performance on Saturday of the last three matches. Three consecutive defeats might lead some managers to try a low risk strategy, but Lampard showed no sign of insecurity against the Eagles and his team pressed Palace into submission early on.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has not had a great season to date. His struggles with injuries and fitness means that this was only his second start of the season. However, he played for 78 minutes on Saturday and showed how valuable he can be, scoring the first goal and playing a part in the second.

However, he was playing against a team that were not at their best. Crystal Palace’s manager Patrick Viera was not at all happy, saying afterwards: “We didn’t play, we didn’t compete and we made it easy for Everton.”

His old rival Frank Lampard was much happier saying “It’s nice to have a comfortable win at Goodison Park. We haven’t had many of those.”

Final score: Everton 3 - Crystal Palace 0

 

Villa make a four goal statement

Steven Gerrard must have been sick. Aston Villa have not got off to the the best start this season and when Villa lost to Fulham on Thursday, the team thought that Gerrard as manager had taken them as far as he could. Now the discussion online is divided over whether the way they played on Sunday was a tribute to a manager fired too soon or whether they were a team with something to prove now that Gerrard had gone. Whatever the cause, they completely dominated Brentford and the result was tied up in less than a quarter of an hour.

Leon Bailey opened the scoring after only 20 minutes with a powerful strike that gave Brentford’s keeper David Raya no chance.

Five minutes later, a perfectly weighted through ball from Ashley Young found Leon Bailey who set up Danny Ings with a short cross. All Ings had to do was tap it in.

Seven minutes later, Tyrone Mings was dragged down in front of goal when the ball was being played from the corner and earned Villa a penalty which Ings powered into the centre of the net giving his team a three-goal lead after less than 15 minutes.

To cap it all off, Ollie Watkins scored a fourth for the Villains and his first Premier League goal in nine games.

Final score: Aston Villa 4 - Brentford 0

Language Challenge

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

Here are 9 sentences with gaps in them and you have to complete the gaps with the correct form of the words and phrases from this podcast.

Number 1: When the polls closed, the final _____ showed that only one candidate had enough supporters to proceed.

Number 2:Actors and filmmakers have spoken out in the media to pay _______ to the Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane who died last week.

Number 3: Last year, there was no pressure because we had nothing to lose, but this year we have _________ __ _____.

Number 4: We’ve had a great run of games, but to ___ __ ___ ___ by beating our derby rivals was really special.

Number 5: The defender was told to stop the giant midfielder but in the end was battered ____ __________.

Number 6: The new signing has ______ _ massive ____ in the club's change of fortune.

Number 7: How can I get over my __________ at work after being denied promotion again and again?

Number 8: The company takeover looks set to go ahead and the new buyers are __ _____ to sign before the end of the month.

Number 9: The new government policy does not support the most __________ people in society.

Leave your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website and I will go through them next week.

Football phrase

Now it’s time for this week’s football phrase.

For the next few weeks, I am going to test you with idioms that come from the world of football that are used in general English. The first phrase is to **** *** *********

This means to unfairly change the rules or a game or the conditions of some sort of competition after it has already started. So you might complain if you agree to buy something and the seller changes the price and asks for more money by saying you’re ****** *** *********.

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, here are the answers to last week’s language challenge.

Number 1. When Arsenal beat Leeds this weekend, it was their fourth consecutive win.

Number 2. I realise now that my plan was a bit ambitious. So I’m not that disappointed that it didn’t work out.

Number 3. The team was two-nil down at half time and it was clear that the manager’s strategy was not working.

Number 4. He had the good fortune to train with some of the world’s top athletes.

Number 5. The young striker was feeling the pressure and you could see that he was frustrated with his own performance.

Number 6. In this podcast, I want to capitalise on your love of football and hope that motivates you to learn English.

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.