This Week: Focus on Vincent Kompany

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.

Today, I am going to talk about Vincent Kompany. Kompany has legendary status as a player, having played for Manchester City for eleven seasons and led the team as captain for eight. But he hung up his boots in 2020 and became a manager. First at his old club Anderlecht in Belgium and then last year, he took over from Sean Dyche at Burnley and rebuilt the squad and absolutely dominated the Championship. With Kompany in charge, Burnley secured promotion to the Premier League with seven games to play.

Burnley have been promoted to the Premier League four times. The first two times, they were relegated right away, but the last time they were promoted, they stayed up for six seasons and even finished in 7th in 2018. They were relegated in 2022 and Kompany helped them bounce back. Now, Kompany has always come across as a very intelligent player and is now in a position to use that intellect and his experience playing for one of the best managers in the world to lead Burnley, perhaps to greater glory and more success than they have had in years.

But before I get to the focus on Vincent Kompany, I want to give you the answer to last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week, the football phrase was ** ***** **** this phrase is in the sports news a lot at the moment because it means two organisations, usually businesses, are discussing some sort of deal. I think that we normally use this phrase when the discussions have just started. So in the news today, I read that Liverpool are ** ***** **** PSG about a loan deal for Kylian Mbappe.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine, Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Denis2000 from Belarus, Bicooz from Egypt, Hasan from Turkey and Vinicius from Brazil.

You all worked out that the phrase I was looking for was in talks with.

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

In the focus on Vincent Kompany, I am going to use some interesting words and phrases. In fact, I have already used one phrase in the introduction, but I am going to use it again. These are the phrases that I’d like you to listen out for.

• To hang up your boots
• To take over
• Things were looking up
• To recognise the value
• Aggression
• To relish the prospect
• To acknowledge and
• Philosophy

After the focus on Vincent Kompany, I’ll tell you more about these words and phrases, but for now, try to listen out for them.

Focus on Vincent Kompany

Vincent Komapny was born in Uccle which is a municipality, like a town that is part of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium. Kompany’s father was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to Belgium in 1975 as a refugee. His mother was from Belgium and the family spoke French at home. Belgium has three official languages. In the North, people speak Dutch, the Dutch speakers are known as the Flemish community. In the South, people speak French and in the east, there are small areas that speak German. In the Brussels-Capital Region, both Dutch and French are spoken and Kompany Spoke Dutch at school. He also speaks German and English and is semi-fluent in Italian and Spanish which should help him communicate with most of the Burnley squad without the need of an interpreter.

He started playing football at a young age, joining Anderlecht, Belgium’s biggest club when he was 6 and worked his way through the youth teams. He has been reported as saying that he never saw himself as talented and that most things that people think are talent are the result of hard work; are the result of a process, but his agent disagrees saying:

“You see a Vincent Kompany once every 50 years. He is so fast for his size. This is a gift from God – if you believe in God – or his parents.”

He played for three seasons in Belgium and then moved to Hamburg for two seasons before signing for Manchester City. This was back in August 2008 and Manchester City was not the dominant force in English football that we know today. City had finished in a respectable 9th the year Kompany joined, though the club had just been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United group so things were looking up.

When Kompany first started at City, he played as a defensive midfielder. He played his first match just three days after joining the team, helping City defeat West Ham United. In 2010, Roberto Mancini recognised Kompany’s value in defence and played him as a number 4, saying he was one of the top defenders in Europe and had the potential to be number 1 in the world.
By 2011, Kompany was club captain and led the club to greatness as City won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League cups.

After eleven years in Manchester, Kompany returned to his childhood club Anderlect to become a player-manager. However, this double responsibility was too much and Kompany stepped down and played out the season as a player. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the season and moved into management full time. After two seasons at Anderlecht, he returned to the UK to manage Burnley who had just been relegated from the Premier League.

Kompany’s Burnley started the season well with an away win at Huddersfield Town. Kompany signed 16 new players in his first couple of months and changed the club’s style of play, demanding more possession and aggression.

In October, he was awarded the EFL Championship Manager of the Month and then again in December and February. By April, Burnley were so far ahead, they had won the Championship and secured promotion.

And now, Kompany is set to start Burnely’s Premier League campaign by hosting his old team at Turf Moor for the first fixture of the season. Most newly promoted managers would not relish the prospect of taking on the champions, but Kompany is not like most managers. He sees this as a great chance to improve and is looking forward to the challenge. He has acknowledged that beating them will be difficult. He said that if you’re playing a team like Manchester City, you won’t win every time: it's impossible with the quality of that team - possibly the best team at the moment in world football.

Kompany shares Pele’s philosophy: the more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning and that’s how he’s approaching his first Premier League match as a manager:

“That's the best challenge so I wouldn’t want it any different. I'd play this game every week.”

I am really excited to see what Kompany can achieve with Burnley. It’s not going to be easy for him, the Premier League is so competitive, but I hope he can bring something new with his philosophy and approach.

Now, I’m going to talk about the language, starting with the idiom:

To hang up your boots

If you hang up your boots, you retire, usually from a sport. This idiom comes from the literal meaning - a player might store his boots in his locker if he or she is going to play again in a couple of days, but when they have done with football, they might hang them up, that is put them away more permanently. We do use the idiom for other non-boot wearing professions, but I think it’s most commonly used to talk about a sports person or athlete retiring.

To take over

If you take over something, you are in control of whatever you have taken over. At work, you can take over someone’s responsibilities, meaning you have to do that part of their job. I have been managing the Premier Skills project for over 10 years. I took over when the previous manager left. The phrase is also used in business when a company buys a controlling share of another company. So for Manchester City, the old owners couldn’t afford to invest in new players so the Abu Dhabi group bought them out and took over, meaning they could control who was in charge at the club and who the sponsors were and so on. In business English, we often use the passive voice. I said Manchester City was taken over by the Abu Dhabi group.

Things were looking up

I’ve spoken about this phrase before. This means the situation is improving. All the people involved in a business or organisation will be happy if things are looking up. People will be hopeful about the future if things are looking up.

To recognise the value

The value of something is normally the amount of money that someone would have to pay to get it. However, value is not always measured in money. The things that you value are things you think are important. So if you are a football manager, you might think that some characteristics, some qualities are important in your players. You could be said to value those qualities. If you recognise the value of something or someone, you see the qualities that are important or worth money, often when others might not. A good football scout will be able to recognise the value that a young player has, even if there are still things that they need to work on.

Aggression

Outside of sport, aggression is a bad thing. If you are aggressive, you act in a way that is threatening and makes people scared or at least uncomfortable. Aggressive people act as if they want to fight other people. In sport, especially a sport like football, aggression means playing in a forceful way and not showing pity or concern for your opponents. If a team plays with an aggressive style, they will always try to attack.

To relish the prospect

To relish something means to like or enjoy something. I think that we normally use the verb to say that we enjoy thinking about something that is going to happen. So you might relish a challenge, meaning, you are happy and excited about something difficult that you are going to do. Or you might use the verb in a negative way to say I don’t relish going back to the dentists if you are not enjoying the thought of a trip to the dentists.

A prospect is a possibility that something might happen. So you might ask if there is any prospect of something happening. Is there any prospect of arranging a meeting before you go on holiday? Or you might say that there’s not much prospect that the deal will go through.

If you relish the prospect of something happening, you are excited and positive about something that is going to happen.

Acknowledge

To acknowledge something means to accept or admit that something is true or real. Sometimes people refuse to acknowledge that they have problems or that they have done something wrong. All over the world, there are still people who refuse to acknowledge the damage we are doing to the environment and the risks and dangers that we all face. When you have a problem, acknowledging it is the first step in overcoming the problem.

Philosophy

Generally, philosophy is the pursuit of understanding and truth through the use of reason. Philosophers worry about how we know things, why things are right and wrong and what things mean and if they mean anything at all. We also use the word philosophy to talk about a person or an organisation’s ideas and the principles that guide them. You might have a personal philosophy, which would be a value or an argument that you think is important. In the Disney cartoon the Lion King, a warthog sings about the principle of Hakuna Matata which he says means not worrying about anything and describes it as a problem-free philosophy.

Those are eight useful words and phrases today. The words and phrases were:

• To hang up your boots
• To take over
• Things were looking up
• To recognise the value
• Aggression
• To relish the prospect
• To acknowledge and
• Philosophy

Listen to the focus on Vincent Kompany again to hear the language in context.

Focus on Vincent Kompany

Vincent Komapny was born in Uccle which is a municipality, like a town that is part of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium. Kompany’s father was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to Belgium in 1975 as a refugee. His mother was from Belgium and the family spoke French at home. Belgium has three official languages. In the North, people speak Dutch, the Dutch speakers are known as the Flemish community. In the South, people speak French and in the east, there are small areas that speak German. In the Brussels-Capital Region, both Dutch and French are spoken and Kompany Spoke Dutch at school. He also speaks German and English and is semi-fluent in Italian and Spanish which should help him communicate with most of the Burnley squad without the need of an interpreter.

He started playing football at a young age, joining Anderlecht, Belgium’s biggest club when he was 6 and worked his way through the youth teams. He has been reported as saying that he never saw himself as talented and that most things that people think are talent are the result of hard work; are the result of a process, but his agent disagrees saying:

“You see a Vincent Kompany once every 50 years. He is so fast for his size. This is a gift from God – if you believe in God – or his parents.”

He played for three seasons in Belgium and then moved to Hamburg for two seasons before signing for Manchester City. This was back in August 2008 and Manchester City was not the dominant force in English football that we know today. City had finished in a respectable 9th the year Kompany joined, though the club had just been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United group so things were looking up.

When Kompany first started at City, he played as a defensive midfielder. He played his first match just three days after joining the team, helping City defeat West Ham United. In 2010, Roberto Mancini recognised Kompany’s value in defence and played him as a number 4, saying he was one of the top defenders in Europe and had the potential to be number 1 in the world.
By 2011, Kompany was club captain and led the club to greatness as City won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League cups.

After eleven years in Manchester, Kompany returned to his childhood club Anderlect to become a player-manager. However, this double responsibility was too much and Kompany stepped down and played out the season as a player. He finally hung up his boots at the end of the season and moved into management full time. After two seasons at Anderlecht, he returned to the UK to manage Burnley who had just been relegated from the Premier League.

Kompany’s Burnley started the season well with an away win at Huddersfield Town. Kompany signed 16 new players in his first couple of months and changed the club’s style of play, demanding more possession and aggression.

In October, he was awarded the EFL Championship Manager of the Month and then again in December and February. By April, Burnley were so far ahead, they had won the Championship and secured promotion.

And now, Kompany is set to start Burnely’s Premier League campaign by hosting his old team at Turf Moor for the first fixture of the season. Most newly promoted managers would not relish the prospect of taking on the champions, but Kompany is not like most managers. He sees this as a great chance to improve and is looking forward to the challenge. He has acknowledged that beating them will be difficult. He said that if you’re playing a team like Manchester City, you won’t win every time: it's impossible with the quality of that team - possibly the best team at the moment in world football.

Kompany shares Pele’s philosophy: the more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning and that’s how he’s approaching his first Premier League match as a manager:

“That's the best challenge so I wouldn’t want it any different. I'd play this game every week.”

Language Challenge

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

Number 1. Brendan Rodgers has held Treble-building workshops with his Celtic stars and made it clear he demands ruthless ___________ from his players in the hunt for more glory.

Number 2. In 1999, Cleo Lake was a gallery assistant at the Respectable Trade exhibition, the first major exhibition to ____________ that Bristol was even connected to the trade in enslaved Africans.

Number 3. All of a sudden _______________ at Chelsea and defender Chilwell who is looking forward to the new season says Pochettino immediately identified they were not fit enough and corrected it straight away.

Number 4. Terminator creator James Cameron says AI has __________ and it's already too late.

Number 5. Former Manchester City playmaker David Silva has said his goodbyes to football as the World Cup winner and four-time Premier League champion was forced to ________________ after suffering a serious knee injury in pre-season training at Real Sociedad earlier this month.

Number 6. Dolly Parton said: my personal life _______________ is grounded in my childhood and in my spirituality. I’ve always had a lot of faith.

Number 7. It’s time universities ________________ of teaching experience instead of hiring based only on the number of publications.

Number 8. Former Leeds United star David Prutton believes that current Whites’ midfielders Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams will ________________ of playing England in the group stage of the World Cup.

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. Last week was tricky so I’ve chosen something that should be a bit easier this week.

This week’s football phrase is a noun. The noun is *******. The role of the ******* of a football team depends on the manager, but they are expected to lead their team and to make sure the team communicates well and that new players, especially younger players are supported by the more experienced team members.

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. Ilkay Gundogan explains how Raheem Sterling raised his game to a world-class level for Manchester City.

Number 2. The horse had a couple of good runs over fences but didn't live up to its potential over hurdles.

Number 3. The Love Island star has admitted she was left stressed about paying her bills when her deal with Forever Unique fell through.

Number 4. At Wimbledon, Mirra Andreeva seems to have found her feet on grass, having struggled in her first grass-court match in the previous round.

Number 5. Roberto De Zerbi has high hopes for Yasin Ayari at Brighton.

Number 6. The Australian auto market took a downward turn in April as global supply chain issues continue to affect vehicle delivery imports across the board.

Number 7. Barbie reviews: After the incredible reviews and all the hype, our reporters left the cinema feeling a bit deflated.

Number 8. While women’s soccer is growing in popularity in the U.K., opportunities for women in the men’s game remain few and far between.

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 stay fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.