This Week: On Penalties

On Penalties

Laura: Hello my name’s Laura 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: And I’m Jack and we hope you are all well.

Laura: Football is back. Well, it never really went away, did it?

Rich: No, in the same week Bayern Munich won the Champions League and the day before Lyon won the Women’s Champions League - the English football season kicked off with the Community Shield.

Jack: And Arsenal finished the month of August in exactly the same way they started it - lifting a trophy at Wembley.

Laura: Yes, in our headlines this week we’ll be talking about Arsenal’s win over Liverpool in the Community Shield, some exciting new Premier League signings and the return of fans to Premier League stadiums. 

Rich: But, more importantly, our main aim is to focus on some football English for you to learn.

Jack: We’ll look at three football headlines from the last seven days and focus on some useful bits of vocabulary from each story. 

Laura: And we want you to use and practise these words and phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Rich: And a little later we’ll also have a Premier League prediction for you. This week we’re going to take a look at the opening fixtures in the Women’s Super League.

Jack: 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.

Laura: You can find all of our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Jack: Our latest podcast is called English at work: Managing Conflict.

Laura: In the roleplay, we go back to the football-themed cafe which Rich owns and he’s having a few problems with his staff.

Rich: Jack works as a waiter and Rowan works in the kitchen and they are arguing over who should get the tips which customers leave.

Jack: We focus on language connected to managing conflict in a business context. You can find the lesson on the homepage on the Premier Skills English website. 

Laura: OK, you’re now going to hear our three headlines. After each headline, we’ll have a little discussion and look at some vocabulary. 

Jack: The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: on penalties, to miss from the spot, a done deal, to snap up, a pre-season friendly and one-all.

Rich: Later on we’ll also have a language challenge for you to have a go at so you need to be ready for that.

Headline 1

Rich: Penalties seal Community Shield for Arsenal

Jack: Arsenal beat Liverpool on penalties to win the Community Shield and clinch their second Wembley win in less than a month. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang opened the scoring with a brilliant curling effort but Takumi Minamino equalised in the second half with his first goal for the club. Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster was the only player to miss from the spot and Aubameyang hit the winning spot-kick.

Laura: A tough way to lose - on penalties.

Rich: It’s only a friendly really, isn’t it? The Community Shield.

Jack: That’s what fans always say about it when they lose. It’s another trophy in the cabinet for Arsenal and that’s all I’ve got to say.

Rich: Yeah, but …

Laura: We’re here to talk about the language remember. Let’s talk about penalties. We said Arsenal won on penalties.

Jack: It’s the preposition that is interesting here. When a team wins a penalty shootout we say they won the match on penalties - they won by winning a penalty shootout.

Laura: A penalty shootout often happens after extra-time. Again the preposition is interesting because if a team wins in extra-time we say that they won after extra-time when we talk about the result.

Rich: So, you win after extra-time or win on penalties. I’m sure Liverpool would have beaten Arsenal in extra-time but the match went straight to penalties.

Jack: To go straight to penalties means there is no extra-time after 90 minutes.

Laura: We often use the word spot-kick as a synonym of a penalty. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winning spot-kick.

Rich: To miss from the spot means to miss a penalty or penalty kick. The spot is the penalty spot.

Jack: We said Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster was the only player to miss from the spot.

Laura: Let’s move on to our second headline.

Headline 2

Jack: Transfer market hotting up.

Laura: There have already been some big moves this summer. Chelsea have done a lot of business and some of their done deals include the signings of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell. One player moving the other way is Willian - Arsenal have snapped him up on a free transfer. 

Rich: Lots of business being done in the transfer market already.

Jack: The transfer window is open until October the fifth so there will be many more transfers yet.

Laura: Chelsea have done a lot of business. Timo Werner is a great player and I think could become a real Premier League star.

Rich: Let’s look at some language. We spoke about done deals. A done deal is an agreement or plan that has been finalised.

Jack: When we speak about done deals in the transfer market we are talking about transfers that have taken place.

Laura: We said that Arsenal have snapped Willian up on a free transfer. To snap up is a phrasal verb and it means to buy something quickly because it’s cheap or you want it very much.

Rich: Arsenal wanted Willian very much and he was free. They snapped him up. Let’s move on to our final headline.

Headline 3

Laura: Fans return to Premier League stadiums.

Rich: Last Saturday saw fans at a Premier League stadium for the first time since March when 2500 Brighton supporters were allowed to attend the pre-season friendly between the Seagulls and Chelsea. Fans were required to follow social distancing rules and had to wear face coverings inside and outside the stadium but could remove them once in their seats. The match finished one all.

Jack: Good to see fans back in the stadiums but we might have to wait a while until we see fans back for Premier League matches and even longer until we see stadiums at full capacity.

Laura: Yes, this was one of a number of trial events that are being conducted around the country. Let’s hope the results are positive and fans are back sooner rather than later.

Rich: We’ll look at a couple of easier phrases from the headline. We said that Brighton and Chelsea played a pre-season friendly.

Jack: A friendly or friendly match is not competitive - it’s not a league or cup match. They are usually played to help players get back to full fitness after a break.

Laura: A pre-season friendly is a friendly match that is played before the season kicks off.

Rich: The Brighton - Chelsea match finished one all. We use all for matches that finish level and have goals in them. 

Jack: We can say one all, two all, three all, four all …

Laura: But we don’t say nil-all or zero all. We say nil-nil or a goalless draw.

Rich: OK. We’ve looked at three stories and six bits of vocabulary in our headlines. The words and phrases we’ve looked at are: on penalties, to miss from the spot, a done deal, to snap up, a pre-season friendly and one-all.

Prediction

Laura: You didn’t do very well with your predictions last week. You went for Manchester City and Liverpool to win the Community Shield but it was Chelsea and Arsenal who lifted the trophy.

Rich: Yes, very poor from me but it’s the beginning of the season - anything can happen.

Jack: This week sees the Women’s Super League kick-off their season so that’s where we’re going with this week’s prediction.

Rich: Yes and it’s a big match. Manchester United play their first-ever match in the Women’s Super League against last season’s winners and last week’s community shield winners - Chelsea. It’s a baptism of fire for the Manchester club and will be a tough challenge. I think United will do well this season but will need time to settle into the league. Final score: Manchester United 1-3 Chelsea.

Laura: If you’re interested in the Women’s Super League head to the FA Player website where you’ll find highlights, goals and even live matches.

Jack: So, that’s our prediction. What’s yours? Do you agree? Let us know if you watch a match this weekend on the Premier Skills English website

Language Challenge

Laura: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Jack: Earlier we spoke about spot-kicks and missing from the spot. Here are three other sentences that use phrases with spot. Do you know the missing word?

Rich: He’s so lazy. He never tracks back. Just because he’s moved clubs doesn’t mean he will change. A leopard doesn’t ______ its spots.

Laura: I know I don’t support Leeds United but I’ve got a real ____ spot for them. I always want them to do well.

Jack: So many of our listeners get our football phrases spot ______. Sometimes I’m really surprised because the phrases are really difficult.

Rich: We want you to write the correct answers on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show.

Laura: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. Just write the answers in the review section and say hi.

Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope that all of you stay fit and healthy.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.