This Week: To put on a show

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.

This week I’ve got three stories from you. I’m going to talk about the newly recrowned Champions who played Chelsea, Liverpool’s match against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur’s sorry performance against Brentford.

The vocabulary from the stories that I’m going to talk about this week is:

• To put on a show
• A testimonial match
• Silverware
• Aggressive
• To be put off
• Legacy
• To have lost your edge
• To take full advantage of something
• A glimmer of hope

If you want to read and listen at the same time, there’s a transcript on the page for this podcast on the Premier Skills English website as well as the language challenge and football phrase.

But before I get to the stories and vocabulary, 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.

A ********** is a change of direction that occurs when the ball hits something. This word has come up in the past, though I’m not sure if it’s been the football phrase. It’s similar to bounce. In football English, it’s often used to describe a shot on goal. If a player strikes the ball and it’s headed towards the goal and hits a defender then the direction the ball is travelling will change. We use the word ********** when the change is small. So often, a ********** changes the direction of the ball just enough to confuse the keeper, but not enough to miss the goal. Kristensen’s goal took a ********** off a Newcastle player before it went in. It was heading towards the goal, but Pope might have saved it if it hadn’t taken the **********.

Congratulations to Dennis2000 from Belarus, Hayato from Japan, Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Hasan from Turkey, Ryohei from Japan, Renan from Brazil, Sisman74 from Turkey and Bicooz from Egypt. All of you managed to work out that the word I was looking for was deflection. Well done to all of you who guessed reflection, that’s almost right, but we only use it for light. It’s a deflection in football when a ball changes direction when it hits someone.

Thanks to Renan, Denis2000, Ryohei and Bicooz for your feedback on the podcast format. I would like to experiment a bit more, but I’ve reverted to the old format today. And welcome to the site Mohamed - it’s always lovely to hear from new people.

Now it’s time for this week’s first story. There are no prizes for guessing what the first story is going to be this week.

When you listen, I’d like you to answer the following question?

Who scored the winning goal?

Manchester City crowned champions!

Manchester City have won their third league title in a row and their fifth in six seasons. The league victory had been officially sealed when Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest, but that didn’t stop the Champions putting on a show for their faithful fans.

When City ran out onto the pitch at the Etihad, the crowd was already celebrating and the match was more like a testimonial. However, for their opponents Chelsea, there was still a lot to play for. City will always want a win, but when the camera turned to the City bench, where Jack Grealish, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland sat watching, it was clear that Guardiola had other silverware in mind.

The game was effectively won in the 12th minute when Fofana gave the ball away. Kalvin Phillips intercepted Fofana’s poorly placed pass and fed the ball through to Cole Palmer who made a short run before crossing to Julian Alvarez who scored with a powerful strike into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Final score: Manchester City 1 - 0 Chelsea

The answer is Julain Alvarez.Alvarez scored the winning goal early in the match.

The language from the story that I want to talk about is:

• To put on a show
• A testimonial match
• Silverware

Putting on a show

A show is often a performance. So singers perform in shows. A stand up comedian might tour round the country doing their show in different towns. So there is a literal meaning of to put on a show, but in football English, the show is figurative. If you put on a show, you perform something well or so that the people watching you are impressed or at least enjoy your performance. I’ve seen quotes from players and managers who are promising to put on a show for their fans. And when I looked up the phrase, I saw a video where Italian fans put on a show for their team when they were celebrating having won a trophy.

A testimonial (match)

In football, a testimonial or a testimonial match used to be a special match to honour a player who was about to retire from football, especially if that player had been at a club for a long time. After the match, the player would receive the proceeds of the match, that is, they would get the money from the ticket sales. This was so they could establish themselves in another line of work. Nowadays, players in the Premier League earn so much money that if testimonials are played, the proceeds will normally be donated to the players' favourite charity. Testimonial matches are not very competitive and while players might always want to put on a show, you won’t see the same levels of competitiveness that you will see in a derby match.

Silverware

Normally, if someone says the word silverware, they will be talking about knives and forks and spoons. I’m not sure these things are often made of silver any more. In football, the noun silverware means the cups and trophies that a team might win. So you might hear that a club hasn’t won any silverware for a long time. I read one story that quoted Eddie Howe who said “We want to bring silverware to Newcastle.”

Now it’s time for this week’s second story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who missed from the penalty spot?

Firmino gifts a farewell goal

When Liverpool hosted Aston Villa on Saturday, it was going to be the last time that James Milner and Roberto Firmino wore a Liverpool shirt at Anfield. However, they didn’t start the match.

In the first half, Villa looked the better team, with an aggressive midfield that kept pushing Liverpool back.

22 minutes in, Konate made a poor challenge on Ollie Watkins and gave away a penalty which to the relief of the home crowd, Watkins put wide.

Villa were not put off though and five minutes later went ahead from the boot of Jacob Ramsey. Douglas Luiz played in a great ball that Ramsey met well and fired into the centre of the goal in a tidy finish.

After the break, Liverpool looked better, but Aston Villa were still making things difficult.

Cody Gakpo scored and thought he’d equalised only for a VAR review to call the goal into question. It was an interesting call and tested the referee’s knowledge of the laws of the game. Alexander Arnold fired a ball to the back post that Diaz headed down. Ezri Konsa tried to knock the ball away, but van Dijk knocked it back across the goal and Gakpo poked it across the line. The goal was not allowed because Konsa’s touch was judged to be a deflection and not a deliberate play. This means that the shot was played to van Dijk by a Liverpool player and was therefore offside. It was a very difficult call for the referee.

As the minutes ticked by, the home crowd urged their team on, but things were not looking good until the 72nd minute when Roberto Firmino and James Milner were brought on to play their final minutes in a Liverpool shirt.

In the last minute of normal time, Roberto Firmino sealed his Liverpool legacy with a leap and a strike to equalise and salvage a point from his final appearance.

Final score: Liverpool 1 - 1 Aston Villa

Before the story, I asked you:

Who missed from the penalty spot?

The answer is: Ollie Watkins. Ollie Watkins has had a fantastic season at Villa but didn’t have a great match and fired the ball wide from the penalty spot.

The words from the story that I want to talk about are:

• Aggressive
• To be put off
• Legacy

Aggressive

The adjective aggressive is normally used to describe a person’s behaviour. If someone is acting in an angry way and arguing a lot or acting in a way that makes you think they might attack you, then they are being aggressive. I once knew a small dog that wanted to fight every other dog it met. It was a very aggressive little dog. In football, if a team plays in an aggressive way, they attack a lot and force their opponents to defend. An aggressive team will always attempt to win the ball back quickly and will try to physically intimidate their opponents to force them to make mistakes.
were not put off

To be put off

If you put someone off something, you make them dislike it. I think that this is most commonly used with food. If you are eating something and you see something disgusting, you might lose your appetite, you might be put off your food. In the story, I said that Villa were not put off. When Watkins missed a penalty, that could have had an impact on their enthusiasm. But they continued to play positive attacking football. They were not put off.

Legacy

The noun legacy is quite difficult to define. It’s the historic or ongoing impact of something that a person or organisation did. So you often hear about an artist's legacy which would include their art work and how they have influenced other artists. It’s also how an artist and their work is remembered by their fans. I am a fan of the guitarist Jimi Hendrix and his legacy is enormous. Although he didn’t make that many records, his influence can be heard in hundreds of recordings by guitarists that try to play like him. When a player leaves a club, their legacy will be how they are remembered and how their style of play inspired and influenced younger players.

Now it’s time for this week’s third story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who scored a brace?

Spurs let the lead slip away

Harry Kane gave Spurs the lead after seven minutes from a free kick. Kulusevski and Kane lined up for the shot. In the end, Kulusevski knocked the ball slightly for Kane to thump over the wall and into the top right corner.

For the rest of the first half, Spurs were on top and drew several quality saves and blocks from defenders.

But then, in the second half, Spurs seemed to have lost their edge. Five minutes in, Spurs defence fell apart and Bryan Mbeumo was left in far too much space. Mbeumo took full advantage of the lapse and fired in a lovely goal and the scores were level.

Not long after that, Brentford won the ball back in their half and Aaron Hickey picked out Mbeumo who was making a run. It was perfectly timed and Mbeumo streaked behind Tottenham’s back four before scoring with a lovely finish from a tight angle.

The last glimmer of hope was extinguished when Oliver Skipp was robbed just outside the goal area by Brentford substitute Shandon Baptiste. Mbeumo collected the ball and darted towards goal. He could have gone for a hat trick but saw Yoane Wissa on his right. He crossed the ball and Wissa powered it past Fraser Forster in Spurs’ goal.

Final score: Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 3 Brentford

Before the story, I asked you:

Who scored a brace?

The answer is: Bryan Mbeumo. The word brace has come up before. It means two goals in football English. Mbeumo almost got a hat trick but settled for a brace and an assist.

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

• To have lost your edge
• To take full advantage of something
• A glimmer of hope

To have lost your edge

This idiom is quite easy to understand. I think that the metaphor is about a knife. A knife’s edge is the sharp part of the blade. If a knife loses its edge, it is no longer sharp and won’t cut as well. So, your edge is your skills or attitude that make you effective. We also use the phrase to have the edge over someone which means to have an advantage. So in football, the better team will have the edge over the other team. If they lose their edge, they lose their advantage.

To take full advantage of something

If you take advantage of something, it means to use all the good things that are available to you in that situation. This has come up in the past. Today, the sun is shining and I am going to take advantage of the good weather and invite some friends over for a barbecue. To take full advantage is just a more emphatic form. So when Spurs made a mistake, I said that Mbuemo took full advantage. I suppose, I could have said he took advantage if he attacked, but as he scored, I said he took full advantage.

A glimmer of hope

I’ve spoken about hope quite recently. The noun means a belief that something good will happen. If you have a lot of hope, you will be confident that something good will happen. The noun glimmer describes light. It’s a bit like a flicker, only not as strong. A glimmer is a weak flicker. It’s a light that shines on and off, but just a little. So a glimmer of hope is a small feeling of hope. If someone is in a bad situation and they hear some news that makes them think that there’s a chance, a small chance that things will be OK, then they might say that the news gave them a glimmer of hope.

OK, that's 9 words or phrases from the stories today. They were:

• To put on a show
• A testimonial match
• Silverware
• Aggressive
• To be put off
• Legacy
• To have lost your edge
• To take full advantage of something
• A glimmer of hope

Listen to the stories one more time to hear the language in context.

Language Challenge

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

Your challenge this week is to complete the gaps in the following sentences with the correct forms of the words and phrases that I’ve spoken about in this podcast. I have taken all of these sentences from news websites and edited them slightly.

Number 1. After the death of pop and soul legend Tina Turner was announced, fans gathered to honour her ___________ at the Tina Turner Museum in Tennessee.

Number 2. Spectacular images have captured dolphins at Portland Harbour _______________ for a group of rowers.

Number 3. Fullback Luke Ayling admits Leeds United have _______________ in the Premier League

Number 4. A wet start to the day wasn’t enough to keep music-lovers away from the final day of the South Tyneside Festival. The crowds were not ________ by the weather.

Number 5. Scientists from the University of Warwick have identified some of the most common behaviours of ___________ drivers.

Number 6. On Sunday, a _________________ was held at Champion Hill for long-serving Dulwich Hamlet legend Nyren Clunis.

Number 7. Marcus Rashford gives anxious Manchester United fans a _______________ over the extent of his injury as their star forward says there's 'plenty more in the tank'

Number 8. However, no matter how impressive the recovery, a season without ______________ is still seen as a failure at Juventus.

Number 9. Erik ten Hag's men ___________________ of slip-ups from rivals Newcastle and Tottenham the previous day to climb to third in the table.

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, the football phrase is a ********* ****. This is very common football vocabulary but it’s quite difficult to explain. A ********* **** is used when a team has a free kick near the goal. The defending players stand in a line as a physical shield between the person taking the free kick and the goal. I think you need to be quite brave to be in a ********* **** because you can’t duck out of the way if the ball is flying right at you. You just have to stand there and let it hit you.

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: Rutledge made it 3-1 from the spot before a hat-trick of second half Blyth red cards gave them no hope of coming back.

Number 2: This is from an old news story. Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma says manager Frank Lampard deserves all the credit for his tactical decisions in the win against Tottenham Hotspur.

Number 3: The government has taken a cautious approach to rolling out the country’s first medical doctor degree apprenticeships because the stakes are high if they get it wrong.

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.