This Week: Steal the spotlight

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.

In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about Chelsea hosting Luton, West Ham’s trip to Brighton and Manchester City who travelled over the pennines to play Sheffield United.

The phrases I am going to talk about are:

• Pressure to perform
• To steal the spotlight
• To be well intentioned
• A game plan
• Track record
• To capitalise on something
• Soaked up the pressure
• A flawless start to the season
• to steamroll their opponents
• His bread and butter
• To make amends

Listen out for this vocabulary in the headlines and stories.

After each story there will be a short language focus and then there will be a language challenge 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.

In the last podcast, I asked you for a game that you can play on the Premier League website where you pick a team and act as a sort of manager, transferring players in and out of your team. Each week, the players earn points by playing, scoring goals, making assists and performing other football feats.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine, Kareem Zain from Egypt, AhmadAmr from Egypt, AndreTorre102 from Brazil, Denis2000 from Belarus, Mumtaz from the United Arab Emirates, welcome to Premier Skills English Mumtaz. Congratulations to Hasan from Turkey and MoBeckham from Turkey, Congratulations and welcome to Joaopedrobd from Brazil, well done to Takateeto from Japan, Ken from Japan, Loic from France and Idzingirai from Zimbabwe - Welcome back Idzingirai it’s great to see you back on the podcast page.

You all managed to work out that the phrase I was looking for was the Premier League’s Fantasy Football game.

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

Now it’s time for the first story.

Sterling steals the spotlight

When Moises Caicedo stepped onto the pitch on Friday night with his Chelsea teammates, the pressure to perform must have been great. Caicedo was signed for more than five times the value of the entire Luton starting 11 so you’d think he was set to crush them. However, it was Raheem Sterling who stole the spotlight at Stamford Bridge and whose interplay with Nicholas Jackson promises a positive future for the blues.

Sterling scored the first after 17 minutes. He came running in with the ball from wide on the right and slipped between two Luton defenders before picking a spot and powering the ball into the side of the net through three Luton players and the keeper.

The score stayed the same for the rest of the half and for a while into the second half, Luton looked like they might cause some trouble. The hatters fired off some well intentioned if poorly placed shots until they got a real chance when Ryan Giles found his way into the penalty area. The young English midfielder struck the ball well, but it was blocked equally well by Robert Sanchez.

Sterling settled the home supporters' nerves in the 68th minute when he tapped in from Malo Gusto’s cross.

Seven minutes later, Sterling was running after a long ball down the right. Jackson knew exactly what Sterling was going to do and ran into the middle so that when Sterling fired in a powerful cross he was there to knock the ball over the line.

Final score: Chelsea 3 - 0 Luton

The phrases I want to talk about from this story are:

• Pressure to perform
• To steal the spotlight
• To be well intentioned

Pressure to perform

Pressure is when force or power is applied to something. If you press a button, you put force, usually through your finger onto the button. So the word pressure can be used to describe a physical force but it can also be used to describe the force of obligation. So when the people around you expect you to do something, that’s called peer pressure. We usually talk about peer pressure when young people do things because all their friends are doing it. For a footballer, they have the expectations of the manager, the club, their teammates, the fans in the stadium and the supporters all across the world to deal with. This pressure to play well can be a lot to cope with. For Moises Caicedo, the pressure to perform well would have been enormous, knowing that he’s the most expensive signing in the history of the Premier League.

To steal the spotlight

A spotlight is a powerful light that’s used in theatres that shines a round spot of light onto the stage. It’s used to light and direct the attention of the audience onto one person. Often, the rest of the stage is in darkness and only the person in the spotlight can be seen. So if something is in the spotlight, that means everybody is looking at it. On Friday, Chelsea were playing the most expensive midfielder in the history of the Premier League. Naturally, the spotlight was on Moises Caicedo. So when Raheem Sterling ran through the Luton defence and scored two goals and got the assist for the third, people stopped watching Caicedo and the spotlight shifted to Sterling which is why I used the phrase to steal the spotlight. The phrase is most commonly used to talk about films or shows if a relatively unknown performer is really good and everyone talks about them instead of the bigger stars.

To be well intentioned

Your intentions are what you hope or expect the outcome of an action will be. Your intentions are what you intend to happen. The meaning is similar to the verb to plan, only intentions are often quite vague. You might intend to make someone feel better or intend to get more work done. These are examples of intentions. If you are well intentioned, your actions, what you do, is for positive reasons. A well intentioned act is done because the person has good intentions, they want something positive. However, when we use the adjective phrase well intentioned, it’s usually because the outcome of an act was not good. If someone does something bad, perhaps they break something or cause some trouble, but they did it because they thought it would be good, they were well intentioned. It’s like a more formal way of saying that someone meant well. They wanted something positive to happen, they just didn’t predict that it could go wrong. Luton fired 11 shots at goal during their match against Chelsea. They were well intentioned - they wanted to score, but only one was on target ... and that was blocked.

Let’s move on to the next story.

West Ham stick to their game plan

West Ham took on Brighton at home on Saturday. The Hammers had a terrible track record against Brighton, having never beaten the team at home in the Premier League era. Brighton under Robert De Zerbi play fast confident football and must have felt confident at kick off.

Throughout the match, Brighton dominated possession and played with style with tidy accurate passing, but failed to capitalise on their possession. This was partly down to a lack of quality of finish as 15 shots were fired off target and also down to an amazing performance by Alphonse Areola, the West Ham keeper who made some world class saves.

Moyes' team somehow soaked up the pressure until Brighton slipped and then they countered with such speed and ferocity that they caught their hosts out. Their first came after 18 minutes when Ward-Prowse intercepted a forward pass and played it deep for Michail Antonio. Antonio controlled the ball and saw off the defence as Ward-Prowse sprinted up the pitch. Antonio spotted Ward Prowse’s run and crossed the ball square to Prowse who took a touch to get past a defender before drilling the ball back into the goal.

Brighton responded immediately and continued to press the visitors, but West Ham stuck to their game plan and Brighton couldn’t get through.

In the second half, Jarod Bowen missed a good opportunity. Not long afterwards, the ball was being played forwards again and Bowen sprinted forward, stretching every sinew. Benhrama’s cross was perfectly timed and Bowen got his goal.

Minutes later. Bowen played the ball in for Mikhail Antonio who turned the ball past Kurt Zouma and drove it home to make it three nil.

With 10 minutes on the clock, Pascal Gros found a way past Areola with a drive from outside the area. This energised Brighton who threw everything they could at West Ham, drawing more incredible saves, but no more goals.

Final score: Brighton and Hove Albion 1 - 3 West Ham United

The phrases I want to talk about from this story are:

• A game plan
• Track record
• To capitalise on something
• Soaked up the pressure

A game plan

A game plan is a plan that you believe will be successful. I guess this phrase comes from sport. A manager will make a plan for a match, how they believe the team can beat their opponents. Sometimes, a team will have a game plan, but then if they concede an early goal, they change their plan and nothing works for them. If a team can stick to their game plan, even after conceding a goal, then they can still be successful ... if it’s a good plan. We use the phrase outside of sports to describe an approach to a difficult problem. When I last moved house, I moved from England to Scotland and there was a lot to deal with, with the house sale, packing, sorting out bills and utilities and school stuff for my kids. I needed a game plan to cope with the move. My game plan was to do whatever my wife told me to do. And I have to say I stuck to my game plan and the move went very smoothly.

Track record

Your track record is all your achievements and failures in the past. People and organisations are sometimes said to have a good track record at something if they have done well at that thing in the past. When I selected track record, I wondered if there’s any difference between a good record and a good track record and I’m not really sure there is. I think we use track record more for specific achievements. The phrase comes from racing. In racing, horse racing and motor racing, the competitors race around a track. The track records are the best times recorded at the different tracks so that’s how we came to use the phrase for a specific event or competition. IN the story, I said that West Ham had a terrible track record against Brighton, meaning their record in this specific fixture.

To capitalise on something

If you capitalise on something, you use a situation to your own advantage, that is you get something good out of the situation. In most cases, this means finding a way to make money from a situation. So if you spot a fantastic business opportunity and then you take advantage and make money from the opportunity, you have capitalised on the situation. In football, if a player is sent off, that gives the other team an advantage. If they then take that advantage, then they capitalise on having an extra player.

Soaked up the pressure

I mentioned pressure in the language focus from the first story. To soak means to rest in liquid. If you are cooking and your pan is really dirty, you might want to soak the pan in water before you clean it. To soak up, means to absorb something. If you spill a drink, you can use paper towels to soak up the spilled drink. This means the paper towels absorb the drink so you can clean up the spill. We use the phrasal verb when we are talking about spilled liquids and also figuratively, for example with pressure. I heard two commentators use this expression this weekend when talking about teams that were playing defensive football, that had a defensive game plan. All the time they were able to defend, the commentators said they were soaking up the pressure. They were able to absorb the pressure without letting their attackers through.

Let’s move on to the final story.

Walker makes amends at Sheffield

Manchester City extended their flawless start to the season when they defeated Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, but the Blades did not make it easy for the Champions and came close to earning a point. Despite losing, the home team looked like they were having more fun and City looked frustrated that they were not able to steamroll their opponents.

In the first half, City had something like 85% possession as United relied on a strong defence and looked for opportunities to counter. Erling Haaland really struggled with Sheffield’s defenders and missed a couple of chances that should have been his bread and butter.

Egan was unlucky in the first half to concede a penalty. The defender made a sliding lunge to try to block Alvarez who looked like he was going to cross the ball. Instead, Alvarez hooked the ball back and caught Egan on the arm as the defender slid in.

Haaland stepped up to take the penalty and drove the ball hard into the post on the right hand side, drawing wild celebrations from the home supporters. The look on Haaland’s face was confused as much as disappointed.

In the second half, Manchester City finally found a way through. Grealish ran the ball into the area from the wing. He squared off with two defenders before side stepping them both and whipping the ball over the face of the goal to where Haaland was waiting to score with a towering header. The young Norwegian looked relieved to have found the net and barely celebrated.

In the 85th minute, Kyle Walker played the ball back off the line, but had underestimated his opponents who intercepted his pass and crossed the ball into the middle where Jaden Bogle found a line through the mass of City’s defence and into the net. Walker looked devastated.

The United fans were ecstatic for about three minutes when Walker made amends by robbing Yasser Larouci of the ball and firing it back to Foden who played the ball into the centre for Rodri who lashed the ball convincingly into the back of the net.

Final score: Sheffield United 1 - 2 Manchester City

The phrases I want to talk about from this story are:

• A flawless start to the season
• to steamroll their opponents
• his bread and butter
• To make amends

A flawless start to the season

Manchester city have had a flawless start to their season. I think that you can probably guess what flawless means. A flaw is an imperfection, a mistake or a weakness. You can talk about a flaw in a plan, meaning a reason why a plan won’t work or a flaw in an argument if there is an inconsistency or some reason why an argument is not valid. If something is flawless, then there are no mistakes or errors or weaknesses. I think I associate the word most with perfect diamonds. A flawless diamond or jewel is a jewel that has no marks or discolourations or problems, it is perfect. Manchester City are the only team to have won every one of their matches so far this season so they have had a flawless start to the season.

To steamroll their opponents

A steamroller is a massive truck with heavy metal rollers for wheels that’s used to smooth out road surfaces when roads are being made. In the past, these enormous vehicles were steam powered but these days they are run on diesel. We still call them steamrollers. If you steamroll something, you completely flatten it by applying so much pressure, it’s like you have driven a steamroller over it. I think that this is what everyone expected Manchester City to do at Bramall lane so the fans were very excited when Bogle equalised after 85 minutes.

His bread and butter

This is a funny expression. I suspect there are similar expressions with different foods in different languages. Your bread and butter is the work you do every day, every week, to earn the money you need to live, that is to buy your bread and butter. In professional terms, it’s something that you have done so many times, you are an expert or at least very good at it. Haaland is a professional goal scorer so scoring goals is his bread and butter. So when he missed a chance that you’d expect him to score from you can say that it should have been his bread and butter, meaning his normal professional performance.

To make amends

If you amend something, you change it, usually to fix a problem or make it better. The noun is amendment. To make amends means to do something good to repair a problem that you caused or to show that you are sorry about something you have done. This phrase is quite common in football English. If a player makes a mistake on the pitch, they often try very hard to make amends, to help their team score or somehow repair whatever damage was caused by their mistake. After Kyle Walker’s pass was intercepted, you could see he was very angry with himself and so he must have felt relieved when he made the tackle that led to the winning goal. That tackle made amends for his mistake.

Today, I’ve spoken about lots of language - way too much really - this is a very long podcast. The language I have spoken about is:

• Pressure to perform
• To steal the spotlight
• To be well-intentioned
• A game plan
• Track record
• To capitalise on something
• Soaked up the pressure
• A flawless start to the season
• to steamroll their opponents
• His bread and butter
• To make amends

Listen to the stories once more to hear the language in context.

Language Challenge

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

Number 1. The authorities should stop authorising any proposal for a housing project if the developer has a poor _______________, a real estate specialist suggests.

Number 2. Will Smith has tried unsuccessfully to _______________ with Chris Rock after he struck him at the Oscars, according to reports.

Number 3. In Formula 1, Perez _______________ and proved his street smarts with a sensational Singapore win.

Number 4. After featuring in supporting roles, actor Sharib Hashmi found his big ticket as a lead character in Filmistaan. He says “I want to stick to acting and I want to make acting my _______________.”

Number 5. Real Madrid top La Liga with a _______________ in their first five matches.

Number 6. Whenever people are scared and they have a sense of losing control, that’s when conspiracy theories emerge. Anti-vaxxers _______________ fears of coronavirus to spread misinformation.

Number 7. Defending champions Gokulam Kerala registered yet another huge victory when they _______________ Sports Odisha 8-1 in their second Group A match of the Hero Indian Women’s League.

Number 8. Ryan Gosling _______________ from Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’ with his acting masterclass.

Number 9. On Tuesday the Cabinet signed off on an eviction ban which means landlords will not be allowed to remove tenants from their property. One landlord commented: “It’s _______________ but the wrong strategy.”

Number 10. While having a second chance is always good, it could also increase the _______________ well in both exams.

Number 11. Fans are praising NFL player Isaac Rochell after he shared a _______________ for how to propose.

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 the verb to ******. This verb means to run as fast as you can. In athletics, the 100m is considered a ******. Footballers run a long way during a match, but from time to time, they really have to run as fast as they can to get to a ball. When they have to run that fast, they ****** to get the ball.

If you know the answer, be sure to leave it in a comment on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

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.