This Week: Three levels of Leeds vs Newcastle

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’m going to try something new. I’ve got a story from the Premier League about Leeds United’s battle for Premier League survival against Newcastle United and I’m going to present it at three levels. I wrote this story after watching the match and making notes on the language the commentary team and pundits used and also looked at the language from a match report in a newspaper and in the end, found fifteen interesting words and phrases that are commonly ... quite commonly used in football English.

Now, I can’t read the story with all 15 phrases. Fifteen items of new language is way too much at once. So I have simplified the story to make it easier to understand. For the language focus, I’m going to read the story to you at three levels. At level one, I will put 5 of the phrases back into the story. The first five are the least difficult items. In the next level, level 2, there will be five more items. This time, the language is quite advanced. And then, finally, at level three, I’ll put back the most difficult words and phrases. Level three will have some really tricky language.

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 and you’ll see that I have highlighted the simplified language. I think that this podcast will be much better if you can listen and read at the same time.

But before I get to the story 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.

Last week’s football phrase was the job title of a person who works at a football match. They work as part of a team, but they are not the main person on the team. This person helps make sure that the play is stopped if a player is offside. They raise their flag if they see that a player is trying to take advantage of an offside position. They are the ********* ********.

Congratulations to Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Taha Gashout from Libya, Ryohei from Japan, Hasan from Turkey, Mostafa from Egypt, welcome to Premier Skills English Mostafa, Well doen to Vincius77 from Brazil, Cyril42 from France - Bienvenue a Premier Skills English Cyril, Congratulations Satt from Japan, Bicooz from Egypt, Goku from Japan, Renan from Brazil, Denis2000 from Belarus, Isshin from Japan and Ken from Japan. You all worked out that the footbal phrase was assistant referee.

Some of you suggested the term linesman which is the old name for this role. The name of the role changed because there are women referees and assistant referees and we have stopped using man in lots of job titles. But the job is the same so congratulations for working out what role I was describing.

I have a couple of questions to answer. The first was asked by Bicooz who wanted me to explain the phrase: they put on a spellbinding display in the Sussex Sunshine. This was a tricky phrase that I mostly copied from a news report about the match. I really liked the way the phrase sounded, but I should probably have explained it in the podcast. Very simply, spellbinding means exciting to watch. If you are spellbound, it is like a magic force is making you watch something, but we just mean that something is very entertaining. A display is the same as a performance. So Brighton were very exciting to watch. Sussex is the county, that is the region of England where you can find Brighton and the sunshine ... well, we do get some sunny weather in the UK.

The second question came from Ken. Ken asked when he needs to send an answer in for each task. OK ... so ... how can I put this? For a long time, I worked on these podcasts with Rich. In fact, we’d normally work on the ideas together and then Rich would write the scripts. We published This Week on Monday or Tuesday and another podcast on Friday. And then Rich left. I know. He left me all on my own. And so now, I can’t publish two podcasts a week. I would like to publish this podcast on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it’s already Thursday evening and I’m still writing this script. It would be best if you could get your answers in by Tuesday night UK time, but I’ll check the comments up until I’m ready to record.

OK. If you want to join in this week, listen till the end of this podcast, where there is a language challenge and a new football phrase for you to try to work out.

Before we get to any of the new language, I want you to listen to the simplified version of the story.

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

Why do I say Leeds gave the draw away?

Leeds give away a draw

Leeds were second from the bottom of the table when they hosted third place Newcastle on Saturday. The Magpies have been enjoying their best season in years and are competing for Champions League football. This was a very important match for both teams and the nerves were showing. But Leeds were prepared and stuck to their plan and it almost worked.

7 minutes in, Leeds went ahead when Ayling scored from close range. Bamford should be praised for his role in setting up the goal after delivering a fine cross to Rodrigo whose header was on target so Nick Pope had to move quickly to save, though he only managed to block and push Rodrigo’s header into the path of Luke Ayling.

Leeds never stopped attacking and kept pushing Newcastle hard and with a level of strength and force that surprised people. Newcastle looked rattled and Joelinton gave away a penalty after clumsily knocking down Firpo in the area.
Bamford looked calm when he took the penalty, but made it far too easy for Pope to block.

Three minutes later, Max Wober clumsily ran into the path of Alexander Isak and brought him down and Newcastle had a penalty. Calum Wilson was careful and scored with a perfectly placed shot that there was no way that the Leeds keeper, could save.

In the second half, Leeds gave away another penalty. Firpo leapt for a cross with his arms waving wildly above his head. His hand made contact with the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Wilson predicted what the keeper was going to do and fired his penalty straight down the middle.

As the minutes ticked away, the match was not going well for Leeds. And then with only their second corner of the match, Kristensen gave the players and fans a reason to be positive and to think that they might win. Forshaw took the corner and played it short to Gnonto who flicked the ball up and over the wall of Newcastle players to Bamford.

Bamford tried with a header and was blocked, then tried again with his left foot and was denied again. The ball bounced out to Kristensen who equalised with a powerful volley (and a lucky deflection).

Final score: Leeds United 2 - 2 Newcastle United

Before the story, I asked you:

Why do I say Leeds gave the draw away?

Leeds played really well and their game plan was working. Newcastle would have lost the match if it weren’t for two silly mistakes in the penalty area.

Now, I want you to listen again, but this time, I’m increasing the level of the text and I’m adding these five words and phrases.

• A good reaction save
• Made no mistake
• Gave the keeper no hope
• To concede
• Things were not looking good

Listen to the story and try to hear these phrases.

Level 1: Leeds give away a draw

Leeds were second from the bottom of the table when they hosted third place Newcastle on Saturday. The Magpies have been enjoying their best season in years and are competing for Champions League football. This was a very important match for both teams and the nerves were showing. But Leeds were prepared and stuck to their plan and it almost worked.

7 minutes in, Leeds went ahead when Ayling scored from close range. Bamford should be praised for his role in setting up the goal after delivering a fine cross to Rodrigo whose header drew a good reaction save from Nick Pope, though he only managed to block and push Rodrigo’s header into the path of Luke Ayling.

Leeds never stopped attacking and kept pushing Newcastle hard and with a level of strength and force that surprised people. Newcastle looked rattled and Joelinton gave away a penalty after clumsily knocking down Firpo in the area.
Bamford looked calm when he took the penalty, but made it far too easy for Pope to block.

Three minutes later, Max Wober clumsily ran into the path of Alexander Isak and brought him down and Newcastle had a penalty. Calum Wilson made no mistake and scored with a perfectly placed shot that gave the Leeds keeper no hope.

In the second half, Leeds conceded another penalty. Firpo leapt for a cross with his arms waving wildly above his head. His hand made contact with the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Wilson predicted what the keeper was going to do and fired his penalty straight down the middle.

As the minutes ticked away, things weren’t looking good for Leeds. And then with only their second corner of the match, Kristensen gave the players and fans a reason to be positive and to think that they might win. Forshaw took the penalty and played it short to Gnonto who flicked the ball up and over the wall of Newcastle players to Bamford.

Bamford tried with a header and was blocked, then tried again with his left foot and was denied again. The ball bounced out to Kristensen who equalised with a powerful volley (and a lucky deflection).

Final score: Leeds United 2 - 2 Newcastle United

In the story, I said that Rodrigo’s header drew a good reaction save from the goalkeeper. This phrase, a reaction save, is something you hear quite a lot in commentary on football matches. It means a save that needed the goalkeeper to react to very quickly. Your reactions are the way you act when something happens. If you are very alert, you can react quickly. Goalkeepers need to have quick reactions and most saves are a combination of reading the play and making sure the goalkeeper is in the right position and quick reactions. However, when the ball is played quickly and the keeper has no time to prepare or move into position, they can make a reaction save if they block a shot just using their quick reactions.

The idiom make no mistake is normally used in spoken English to say that you are certain about something. For example, you might hear a teacher say: Make no mistake, if you don’t study hard, you’re going to fail the exam. The idiom just means: this is true or I’m being serious. I said that Callum Wilson made no mistake and scored. This meaning is similar. Calum Wilson did everything very carefully and made certain that his ball was going in the net. So if someone makes no mistake, they are very careful to make sure something happens.

I said that Wilson’s shot gave the keeper no hope. If you have no hope or no hope of doing something, there is no possibility of doing it. No hope is the same as no chance. I think that it’s even more emphatic than no chance. So if your friend is applying for a job and you really don’t think he or she will get the job, you could say you’ve got no chance of getting the job. If you think that your friend is completely wasting their time you could say you’ve got no hope of getting the job. Though, that would be a bit mean/

To concede means to accept or admit that something is true or to allow someone to have something, when you don’t want to. Outside of football, you will hear about politicians conceding defeat when they lose an election. They don’t want to admit defeat, but if they have lost, it’s the noble thing to do. In football, teams concede goals, corner kicks and penalties when they make mistakes that allow any of these things to happen.

The last phrase that I introduced was: things were not looking good. To look good normally means to be attractive. However, we can also use the phrase to say that we think that someone or something will be successful. If your friend is running a marathon and you are cheering them on, you might call out: Come on! You’re looking good! If you think they are going to be successful. On the other hand, you can use the phrase negatively to say that you don’t think someone is going to be successful. If a business is not doing well, you might say they are not looking good. And if you want to talk about a situation or a project, or person, or team you can use the full phrase: things are looking good if you are positive and things are not looking good if you think that the outcome won’t be successful.

Now it’s time for level 2. This time, I want you to listen out for these words and phrases:

• Deserves credit
• An impressive intensity
• To repel
• To read the keeper
• To restore hope

Level 2: Leeds give away a draw

Leeds were second from the bottom of the table when they hosted third place Newcastle on Saturday. The Magpies have been enjoying their best season in years and are competing for Champions League football. This was a very important match for both teams and the nerves were showing. But Leeds were prepared and stuck to their plan and it almost worked.

7 minutes in, Leeds went ahead when Ayling scored from close range. Bamford deserves credit for the goal after delivering a fine cross to Rodrigo whose header drew a good reaction save from Nick Pope, though he only managed to block and push Rodrigo’s header into the path of Luke Ayling.

Leeds never stopped attacking and kept pushing Newcastle hard and with an impressive intensity. Newcastle looked rattled and Joelinton gave away a penalty after clumsily knocking down Firpo in the area.
Bamford looked calm when he took the penalty, but made it far too easy for Pope to repel.

Three minutes later, Max Wober clumsily ran into the path of Alexander Isak and brought him down and Newcastle had a penalty. Calum Wilson made no mistake and scored with a perfectly placed shot that gave the Leeds keeper no hope.

In the second half, Leeds conceded another penalty. Firpo leapt for a cross with his arms waving wildly above his head. His hand made contact with the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Wilson read the keeper well and fired his penalty straight down the middle.

As the minutes ticked away, things weren’t looking good for Leeds. And then with only their second corner of the match, Kristensen restored hope. Forshaw took the penalty and played it short to Gnonto who flicked the ball up and over the wall of Newcastle players to Bamford.

Bamford tried with a header and was blocked, then tried again with his left foot and was denied again. The ball bounced out to Kristensen who equalised with a powerful volley (and a lucky deflection).

Final score: Leeds United 2 - 2 Newcastle United

I said that Bamford deserved credit for the first Leeds goal. Normally, credit is praise or approval for something that you have done. It is praise that you deserve. So if you do a really good job at work, you deserve to be praised by your boss. But if someone else takes your work and presents it to your boss, they might take the credit for something that you did. In football, the player that scores a goal gets the most credit. But the person who sets the goal up gets credited with an assist. So Rodrigo will be credited with the assist for Ayling’s goal. However, Bamford’s cross to Rodrigo was really well placed and deserves credit.

I said that Leeds attacked with an impressive intensity. The noun intensity means a level of strength and force. It’s used quite a lot to describe a team that attacks with a lot of energy. In fact, the Premier League is a very demanding league and all players are expected to be able to play with a high level of intensity, but at this end of the season for the teams that are fighting to survive in the Premier League or are battling for Champions League football, they play with more energy and enthusiasm.

The verb to repel means to force someone to stop attacking you. It means to push someone or something away. It’s similar to block in football English, but if a ball is repelled, it is pushed away from the goal.

I said that Wilson read the keeper well. If you read someone or a situation well, you understand the situation and are able to predict what is going to happen next. Footballers need to read the match, they have to understand what’s happening so they can anticipate what’s going to happen. Sometimes, teammates misread each other’s movements and then they pass the ball into the wrong space or run in the wrong direction.

When Kristenson scored in the 79th minute and equalised, Leeds were very happy because they thought that they could win. I said that Kristenson restored hope. If you restore something, you return it to the condition it was in in the past. When Ayling scored first, the Leeds players and fans would have been very excited and full of hope for the match and their survival. But then, Newcastle scored. And in the second half, Newcastle scored again and things were not looking good for Leeds. SO when Kristensen scored the equaliser, it made the players and fans feel hopeful again. Getting that goal made them think that they had a chance of winning the match and surviving in the Premier League. It gave them hope.

Now it’s time for level 3. This time, I want you to listen out for these words and phrases:

• The stakes were high
• To parry
• To let up
• Clumsily felling Firpo
• To have another bite

Level 3: Leeds give away a draw

Leeds were second from the bottom of the table when they hosted third place Newcastle on Saturday. The Magpies have been enjoying their best season in years and are competing for Champions League football. The stakes were high for both teams and the nerves were showing. But Leeds were prepared and stuck to their plan and it almost worked.

7 minutes in, Leeds went ahead when Ayling scored from close range. Bamford deserves credit for the goal after delivering a fine cross to Rodrigo whose header drew a good reaction save from Nick Pope, though he only managed to parry Rodrigo’s header into the path of Luke Ayling.

Leeds never let up and kept pushing Newcastle hard and with an impressive intensity. Newcastle looked rattled and Joelinton gave away a penalty after clumsily felling Firpo in the area.
Bamford looked calm when he took the penalty, but made it far too easy for Pope to repel.

Three minutes later, Max Wober clumsily ran into the path of Alexander Isak and brought him down and Newcastle had a penalty. Calum Wilson made no mistake and scored with a perfectly placed shot that gave the Leeds keeper no hope.

In the second half, Leeds conceded another penalty. Firpo leapt for a cross with his arms waving wildly above his head. His hand made contact with the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Wilson read the keeper well and fired his penalty straight down the middle.

As the minutes ticked away, things weren’t looking good for Leeds. And then with only their second corner of the match, Kristensen restored hope. Forshaw took the penalty and played it short to Gnonto who flicked the ball up and over the wall of Newcastle players to Bamford.

Bamford tried with a header and was blocked, then had another bite with his left foot and was denied again. The ball bounced out to Kristensen who equalised with a powerful volley (and a lucky deflection).

Final score: Leeds United 2 - 2 Newcastle United

I said that the stakes were high for both teams. The word stakes is interesting. A stake is a wooden post that you can hammer into the ground to put up a fence. From this, we have the phrases to stake a claim and stakeholder. The word stake also means the money that people risk when they gamble. If people gamble with lots of money, the game can be called a high stakes game. So stakes are what people might win or lose when they gamble. Now, for a football team, if the outcome of a match decides whether or not they play in Europe or are relegated from the Premier League, you can say that the stakes are very high. For a pre-season friendly, the club stakes are low as it doesn’t matter that much if the team wins or loses.

The verb to parry is very similar to block. I think it comes from sword fighting. If someone attacks you with a sword, you will need to parry their attack, you will have to stop their attack by blocking and redirecting their sword. You might parry an attack or parry a blow. It’s quite commonly used in football when a goalkeeper pushes away or blocks a shot.

The phrasal verb to let up means to stop or at least become less strong or use less effort. If you are doing something that’s really hard work, you might say we can’t let up now, we’ve almost finished. Meaning you can’t slow down or stop. If it’s raining and it hasn’t stopped for hours, you might say: I was going to take the rubbish out but I’m waiting for the rain to let up. In the story, I said that Leeds never let up; they kept attacking for the whole match.

The verb to fell is normally used with trees. If you fell a tree, you cut it down. It’s used in sports to say that a person knocks someone down, like the person they have felled is a like a tree. In the story I said that Joelinton clumsily felled Firpo. He ran into Firpo without grace and Firpo went down like a tree.

The last phrase from the story today is to have another bite. This is a short version of a longer idiom. The full form is to have another bite of the apple or slightly confusingly, to have another bite at the cherry. The apple version makes more sense. You can imagine someone trying to eat an apple. They might have one bite of the apple and then have another bite. So to have another bite means to have a second attempt or a second try to do something. Bamford tried to score with a header, but it was blocked. As the ball rebounded to Bamford he had another bite when he tried to score again.

OK - so that’s three levels of Leeds give away a draw. I hope you have found it useful. The language I’ve focused on today is:

• A good reaction save
• Made no mistake
• Gave the keeper no hope
• To concede
• Things were not looking good
• Deserves credit
• An impressive intensity
• To repel
• To read the keeper
• To restore hope
• The stakes were high
• To parry
• To let up
• Clumsily felling Firpo
• To have another bite

Listen to the Level three story one more time to revise these words and phrases.

Leeds give away a draw

Leeds were second from the bottom of the table when they hosted third place Newcastle on Saturday. The Magpies have been enjoying their best season in years and are competing for Champions League football. The stakes were high for both teams and the nerves were showing. But Leeds were prepared and stuck to their plan and it almost worked.

7 minutes in, Leeds went ahead when Ayling scored from close range. Bamford deserves credit for the goal after delivering a fine cross to Rodrigo whose header drew a good reaction save from Nick Pope, though he only managed to parry Rodrigo’s header into the path of Luke Ayling.

Leeds never let up and kept pushing Newcastle hard and with an impressive intensity. Newcastle looked rattled and Joelinton gave away a penalty after clumsily felling Firpo in the area.
Bamford looked calm when he took the penalty, but made it far too easy for Pope to repel.

Three minutes later, Max Wober clumsily ran into the path of Alexander Isak and brought him down and Newcastle had a penalty. Calum Wilson made no mistake and scored with a perfectly placed shot that gave the Leeds keeper no hope.

In the second half, Leeds conceded another penalty. Firpo leapt for a cross with his arms waving wildly above his head. His hand made contact with the ball and the referee pointed to the spot. Wilson read the keeper well and fired his penalty straight down the middle.

As the minutes ticked away, things weren’t looking good for Leeds. And then with only their second corner of the match, Kristensen restored hope. Forshaw took the penalty and played it short to Gnonto who flicked the ball up and over the wall of Newcastle players to Bamford.

Bamford tried with a header and was blocked, then had another bite with his left foot and was denied again. The ball bounced out to Kristensen who equalised with a powerful volley (and a lucky deflection).

Final score: Leeds United 2 - 2 Newcastle United

Language Challenge

Right, now it’s time for you to think about the language again.
This podcast is way too long for me to include a language challenge with all 15 phrases so I’m going to challenge you with three sentences. The first will be a level 1 challenge and you’ll have to select a word or phrase from the level 1 vocabulary, The second will be a level 2 challenge and the third will be from level 3.

Number 1: Rutledge made it 3-1 from the spot before a hat-trick of second half Blyth red cards _____ them _________ of coming back.

Number 2: This is from an old news story. Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma says manager Frank Lampard _________ all the _________ 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 ___________________ if they get it wrong.

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.
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 deflection.

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. Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, more than 90 organisations today called on politicians in the United Kingdom to guarantee social security payments ensure recipients can enjoy their rights and live with dignity.

Number 2. Northampton’s Coronation Community Festival line up has been announced...and it's going to be a cracker!

Number 3. Motoring journalists are calling Honda’s entire SUV range a force to be reckoned with.

Number 4. Manchester City have booked their place in the final after a polished performance saw them overcome their rivals.

Number 5. Northampton's bus operator has appealed for common sense after video of a scrum at Drapery bus stop

Number 6. Four or five goats escaped from their enclosures and scrambled across San Francisco last week, captured in videos posted on social media.

Number 7. Two alleged shoplifters were injured in a tussle with store security in a department store in Pasadena.

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. What did you think of the format? Was it useful to hear the vocabulary this way? Do let me know what you think. Until next week, I hope all of you stay fit and healthy and safe.
Bye for now and enjoy your football.