Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:04 — 4.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Blubrry | Podchaser | Email | TuneIn | RSS | More
Chelsea are on their way to Anfield today and this podcast features that match and others in our weekly predictions section. We also introduce some football language phrases and review some of the footballing stories of the week. For those who wish to practise their English, there is a transcript below to help with reading and listening and if you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast: Chelsea go to Anfield
Subscribe to the show and receive automatic downloads every week
- Subscribe through i-tunes here
- Click for the latest shows here
- Podcast FAQ
Transcript of the show
DB: You are listening to Languagecaster’s football-language podcast. Hiya everyone. I hope you are well and have enjoyed the football this week. My name is Damon, I’m based in Tokyo and it’s a beautiful sunny day here in Tokyo where I am based. Hopefully down the line is Damian in London. Damian? Are you there?
DF: Hello Damon, good to hear from you and good to be back after a week away from the podcast. My absence was not due to poor results from last week although I was miserable after Spurs’ defeat in the north London derby and of course Ireland’s heavy loss against Denmark in the World Cup qualifiers. Oh well, the good thing about football is that there is always another game or competition to look forward to!
DB: So what’s on the show?
DF: Well Damon, we have three main sections; we’ll start with the good, the bad and the ugly, where we pick some of the interesting news stories from the week. Then, we have some English for football language phrases, and this week we have to stab home and to put past. And we’ll finish with our predictions, and this week we have Liverpool v Chelsea, West Brom away at Tottenham at Wembley, and Burnley who are in 7th hosting Arsenal who are 6th.
You’re listening to languagecaster.com (Hindi)
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Hindi. Right, let’s start with the good, the bad and the ugly news from last week. What was good for you Damian?
Good
DF: Well it was Champions League action this week and PSG put seven past Celtic, which was good for the French side but humiliating for Celtic. Sevilla had a cracking come back, pegging back a Liverpool 3-0 half time lead to draw 3-3 with an amazing injury-time equaliser. They keep their unbeaten home record going, and it is now over a year since they were defeated at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. Also good for Grêmio of Brazil who got a slim 1-0 win against Argentine outfit Lanús in the first leg at home in the Copa Libertadores final. The return leg is next Thursday. Exciting times there. What about bad, Damon?
Bad
DB: We’ve mentioned one British side, Celtic getting hammered in Europe, and Everton suffered the same fate. They were beaten 5-1 at home – not away, at home – in the Europa League. That means the Merseyside team have played 5 in the group and lost four, shipping an average of three goals a game. They have a caretaker manager who can’t seem to inspire the players, are slipping down the Premier League table, sitting in 16th now, and it looks grim for the Toffees. There next three league games are against Southampton, West Ham and Huddersfield, games they really need to win. If they don’t, things could turn ugly at Goodison. And talking of ugly, Damian, and ugly stories?
Ugly
DF: More bad news for Everton I’m afraid. Their striker Niasse’s dive against Crystal Palace to earn his side a penalty last weekend was pretty bad. There was minimal contact with Scott Dann and the Senagalese striker tumbled over and conned, or tricked, the referee. There is a good news ending to this story however, as Niasse becomes the first player in the Premier League to be retrospectively banned for simulation. The review panel decided he had dived and therefore successfully deceived a match official – interesting phrase -why don’t they just call it cheating?
DB: Yeah, the terminology has gone from diving to simulation to now ‘successful deception of the match official’. Cheating is much easier to understand!
Follow us
DF: Remember that we would love to hear your comments or ssuggestions, and you can do this by getting in touch with us via admin@languagecaster.com, we have a twitter page, Facebook, or Instagram. If you come along to the site, languagecaster.com, and click on the podcast post, you can, of course, read the transcript for the show too.
Next up we here is a quick quiz question.
Quiz Question
DB: OK, for this week’s football quiz question we want to know what the score was when Liverpool hosted Chelsea last season. What was the score when Liverpool played Chelsea in the 2016-17 season? We’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
DF: Oh, I am not sure I know that one. Right, next up we are going to be explaining some football language that has emerged from the week. What do you have Damon?
Football Language: Stab Home
DB: This phrase describes a type of goal. In the phrase, home refers to the goal and to stab describes a quick shot very close to the goal line, usually with the front part of the foot. The player connects with the ball with the toe of his or her boot and ‘stabs home’ – scores from close range. Similar phrases are poke home, smash home and fire home, although the last two imply a much more powerful shot, usually from outside the six-yard box. Here is an example from Sunderland FC’s twitter feed in 2015: 84′ SO CLOSE! Defoe inches away from stabbing home van Aanholt’s cross! Really not #SAFC’s day…
Anything else this week, Damian?
Football Language: To put past
DF: Yes, I am going to talk about the phrase, to put past after I saw a headline about England’s women’s World Cup qualifier against Bosnia: ‘Houghton hits two as England put four past Bosnia (BBC.co.uk, November 25th 2017). When a team scores a lot of goals we sometimes hear the verbal phrase ‘to put past‘ as in the example, ‘Spurs put five past Swansea City’. Here the winning team (Spurs) have scored five goals against their opponents (Swansea). This phrase is usually heard when a lot of goals are involved and one team has easily defeated the other team – so a typical construction would be Team A put (number of goals) past Team B. However, we wouldn’t usually hear the phrase ‘Liverpool put one past Newcastle’ as not many goals are involved – there has to be a sense of a thrashing or heavy defeat involved. So, another example from last week which you have already mentioned was also from the BBC – PSG hit seven past Celtic in the Champions League (BBC.co.uk, November 22nd 2017).
DB: Brilliant!
You’re listening to languagecaster.com (York fan)
Predictions
DF: OK, time for our final section, predictions. Let’s take a look at the leader board. Alexrr has taken a lead over Johnny Magicboots, 88 to 84. I’m in fourth on 59 points – I really must add my predictions on time – and you are on 68 Damon.
DB: Cool. We need both Alexrr and Johnny Magic boots to get in touch with us so that we can send the Christmas Prediction leader prize, so both of you, send us your email or contact details and good luck to both of you – the leader on the 25th of December wins the Winter prize, an Amazon gift certificate.
DF: Yes, get in touch! admin@languagecaster.com is easiest but as we said earlier in the show, you can find us on most social media.
Liverpool vs Chelsea
DB: This is a big game and Liverpool fans all felt very deflated after throwing away a 3-0 lead in the Champions League at Sevilla, so I am a bit worried about how the team will respond. Having said that, we’ve been strong at home, so I’ll go for a 1-0 win. You?
DF: This one has draw written all over it – 1-1 for me.
Tottenham vs West Bromwich Albion
DB: This has to be a romp for Tottenham. 3-0.
DF: I am not so sure as West Brom will sit deep and make it difficult for us to break them down. An early goal I thought would be nice for Spurs and I thought maybe a 2-0 for us. There was an early goal, but it was for West Brom and this game finished 1-1.
Burnley vs Arsenal
DF: Our last game this week takes place this Sunday between 7th-place Burnley and 6th-placed Arsenal. They’re both on the same number of points. Damon, what do you think?
DB: Well, Turf Moor, Burnley’s ground, is never an easy place to go, but I think that Arsenal will win this 2-0. They are sixth in the table and may be going under the radar a bit, so they may play with a bit more freedom.
DF: I think this might end in a draw – 0-0 for me.
Quiz Answer
DB: OK. Before we go, here is the answer to the quiz question.
DF: Yes, we wanted to know what the score was in the corresponding fixture between Liverpool and Chelsea last season and it finished in a 1-1 draw.We’ll have another quiz question next week.
Good bye
DB: That’s it from this week’s podcast. Ta-ra!
DF: Yes, we hope you will all listen in again next week when we will be looking at the World Cup draw which takes place in Moscow next Friday. Bye bye.
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here
If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Free football language podcast for learners of English brought to you by Damian and Damon. Interviews, match reviews, predictions all with full language support for football fans around the world who wish to improve their English language skills.
