Here is a list of some popular footballing clichés. Click on the audio file to listen

Football Glossary

English for Football

Weekly Vocabulary

Football is a funny old game

This is a cliché that means football is unpredictable: that we just don’t know what is going to happen, or that anything could happen in football.

A game of two halves

A cliché that is used to describe a game that is dominated by one team in the first half and then the other team in the second half.

Too good to go down
Too good to go down mp3
This cliché is always wheeled out when a ‘big’ team, or a team with a history in the division is in danger of being relegated. At the beginning of the season most people choose which teams they think will be too weak to stay up, but there is always one team with a big reputation that is involved in the fight to stay up. Last year in the Premier League it was West Ham that were too good to go down, though they did actually stay up. This season, people are already talking about Bolton and Tottenham in the Premier League being in danger of relegation. Their fans of course will argue that they ‘are too good to go down’. We’ll just have to wait and see.

There are no easy games

There are no easy games mp3
Usually on the show we have an English for football phrase, but today we’re going to look at a footballing cliché: a phrase that has been used so much that it shows a lack of originality, a phrase that is very predictable.

So here goes with this week’s cliché. “There are no easy games.”

Now, this phrase is often used by managers and coaches of big teams just before they play a weak team. Everyone expects the big team to win, but the coaches often say, “There are no easy games” in order to excuse in advance any failure. If their team lose they can always say, “Well, I said there are no easy games any more.”

Just to prove it’s not only managers that reach for the clichés here’s Team USA’s, Kirstin Lilly , talking about the USA’s chances in the recent Women’s World Cup.

She said, “but the beauty of the game now is that any team can beat you, there is a new level of parity in the women’s game. The top ten teams in the world can realistically win a world title. There are no easy games anymore.”

To be as sick as a parrot

sick as a parrot mp3
The opposite of being over the moon, to be upset after losing a game - usually an important one.

To be over the moon

over the moon mp3
To be overjoyed; elated; very, very happy - especially after scoring or winning.

To be strong on paper

strong on paper mp3
If you look at the team sheet the team looks very strong individually.

To be at sixes and sevens:

to be at sixes and sevens
To have no organisation, to be in disarray, to be a mess, to be all over the place.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS