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Another big weekend of Premier League football sees Manchester City hosting Tottenham – that’s fourth versus second – while there are also big games involving Arsenal and Chelsea taking place on Sunday and we’ll be featuring all those games in our weekly predictions battle. We also have some English for football, and this week we explainA the phrases ‘non-league side‘ and ‘first choice‘. To start the show, however, we’ll review some of the footballing news in our good, the bad and the ugly section. Of course, you can read the transcript for the show in our post below (Damian = DF, Damon = DB).
Learn English through Football Podcast: 2016-17 Premier League – Manchester City vs Tottenham
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Transcript of the show
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster’s football language podcast. My name’s Damon and I’m in a sunny but cold Tokyo and hoping to talk to Damian down the line and across a continent in London. Damian? How are things?
DF: Good thanks, Damon. It’s also sunny and cold here in London as we had some freezing conditions here last night. I am also recovering after the thriller at The Etihad Stadium in Manchester yesterday! What do we have on today’s show?
Line up
DB: Well, we’re going to start the show by looking at three stories from the week’s footballing news in our good, the bad and the ugly section. And remember if you have ideas for us for this section, just let us know by emailing us at admin@languagecaster.com. Now, after that, we haveA a few phrases common to the beautiful game, and this week we feature ‘non-league side‘ and ‘first choice‘. That will bring us to our weekly quiz question and predictions. This pod goes out after most games were played on Saturday in the Premier League, but we’ll still take a look at what we thought would happen.
DF: Yes indeed. OK, let’s kick off with some of the good news from the world of football.
Good
DF: Well done to Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney whose last-minute equaliser against Stoke City meant that he has become the all-time leading goalscorer for the club. Now Rooney has now scored 250 goals for Manchester United – that’s one more than legend Sir Bobby Charlton – and let’s not forget that Rooney is also the top scorer for his country.
Bad
DB: Yes indeed. Well done. Now for bad I was going to say Juventus’ redesigned shirt badge or crest – another nail in the coffin for tradition – but when you look at the history of club crests they certainly have changed a lot through the ages, so Juve’s is no surprise. So, instead for my bad I want to talk about Manchester City’s goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, who is having nightmare start to his career in theA Premier League. The ex-Barcelona goalie was brought in because of his passing ability; the idea being that he could start attacks quickly and allow City to keep a high line. However, heA simply can’t seem to save anything. Here are some statistics courtesy of theA Daily Mirror newspaper – last six shots faced; six goals scored; last 24 shots, 16 goals conceded; that puts him top of the ranking as worst shot stopper. City, and Pep Guardiola, will be hoping he can turn things around soon, so that they can stay in the race for the title. Ugly Damian?
Ugly
DF: Well, it was not so good yesterday for struggling Sunderland who lost 2-0 to West Brom and one of their players Papy Djilobodji may be in trouble after cameras caught him punching an opponent. He was not cautioned by the referee but could face retrospective punishment and receive a ban.
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that was in German. We’re always looking for different languages to feature on our show so, send inA your version of the message, ‘You are listening to languagecaster.com’ here at admin@languagecaster.com.
Follow us
DF: You can also follow us on FacebookA – our page is Learn English Through Football – and on twitter where our handle is @languagecaster.A Thank you to all those who have done so in the past few days including Kaung Yay and Daniel on Facebook and all those who followed and re-tweeted usA on Twitter this week. Remember if you’d like to ask a question or simply want to get in contact with us then you can do so by coming along to our site at www.languagecaster.com or as Damon mentioned before email us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Quiz question
DB: OK, it’s time forA our weekly quiz question and this week our question is about London football sides and there are plenty of them. Which club from London is the oldest? Which club from the capital was founded the earliest? And we’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
Now next up we explain some football language that has emerged from the week.
Football Language: Non-league side
DF: In England there are four professional divisions in the Football League: The Premier League, the Championship, League 1 and League 2. Below this there are many other leagues a€“ both national and regional a€“ and these are known as the a€˜non-leaguesa€˜ and a team that plays in one of them is a a€˜non-league sidea€˜. This week in England a non-league side Lincoln City defeated a team from the Championship (Ipswich Town). Lincoln play in the National League which is the fifth tier of English football. For example, the non-league side were looking forward to their trip to Old Trafford in the FA Cup. Damon, any other language?
Football Language: First choice
DB: Yes, I’d like to talk about ‘first choice‘. Now, the phrase a€˜first choicea€˜ is used in football to talk about players who play in the first team or the starting xi. The manager chooses the team each week and these choices are known as the first choice.A You will often hear this phrase used with a position such as a€˜first-choice keepera€˜ or a€˜first-choice strikera€˜. Those players who do not feature in the first team can be described as second choice, such as a a€˜second-choice keeper. So, for example, we heard that Bravo is going through a difficult time in goals, so Manchester City are unsure about who should be their first-choice keeper.
DB: Now Damian, talking about first choice, are there any questions about who should be the first-choice strikerA or goalkeeperA in yourA Tottenham team?
DF: Not really, I think our first xi is settled. How about Liverpool?
DB: Well, unfortunately in theA position of strikerA there are several candidates, and we’ve already switched first-choice goalkeeper twice. Maybe that’s why I’m not confident about Liverpool lasting the pace in theA title race. And talking of title race, let’s have a look at some of the games this weekend in our predictions section.
Predictions
DB: OK listeners, remember you can try your luck in our monthly predictions or for the whole season by coming along to the site languagecaster.com, clicking on the link at the top to theA predictions league and making a free account.
OK. let’s start, and we’re going to start with yesterday’sA game between Manchester City and Tottenham.
Manchester CityA vA Tottenham
DB: Well, Damian, I thought this would be a 1-1 draw and it did end as a draw, but a much more exciting 2-2 game. Tottenham came back strongly in the second half afterA it looked like all three points were going to City. What were your thoughts before the game and after the final whistle Damian?
DF: Well, I was cautiously optimistic beforehand but we were very lucky to escape with a point after being completely outplayed in the first half. Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris made a couple of howlers and our defence was stretched on many occasions, while City could have had a penalty. But it’s always nice coming back from 2-0 down.
Arsenal v Burnley
DF: OK, next up are Tottenham’s rivals in north London, that’s Arsenal, and they are hostingA Burnley, a team from the north west of England. This kicks off in an hour or so, Damon. What do you predict?
DB: Well, I’d love Burnley to pull off an upset, as my team Liverpool were shocked by SwanseaA and dropped 3 points yesterday. it would be nice for Arsenal, rivals in the top four, to drop points too. But, I can’t see that happening. Burnley are solid at home, but awful away. 2-0 to Arsenal. You?
DF: Yes, Arsenal will win this comfortably – 2-1.
Chelsea v Hull City
DB: And last we have the favourites for the title, Chelsea, taking on Hull, who are under new management, Marco Silva. Do you think the new manager bounce will see a shock result here with Hull taking three points?
DF: Yes, I think Hull will sneak a win, 1-0. You?
DB: 3-0 to Chelsea for me.
Quiz Answer
DF: Probably right. Just before we go here is the answer to our quiz question. We asked which of the London teams is the oldest? Now Arsenal were founded in 1886, Tottenham in 1882 but Championship side Fulham were formed in 1879 which means they are the oldest London club. We’ll have another question next week.
Good bye
DB: Cheers everyone. Ta-rah!
DF: Bye!
Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here.
If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
