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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Arsenal vs Chelsea and Man Utd vs Leicester
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Transcript of the show
DF: You’re listening to languagecaster’s football podcast. Hello everyone, my name is Damian and I’m here in London where it is a beautiful September Saturday. Damon, how are things there in Tokyo?
DB: Hi Damian. Rain, rain and more rain here. So… so much so that my last two football games, one in the league and one in a cup competition have been called off!
DF: Oh no, the games have been cancelled – that doesn’t sound good at all.
DB: Nope. Anyway, how about you Damian? I noticed from our instagram account that you were at the London Stadium watching West Ham this week?
DF: Yes, that’s right. I live very near the stadium here in east London so my brother, who is a West Ham fan, and I along with some friends went down to see the Hammers – that’s West Ham’s nickname of course – and they were playing against League Two side Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup, which of course used to be known as the League Cup. Now, tickets for the game were much cheaper than usual – we paid only 10 pounds.
DB: So League Two actually means the fourth division or tier, right?
DF: Yes, so we’ve got the Premier, then the Championship, then League One and then League Two.
DB: Weird
DF: Anyway… yes, I know it is weird isn’t it, yes. So, although the underdogs from Accrington put up a brave fight the Premier League side ran out winners with a beautiful free-kick from their star player Dimitri Payet in the last minute. And West Ham will play London rivals Chelsea in the next round which will be fun, while of course our teams Damon – Liverpool and Tottenham – will face each other in the next round as well after both teams won convincingly in the same competition. What do you think of the next ‘languagecaster derby’?
DB: The languagecaster derby! Well, the last one was a draw but that was at Tottenham’s ground. I’m hoping home advantage and you fielding some of your reserves will see the Reds through to the quarters.
DF: Yes, you could be right there. Anyway, Damon, what do we have on today’s podcast?
Line up and Quiz
DB: Well, we will be taking a look back at some of the big football stories from the week and then after that we’ll take a look at one or two of the football words and phrases that emerged from the football world this week – including ‘an eye for goal’ and ‘to host’ and then, of course, we’ll finish with our look ahead to the big games from the Premier League in our predictions competition – Man United-Leicester looks an interesting game but perhaps the biggest match this weekend sees Arsenal hosting Chelsea – a London derby between two fierce rivals.
DF: Yes indeed and don’t forget that you can read the transcript for this week’s football language podcast by coming along to our site here at languagecaster.com and opening up our latest podcast post.
DB: That’s right and we hope that the transcript helps with both learners and teachers of English. Now before we start our football review we have another football question for you listeners. This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Arsene Wenger taking over at Arsenal – so he became their new manager in 1996. We want to know how many times has he won the league title with Arsenal in that 20 year period. I know it is a painful question for you Damian as a Tottenham fan but we’ll have the answer at the end of the show.
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com. Next up it’s the good, the bad and the ugly section. So Damon what was good in the football world this week?
Good
DB: Well it was good for both Brazil and Ukraine at the Paralympics in Rio. The former won the 5-a-side tournament beating Iran and Brazil therefore retain their crown. Remember the 5-a-side game is for the visually impaired. In the 7-a-side game for athletes with cerebral palsy Ukraine won the gold defeating Iran in that final – poor Iran though, making both finals but losing in both.
How about bad Damian?
Bad
DF: Well, despite an away win in the EFL Cup against Northampton, it has not been a good week for Manchester United as they suffered their second Premier League defeat in a row – back-to-back defeats – in their game with Watford last weekend. Their manager, Jose Mourinho, has not taken criticism of his team’s performances well and he claimed that there are too many ‘football Einsteins’ in the game. Damon, what do you think he meant by that comment?
DB: Well, I suppose he maybe having a dig at armchair pundits, football fans who think they know everything about the game and could do better than professionals. So he used the famously intelligent Einstein as a way to mock people who think they know more than he does about the game. Idiot!
DF: Indeed! And what about ugly?
Ugly
DB: Well, moving from a superstar manager whose powers may be on the wane to a superstar player in a similar situation. Yaya Toure, or more correctly Yaya’s agent Dimitri Seluk, has attacked the Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for not playing the Ivorian midfielder. He has ranted that Pep has been disrespectful to Yaya, to Joe Hart, to Pellegrini, the former City boss, and that the Catalan is acting like a king because he’s won a few football matches, that Pep needs to apologise to him. Very unedifying and it will only result in Yaya Toure’s future looking even bleaker at City and potentially anywhere else, as it is unlikely any club will want to match his 225,000 pounds per week wages. Very ugly.
DF: Yes indeed. He’s got one or two more pounds more than I earn every week I think.
DB: Exactly. Right. Next up we are going to take a look at some of the football language from the week.
Football Language – An eye for goal
DF: Yes Damon, now the first phrase we’ve got is an eye for goal. Now, if a player is known for scoring goals we say that he or she has an eye for goal. They often make goal scoring look easy – they know where the goal is. So, for example, we can say that the striker had an eye for goal and slotted home the rebound. Now Damon, which strikers do you think have an eye for goal?
DB: You’d have to say Diego Costa at the moment in the Premier League – you’d bank on him hitting the target if he sniffs a chance.
DF: Yes. Although I am not his biggest fan, I agree – he definitely has an eye for goal. Any other football language?
To host/A host
DB: Well, yes. We have ‘to host‘ or ‘a host‘. So, when a team plays at home we say that this team hosts the game: One team hosts another team. We can also use the word ‘host‘ as a noun to describe the team playing at home, for example, the hosts attacked from the start of the game. For example, we can say that the hosts outplayed the away team throughout the game.
DF: So Damon this week Liverpool are playing Hull – which team is at home?
DB: So Liverpool will be hosting Hull.
Follow us
DF: Thanks a lot for that Damon. Now I think listeners will hear that word quite a lot in our predictions later on in the show. Now remember, if you come along to Languagecaster you can find a massive collection of more football terms, vocabulary and football cliches in our football language glossary. And if you have more words and phrases you think we should add or you want explaining then contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
DB: Yes, and don’t forget, you can also follow us on Facebook – Learn English Through Football – we had lots of new followers and likes this week again including Luis Felipe, while on twitter where our handle is @languagecaster, we’d like to say thank you to all those who have contacted or re-tweeted us over the past few days including Roisin and JALT – that’s the Japanese Association of Language Teachers. Now as we mentioned earlier in the show we have an instagram account where you can see lots of football-related photos from the languagecaster team and thanks again to all those who liked, commented or simply said hello to us via our latest football-related photos.
DF: Alright Damon, it’s time for this week’s predictions.
Predictions
DF: Next up we have our predictions battle in which both Damon and myself will try and predict some of the big games taking place this weekend in the Premier League. Remember you can take us on in our online predictions competition. You can do this by coming along to our site at languagecaster.com, log in (of course it’s for free) and you can see the predictions competition at the top of the menu bar on our website. Then of course make your choices. It’s 3 points for a correct score and one for the right result. Now the current overall leader in the competition is…, who is it Damon remind me?
DB: It’s you Damian. 39 points. You’ve leapfrogged both myself and long time leader Aung Kyaw, we’re both on 37 points. A bit further back is Jose Levy with 29. And you’re also leading in the monthly competition – you have managed 15 points so far in September, followed by Jose on 12 and myself on 11.
DF: Nice stuff, let’s see if I can keep top spot in this the last week of September of course. Now, this week we’re going to focus on three games, starting with Manchester United vs Leicester which kicks off very, very soon – in just about an hour . Damon, what are your thoughts?
DB: I’m going for a 1-1 draw. I’m not yet convinced with Leicester. I think they had a cracking year and realise they can’t do it again. But 1-1 is not really going to be enough to lift the gloom hanging over Mourinho and Man United. You?
DF: I think United will win this one 2-1 – it won’t be pretty but it will be a win.
DB: OK. And the second game we’ll focus on is Bournemouth against surprise second placed Everton. Damian, what’s your prediction?
DF: I was talking to a Bournemouth fan last night and he felt they were playing well without getting any points and so I think they might spring a surprise and beat Everton 1-0. How about you?
DB: I disagree. I think it will be a 2-1 to the Toffees and they’ll continue their good start. Now, what’s our last game?
DF: This is the late game on Saturday and it sees Arsenal hosting Chelsea. We’ve already mentioned it’s 20 years since Wenger took charge at the Gunners. Damon do you think it will be a good day for the Frenchman?
DB: Not particularly. I’ve gone for a 1-1 draw. Now Arsenal always seem to come up short against the big teams, and the last time there was a big anniversary for Wenger, his 1,000th game in charge, Arsenal were crushed by Chelsea 6-1. What do you reckon?
DF: Well, as a Spurs fan I wish both teams would lose! Just kidding of course. I think it will finish in a nil-nil draw – scoreless for me.
DB: OK, now what do you think listener, what do you think will happen in this week’s games? Come along to our site at languagecaster.com and let us know. Don’t forget to join our predictions competition, or indeed our Premier League Fantasy Football – you can find out information on how to join us by clicking on the link in this post. Come along to the site at languagecaster. How are you doing this week Damian?
DF: Oh Damon, Damon. I’ve slipped down to 11th Damon. It wasn’t a good week for me. How about you?
DB: I’m still stuck in 12th! I’m hoping having Aguero back in my team will help this week! Brendan Rovers is still top of the league but just two points ahead of Kraljevi who plundered 67 points last game week!
Quiz Answer
DF: Now, just before we go here is the answer to the question we asked at the start of the show – How many times has Arsene Wenger led his side Arsenal to the title? And the answer is Damon?
DB: Three times!
Good bye
DF: And on that note, that’s it for this week – that was three times too many as far as I’m concerned. Enjoy all of the football this weekend and I hope your team does well – although Middlesbrough not too well ‘cos that’s where Tottenham are playing. Don’t forget to drop us a line or ask a question on our football language forum here at languagecaster.com.
DB: Tarah!
- 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.
