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This football language podcast focuses on the phrase acres of space, which is used to talk about a player’s position. The transcript for this podcast is available below, and you can also access our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions please contact us at admin@languagecaster.com or leave a question or comment on our forum. (DB=Damon)
Acres of Space – Football Language Podcast: Season 2021-22
DB: You’re listening to languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. Hello there. Thanks for dropping by. My name’s Damon, one half of the langaugecaster team. The other half is Damian, who is across the world from me in London. I, meanwhile, am in a beautiful, autumnal Tokyo. This podcast series and our site is a great place to come if you want to improve your English while also talking about the beautiful game of football.
On today’s short football language podcast, we’ll take a look at the phrase ‘acres of space‘ and some other phrases connected to it. Before we do that, if you like what we do here at languagecaster, please show us by leaving comments, sharing our podcasts and posts, and maybe also by leaving a donation to help keep us up and running.
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Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Portuguese).
Acres of Space
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Portuguese – thank you Akiko!
OK, to be in acres of space. Let’s take a look at this phrase. First of all, we have acre, which is a measure of area, like hectare or square metres. An acre is roughly the size of two football pitches – actually 1.75 football pitches, but two is easy to remember.
It is an Old English word and has been largely replaced by metric measures like metres and hectares. But football, with its roots in British history, still uses a lot of old measurements: for example, the six-yard area; the penalty spot is 12 yards from the goal-line etc.
Back to the phrase, if you say a player is in acres of space, you mean there is no opponent near them. They are standing in a lot of space – acres of space.
Here’s an example from Marca:
Manchester United shifted the ball from left to right and that meant Bruno Fernandes had acres of space on the right-hand side of the box, but he fired his shot high and wide of Alisson’s goal.
Here the verb is have, or had: Fernandes had acres of space.
The Freedom of the Park
Another way to say a player has a lot of space, or too much space if you are the defending team, is to say they have the freedom of the park. When you use this phrase or acres of space, you are criticising the defending team for not being tight enough, close enough, to the player with the ball.
Here’s an example from a game last year between Leicester and Liverpool on 90mins.in:
With Leicester more or less camped inside their own third, the 21-year-old had the freedom of the park, firing characteristically inviting crosses into the box.
The opposing team can also ‘give’ a player the freedom of the park. So Leicester gave Trent Alexander-Arnold the freedom of the park.
All the time in the World
DB: Our final phrase to talk about players in a position where they have a lot of space is – all the time in the world. She’s got all the time in the world, means again there is no opposing player close enough to pressure the ball carrier. Here’s an example from the Irish Times:
A 4-0 victory would not have flattered Inter, for whom Cassano and elegant Colombian playmaker Fredy Guarin seemed to have all the time in the world to look up and pick out the tempting green space behind Jan Vertonghen and William Gallas.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (French).
Good Bye
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and thank you for that message in French! Right, that brings us to the end of this short football language podcast. We had three phrases to say a player is being given too much time and space: He’s in acres of space. They’ve given him the freedom of the park. He has all the time in the world to play a pass.
Drop us a line anytime at admin@languagecaster.com. You can read the transcript for the show on our website at languagecaster.com and post on our forum! And if you like what we do, as we said at the start of the show, leave a donation to keep our site up and running. Enjoy all the football. Ta-ra!
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.
