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Football Language: Add steel to the team
Here we explain the football cliche ‘add steel to the team’‘ which is used when a team needs to be a little more physically stronger. If you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out 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 then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Language: Add steel to the team
Not all teams are made up of everything they need to play well or win games, for example, they may need some more pace or speed in one area of the pitch; or maybe they need a more experienced goalkeeper or perhaps a playmaker who can pull the strings and provide inch-perfect passes to team mates. Sometimes a team has a soft centre which means that they may be physically or mentally not as strong as their opponents and they lack steel.
Now, steel is a metal that is a combination of iron and carbon so it is very strong and easy to use and therefore when we talk about steel in a team we are referring to its strength. Barcelona are well known as a team that plays a fast, passing game but they have always had some steel in their team and currently Sergio Busquets is the player who provides the steel from his position just in front of the defence – he adds steel to the team.
- Example: Now here is a recent example: Arsenal signed Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira from Italian side Sampdoria to add some steel to their midfield. To add some steel.
- Example: Dominguez Adding Steel To Reds Midfield (Nottingham Sport.com)
- Example: Manchester United eyeing up Aston Villa star John McGinn to add steel to midfield (Sunday World)
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What does “culminate in” actually mean here?
25 min A dangerous Chelsea attack culminates in Willian pulling the ball back for Batshuayi around five yards from goal. The pass is poor, though, and Batshuayi is unable to do anything with it.
To culminate means to finish; so the attack finishes with Willian passing to Batshuayi.