We look at the phrase ‘turn the tables on‘ which is connected to revenge in this football language post. You can read the transcript for this post 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.
Turn the tables
The phrase ‘to turn the tables (on someone)‘ means that one person (or in this case a team) has changed the situation from being negative to positive for the other person (or team); they have reversed the situation. So, sometimes in football we can hear the phrase being used when one side makes a dramatic comeback against another side or that they have beaten them after suffering a previous defeat which is the case with this example.
In last Friday’s 2022 Women’s Euros match from Group B, the eight-time winners Germany easily beat Denmark 4-0 in their opening game. As the Danish side had knocked the Germans out of the previous competition in 2017, this was seen as some kind of revenge and so we can say that they ‘turned the tables‘ on the Danes.
- Example: ‘They were knocked out at the quarter-final stage in 2017 by Denmark, but five years on they ruthlessly turned the tables on the Danes in west London’ (BBC.co.uk, July 8 2022).
- Example: Jordan Rhodes smiling again as Sheffield Wednesday turn the tables on Barnsley (The Yorkshire Post, 22 March 2021).
Related Vocabulary
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