Football Phrase of the Week: Turn the Game on Its Head

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Football Phrase of the Week: Turn the Game on Its Head

For this football phrase of the week we look at a Women’s Super League game in England and at the phrase to turn the game on its head. 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.

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DB: Hi there everyone. This is Damon from the Languagecaster team and you are listening to our football phrase of the week. Each week we take a phrase from a recent game and show how it is used in football. And for this episode we’re looking at a Women’s Super League match between Chelsea and West Ham United, and the phrase is ‘to turn the game on its head‘.

Turn the Game on Its Head

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Polish)

DB: OK, so first let’s talk about the match between Chelsea and West Ham, which ended in a 2-2 draw. This was a good result for West Ham, as Chelsea were a massive 29 points ahead. The west London side quickly went two goals up, and looked like they would cruise to victory. However, a goal by Shekiera Martinez turned the game on its head (The Guardian).

So this phrase means to reverse the course of the match. Chelsea were dominating but West Ham’s goal meant suddenly West Ham were on top.

To turn a game, or match, on its head, means to suddenly make another team the stronger team.

Snatch an equaliser

West Ham went on to snatch an equaliser, score an equalising goal, so what looked like a comfortable win for Chelsea ended up being a draw, with the teams sharing the spoils – getting one point each.

Here is another example (Reuters), this time about PSG’s comeback win over Manchester City in the 2024-2025 Champions League group stage. “Goals from PSG’s Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos turned the match on its head after City had taken a 2-0 lead early in the six-goal second half.”

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Italian)

DB: Thank you for that message, which was in Italian, and our earlier message was in Polish. What games have you seen turned on their heads? For me, as a Liverpool fan, it must be the Champions League final in Istanbul in 2005, with Liverpool 3-0 down at half time. Three goals by Liverpool in six second-half minutes turned the game on its head!

How would you say this phrase in your language? Let us know by dropping us a line at admin@languagecaster.com, or just leave a comment on this post or a post on our forum at langaugecaster.com

Enjoy all the football this week, and we have more football language later in the week. Ta-ra!

Football Language Glossary