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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2020-21 Season – Manchester United 1-6 Tottenham: This season we are focusing more on the language of football. We hope teachers of English and learners of English, and of course lovers of football, will find these podcasts and all our other posts useful. Listen as you read the transcript and use the links to follow up on other football language. Spread the word and support us via patreon.com/languagecaster.A And, if you have questions or comments then you can email us at: admin@languagecaster.com (Damon=DB).
Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2020-21 Season – Manchester United 1-6 Tottenham
Introduction
DB: You are listening to languagecaster.com’s football language podcast. Welcome everyone to the learn English through football podcast. Since 2006, nearly 15 years ago, we’ve been talking the language of football. My name’s Damon, and I’m based in Tokyo. The other member of the team, Damian, far far away in London, has been busy posting on the site too and you can check out these posts if you come to languagecaster.com.
This podcast is for all those wanting to learn more about the language of football, particularly English language learners. And you can read the transcript of the show to understand more fully, and there are thousands of posts we have on our site at languagecaster.com. If you want worksheets and extra posts, think about becoming a supporter via patreon.com -A Last month’s September worksheet is available there! Becoming a supporter pays for our website’s running costs and keeps the content there free for all!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Cebuano, The Philippines)
DB: Yes you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Cebuano!
OK, now, on today’s show, we’re going to spotlight some of the football language connected with games that took place last weekend in the Premier League! Most teams have now played four games, with a few still on three, so it is still early, but there has been plenty of action.
Spill; Save (someone’s) blushes; Consolation – Everton 4-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
OK, let’s start at Goodison park, where Everton took on Brighton & Hove Albion. The Toffees’ goalkeeper was under the spotlight – a lot of people were watching his performance closely – because he had made a big goalkeeping error in the League Cup a few days earlier.
Unfortunately for Jordan Pickford, he made another error in this game. He spilled a tame ball, allowing Maupay to slot home and equalize for Brighton. To spill is to allow some liquid, water, tea etc., to fall out of a glass or cup, by knocking it over for example. In football, it means to drop the ball. What made it worse was the bounce was a tame one – it was weak with no power or difficult spin; it was easy to catch.
Luckily for Pickford, Everton went on to win the game comfortably. This means his team spared his blushes. To blush is for your cheeks to turn red because you are embarrassed; maybe you have made a bad mistake in front of everyone. To spare someone’s blushes means to fix their mistake so they do not have to be embarrassed. Everton won the game, so Pickford’s embarrassing mistake could be forgotten.
Brighton & Hove Albion scored a late consolation, a fine strike from Bissouma in added time, but they were fairly easily beaten. A consolation goal may make the fans and the scorer happy for a while, but it doesn’t avoid a loss. Consolation goals are often scored late on in games too.
So there we have three phrases from the Everton vs Brighton and Hove Albion game: spill the ball, spare a player’s blushes, and consolation goal.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Tagalog, TheA Philippines)
Barge over; Brace; Horror show – Manchester United 1-6 Tottenham Hotspur
DB: Next we’ve got Manchester United versus Tottenham, in one of the most surprising results so far this season in the Premier League, along with Leicester’s defeat of Manchester City 5-2. Let’s start with the verb to barge over. To barge into someone is to hit them hard with your body, usually your shoulder. In fact, a shoulder barge used to be a common feature of the game, when two players used their bodies and shoulders to try to push each other away from the ball. In this game Martial was barged over in the box by Tottenham defender Davinson Sanchez, which gave Manchester United the perfect start – a penalty which they converted to go 1-0 up.
From that point, however, it went downhill for the Red Devils – things got bad. In the end Tottenham scored six past a hapless Manchester United with two Spurs players bagging braces – Son and Kane. A brace is when you score two goals. The verb ‘to bag‘ is often used with this phrase. Originally, to bag a brace means to shoot two game birds for eating – you kill two birds – a brace – and put them in your bag to go home.
This really was a horror show for Manchester United – a terrible game, a game fans watch behind their hands. They also had a player sent off, saw their most expensive defender easily beaten throughout the game, and saw six goals fly past them into their net – a real horror show.
So, barge over, bag a brace, and a horror show. That makes six football phrases from two Premier League games.
That’s it from me in this short language podcast. I hope you enjoyed it we’ll be back with more podcasts and posts – keep checking your podcast feed, our website, Twitter, Facebook – you know where to look!
OK, see you. Ta-ra!
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Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
