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On this football language podcast for learners of English we look at some of the phrases from the recent Chelsea vs Tottenham Premier League match, including ‘touchline ban‘; ‘needle‘ and ‘clash‘. 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
Embed from Getty ImagesLearn English Through Football Podcast: Touchline Ban – Chelsea v Tottenham 2022-23 Season
DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners of English who love the beautiful game of football. I’m Damian and I’m back in London after a wonderful trip around the north of Europe (to Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium!). Now, I’m one half of the languagecaster team, the other member of course is Damon who’s based in Tokyo, in Japan. And Damon posted a great podcast last week all about the Manchester United defeat at Brentford – a 4-0 thrashing – in which he focused on the phrases ‘play off the park‘ and ‘well worth the win‘. If you haven’t heard it yet I’d recommend it and of course I’d also recommend everyone to subscribe to the podcast – simply come along to the site and click the button!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (In Hindi)
Now, on today’s podcast I am going to look at some of the language from the Chelsea versus Tottenham 2-2 draw and in particular about some of the language to describe the managers in this feisty affair – and this refers to the fact that both managers were sent off at the end of the game and that there was some bad feeling or bad blood between the two sets of players and of course both sets of fans! I’ll look at the phrases, ‘needle’; ‘clash’ and ‘touchline ban‘.
Needle
OK, let’s start by looking at the word ‘needle‘ which is often used to describe teams or players who simply do not like each other. This might be because of local rivalry – so there is some needle between Fulham and Brentford as both teams are from the west of London. But it could also be due to an incident in a previous match that has led to bad blood between the two clubs. So, in the example of Spurs and Chelsea we can say that the needle comes from both local rivalry and from a previous incident, in this case the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ when the 2-2 draw in 2016 prevented Spurs from winning the title. The game was famous, or maybe we can say infamous, for flying tackles, nine yellow cards for Tottenham (that’s the highest for one team in the Premier League) and subsequent suspensions as players and managers lost their heads. So, there exists some kind of needle between the two clubs.
Clash
A clash can mean a battle so sometimes a match can be described as a clash, for example, the clash between Chelsea and Tottenham. But also if there is a fight or an altercation between players or managers during the game we can call this a clash or the players clashed in the first half, for example. The two managers from this game were very animated throughout the game and they clashed (they came together in an aggressive manner) after the Tottenham equaliser; the Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel thought the goal should have been disallowed and confronted the Spurs manager Antonio Conte. There were angry words between the two of them and they had to be separated before it got any more aggressive. When Chelsea went 2-1 ahead, Tuchel ran down the touchline to celebrate though we wonder if this was also a provocation of the Spurs bench? Then after the dramatic last-minute equaliser from Harry Kane, there was another clash between the two managers at the end of the match. Now, the managers traditionally shake each other’s hand but this one was not friendly at all and provoked another clash between the two managers and this time players and coaching staff joined in as well. Both managers received a red card – they both saw red which means they would then have to receive further punishment.
Touchline Ban
So, if a player receives a red card then that player will usually receive a one or three-match ban depending on the offence. When a manager receives a red card they are not allowed to stand on the touchline for the next match and this is called a touchline ban. They cannot stand in the manager’s area and cannot directly coach their side. So after this game, Conte did not receive a touchline ban but the Chelsea manager did and will have to sit out one match from the stands – he won’t be allowed on the touchline.
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Contact
Now, if you want to ask any football-language questions or simply say hello then you can do so by adding a comment on our site here at Languagecaster or by using our forum. Now, we’ve just updated our forum – we think it is a little easier to use and looks a bit better as well (let us know what you think) – and we’ve had lots of questions recently especially about the phrases ‘blast or thunder a shot wide‘ which you can check out there. You can also send us an email at admin@languagecaster.com and you can also look out for us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Momentum
Now, we’ve also had a great question from one of our listeners, Ivan, about the word ‘momentum‘ and how it is used in football. Now momentum is related to movement or motion and so if we think of momentum in sport as referring to how a team or a player moves forward then this might help us to understand the idea. If a team is playing well in a game, we can say that they have momentum or that they are building momentum. Of course, the opposite is also true – a team can lose momentum which means they are no longer playing well. Momentum can also refer to a series of games in which a team keeps on winning – they are building momentum by winning; they are on a winning streak.
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Goodbye
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster and that message was in Thai and we’d love to hear from anyone else who might like to share this message, ‘you are listening to Languagecaster.com‘ in any language. Don’t forget that there’s a transcript to this podcast and lots of vocab support – you can click on any of the words that are highlighted in the text – which you can access by coming along to our site. We think it’s a great resource for those learning and teaching the language.
OK, that’s it for this football-language podcast in which we looked at some of the language from the recent Chelsea vs Tottenham game including, bad blood, needle, clash and touchline ban. We’ll be back soon with more football language and until then enjoy all the football. Bye bye.
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Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
