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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Winning Run
In this football language podcast we take a look at the phrase ‘winning run‘, and other similar phrases. And we also offer some predictions for the weekend’s big games including the ‘Languagecaster Derby‘. 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.
Hello
DB: You’re listening to Languagecaster’s Learning English Through Football Podcast.
Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English language skills. My name is Damon and I am based in Tokyo, which is enjoying some lovely sunny weather at the moment. Now, the football season in Japan finished last month, but there’s plenty of action in the Premier League, which is in the middle of its busiest period. And we’ll take a look at some language to describe how teams are doing in the league in this show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from an Arsenal fan)
DB: And I wonder how Damian, the other half of the languagecaster team in London, is doing? He’s probably not feeling too great after his team Tottenham were beaten 2-1 away at their big rivals Arsenal. Tottenham have mixed form recently. Their last five matches have seen two wins, against fourth tier Tamworth and league leaders Liverpool – ouch! But also two losses and a draw. Their result are a real mixed bag.
So, mixed form or their form is mixed and a mixed bag of results are phrases we can use to describe a team with results like Tottenham’s. In the main part of the show, we’ll turn to Newcastle United and talk about phrases to describe their form.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Cantonese)
DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in Cantonese. We’ll have more languages throughout the show. Try and guess which ones they are, and we’ll give you the answers at the end of the show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Portuguese – Brazilian)
Today’s Show
DB: Right on today’s show, we’re looking at phrases to describe form and we’ll focus on Newcastle United in the Premier League. After that we will hear from Damian, who will give us his prediction for four matches being played this weekend. We’ll wrap up with a review of the vocabulary we looked at and we’ll also tell you the languages of the stingers we have used in the show. OK, let’s start with Newcastle and the phrase ‘winning run‘
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Danish)
Sit in Fourth
DB: Newcastle United sit in fourth place on 38 points. That’s nine behind the leaders Liverpool. Usually, we would simply use the ‘be’ verb to describe a team’s position: Newcastle are in fourth, but you can also use ‘sit‘, Newcastle sit in fourth.
Winning Run
DB: They have slowly climbed up the table because of a nine game winning run. A run is a number of games with the same result. It is most often used with wins. So Newcastle have won nine games in a row in all competitions. They have won nine games on the bounce. On the bounce means one after the other.
What about if a team loses a lot of games on the bounce? This would be described as a losing streak. Leicester City are on a six game losing streak in the Premier League, although they did get a win in the FA Cup 3rd round. We could also use winless streak and this would mean a team has drawn and lost a lot of games. Everton are on a six match winless streak in the Premier League.
We can use ‘run‘ in the following way, too. A run of three draws; a run of four wins; a run of five losses. We use the preposition ‘on‘ with this structure, so Newcastle are on a run of nine wins. So, on a run of + the number and result.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Welsh)
Form Table
DB: The team with the best form is top of the form table, while a team with the poorest results lately is bottom of the form table. It is common to use the last 5 or 6, sometimes 10, games to talk about recent form. With nine wins out of their last ten matches, Newcastle are firmly on top of the form table. While Leicester’s six losses on the bounce puts them bottom of the form table.
So, for Newcastle’s next match against Bournemouth, we can say Newcastle go into the game in great form, or they go into the game top of the form table.
Can they make it ten in a row – a ten match wining run. Form suggests they can!
And what’s the longest winning run in the Premier League, well it’s 18 – an 18 game winning run (you could aalso say winning streak). This record is jointly held by Manchester City (2016-2017 season) and Liverpool (2019-2020 season). Newcastle are halfway there!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)
Predictions
DB: OK, time to take a look at predictions. I’m just two points behind Damian in the predictions race and I’m hoping to overhaul him in this round. Right I’ll hand over to Damian now, who recorded his predictions earlier.
DF: Right, it’s time for our predictions and we are going to feature four games from this weekend: three on Saturday and one on Sunday. Two from the Premier League in England and two from Italy.
Right, let’s start with Arsenal versus Aston Villa. Arsenal of course will be buoyant, in a really good mood, after beating my team Tottenham in the North London derby, and they face Aston Villa at home. I think this one will finish 1-1.
Top of the Table Clash
DF: Now also on Saturday there are two big big games in Italy in Serie A. Juventus take on AC Milan, and I think this will finish in a draw because Juventus are the draw kings of Italian football this season… 1-1 again. Also on Saturday is the top of the table class between Atalanta and Napoli. Napoli are top at the moment. Atalanta have stumbled a little with three draws in a row. I think Napoli are going to win this and go on to win the title. 2-1 to Napoli.
And finally from the Premier League on Sunday relegation threatened Ipswich host Manchester City of course they are the champions. I think City will win comfortably 2, 3-0 to City. How about you what do you think?
DB: Nice one Damian. What do you think listener? I also think there will a draw in these four games, but I think it will be between Atalanta and Napoli – 1-1 in that match. Like Damian, I also think Man City will easily beat Ipswich, and I also think it will be 3-0. As for the other two games Arsenal will sneak past Villa 1-0 and Juventus will run out 2-1 winners against AC Milan.
It was interesting to hear Damian use one of the phrases we have looked at today – ‘Atalanta have stumbled a little with three draws in a row.’ So Atalanta have drawn three on the bounce.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a York fan)
Contact
DF: OK, it’s nearly the end of the show. So, here is a reminder that if you have any questions about the language of football or comments on our podcast, please contact us via e-mail at admin@languagecaster.com. Also, come along to our website to check out the football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on football language.
And we’ve recently had some questions around the phrase ‘go up the pitch’. And we’ve also had the phrase FC Set Piece, which I think is connected to Arsenal. Also visit our huge glossary of football vocabulary too – just search for Languagecaster.com. Most importantly, tell a friend about us. Give us some likes and followers on social media: we are on Instagram, Facebook and Blue Sky among many others.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Lao)
Goodbye
DB: Thanks for that message, which was in Lao. Today, we also heard some stingers in Portuguese, Danish, Welsh, and Italian. How many of those languages did you guess right?
Thanks everyone for listening today – we focused on phrases used to talk about a team’s form. We had mixed bag of results, winning run, losing streak, winless streak, and form table. Let us know if you hear these expressions, in any language, during the next week of football. We have a transcript for this podcast with lots of vocabulary support for you and you can read the transcript to this show while listening. Enjoy all the football this weekend and we’ll be back early next week with a new football language expression. Ta-ra!
DF: Thanks everyone. Enjoy all the football. Bye bye.