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Learn English Through Football: Tidy Player

This football language podcast for learners of English, explains the adjective ‘tidy, as in a tidy player.’ You can read the transcript for this podcast below, and you can also access our huge glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. Teachers of English can use the audio and transcript to provide practice for their students, too. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.

Learn English Through Football: Tidy Player

tidyDB: Hello there, everyone. A happy New Year. We hope you have a happy, healthy and peaceful one wherever you are, and of course that you have a great year watching football, too! Thanks for tuning in to languagecaster.com, the podcast and website for all these interested in the language of football. My name’s Damon and I’m podcasting from a quiet Tokyo. Traditionally this, New Year, is a time for family visits and staying at home, so the streets are less busy than normal. It’s all quite relaxing.

Damian, the other member of the languagecaster team is London. I wonder how he spent his New Year. Probably watching a lot of football, like I did. The Christmas to New Year week is packed with games in England, and we will talk about one player from a couple those games as we discuss today’s phrase, a tidy player.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Japanese)

A Tidy Player

DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com, and that message was in Japanese.

Right, today, we’re looking at the phrase ‘a tidy player’, which is used to describe a player’s style of play. The phrase uses ‘tidy‘, which often collocates, goes together with, neat – neat and tidy. If something is tidy, it is not messy. It is where it should be; it is ordered. Think of a tidy room. it has been cleaned and all the items in the room are where they should be. The owner has put them away and knows where everything is. Tidy also has an added meaning of controlled.

So, A tidy player, is a player who has good control, who passes the ball with no fuss, who knows where his or her teammates are. The phrase is often used to describe a midfielder. This position often receives the ball a lot. If they are a tidy player, they tidy up the ball, bring it under control, and move it quickly to another player. They don’t make spectacular passes and rarely lose possession.

Manchester City’s young midfielder Rico Lewis, played against both Leeds United and Everton over the Christmas/New Year period, and was praised by many for hisA tidy displays: he was a tidy player. This is how the Manchester Evening PostA (December 2022) described his performance in their ratings:

Lewis: Very tidy in not losing possession, although he took fewer risks than he did against Leeds to keep City on the front foot.

Notice, the rating emphasises that he did not lose possession, he did not take risks, and he kept City ‘on the front foot’, so he kept the team moving forward with quick, accurate passes.

Industrious

You might also hear the adjective ‘industrious‘ to describe a tidy player. This emphasises their effort rather than their control, though. So, they were busy. They ran a lot, and they were involved in tackles, passes and general play. Here is a description by ESPN of the England player, Conor Gallagher’s performance for England against Switzerland in the spring of 2022:

Although Conor Gallagher, making his first start, was industrious in midfield, England were largely underwhelming…

It is no surprise that it links industrious with midfield – industrious in midfield. This is where you find tidy players, industrious players.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (French)

Contact

DB: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in French. OK, we discussed the use of tidy, as in a tidy player or a tidy performance. This is used to praise a player for their good, controlled play. We also mentioned that industrious is used to describe a positive display, but with a focus more on effort than control.

Remember, that 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.com or by using our forum. You can also send us an email at admin@languagecaster.com and you can also look out for us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Goodbye

DB: Right, that’s it for this short football-language podcast. Enjoy all of the football and we’ll be back soon! Ta-ra!

Learn English Through Football Podcast
Learn English Through Football Podcast
Damian Fitzpatrick

Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills

Hosted by
grell

I was born and brought up near Chester in the north west of England. I have always loved playing and talking about sport, especially football!
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