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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Chelsea, Newcastle and Casillas

In this week’s football review section we look back at some of the football stories from last weekend. To help with your understanding you can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.
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This week’s football review: Chelsea, Newcastle and Casillas

Good

It has been a fantastic start to the season for Barcelona in La Liga as they defeated Bilbao to become the only Spanish side with a 100% record – they have won all three games they have played so far in the league. In England, Chelsea are the only English side with a 100% record after their 4-2 victory over Swansea City and The Blues have now won their first four games: scoring an impressive 15 goals – new signing Diego Costa has chipped in with 7 of those – and already have opened up a gap at the top of the table.

Bad

It has been a terrible start for Monaco in the French League and the south-coast side find themselves second from bottom of the Ligue 1 table 7 points behind the leaders Lille after five games. In England it has been a bad week for Newcastle United and their beleaguered manager Alan Pardew after a 4-0 thrashing at Southampton. The fans of the north-east club are not happy as their club props up the division with only 2 points from their first four games and are demanding changes.

Ugly

It has been a tough time recently for Spanish and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Despite 15 years of service to the Madrid club including an amazing haul of trophies, Casillas has been whistled and jeered in the last couple of games – most notably in the 1-2 home defeat against rivals Atletico Madrid. The club are going through a bad patch at the moment and the former ‘Golden Boy‘ of the club seems to be getting most of the flak.

Vocabulary

The Blues: The nickname of Chelsea

has chipped in with 7 of those: He has scored 7 of the overall total

beleaguered manager: A manager under attack

have opened up a gap at the top of the table: They have moved clear of the other teams

a 4-0 thrashing: A heavy 0-4 defeat

props up the division: They are at the bottom of the table

an amazing haul of trophies: A large amount/quantity of trophies

whistled and jeered: When fans are unhappy with their team they can make noises to show their disapproval (similar to booing)

most notably: Especially; in particular

going through a bad patch: Not paying very well at the moment

Golden Boy: The most popular member of the club

the flak: The attacks

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