The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: German Football Fans, Chelsea and the Transfer Window

In this week’s football review we love the reaction of German fans, wonder what’s happened to Chelsea and look at the fall out of an ugly transfer window. To help with understanding you can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.[print_link] | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This week’s football review – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: German Football Fans, Chelsea and the Transfer Window

Good

German supporters showed solidarity with refugees by holding welcome banners at many Bundesliga grounds at the weekend. Borussia Dortmund also invited over 200 fans who had recently arrived from Syria to watch their Europa League match. Hopefully the same sentiments can be seen at other grounds around Europe in the near future.

Bad

Premier League holders Chelsea have yet to find their best form as they were beaten at home by Crystal Palace at the weekend. It was manager Jose Mourinho’s 100th home match with the club and in that time he had only suffered one previous home defeat but after this latest loss his team lie in 14th place 8 points behind leaders Manchester City. It will be interesting to see how the champions react after the international break.

Ugly

The transfer window closed earlier this week but not all clubs or players got what they wanted. Manchester United  goalkeeper David De Gea’s move to Real Madrid broke down at the last minute while West Brom striker Saido Berahino’s proposed move to Tottenham also fell through just before the transfer deadline. Both non-deals meant clubs will have to work with disgruntled players, while fans will also not be too happy.

Vocabulary

showed solidarity: They wanted to show they supported the refugees

banners: Flags

sentiments: Feelings

have yet to find their best form: Have not started to play well

his team lie in 14th place: Here the verb to lie means ‘is’ – the team is in 14th place

the international break: There are no domestic league games as international matches are played instead

broke down: Failed to happen

fell through: Similar to break down – failed to happen

disgruntled players: Upset, not happy at all