In this week’s football review section we look back at some of the football news from the weekend, including stories from The Premier League and Spain. To help with understanding you can find explanations of key vocabulary in bold below.This week’s football review: Southampton, Aston Villa and Gareth Bale
Good
At the start of the 2014-15 season many were tipping Southampton – the Saints – to be relegated from the Premier League after they had sold many of the players who had helped them to finish in the top ten the previous season. Instead the team from the south coast of England find themselves in third place with more than half of the season gone after a tremendous 1-0 away win at Old Trafford at the weekend. Manager Ronald Koeman has bought well and has instilled both confidence and tactical nous to the team. Champions League next season? Why not?
Bad
Things are not going well for Midlands side Aston Villa as they slumped to yet another defeat at the weekend – this time against fellow strugglers Leicester City. Villa have only managed to score 11 times in total this season, they have also failed to score in 11 of their 20 matches, while they have only managed 1 goal in their past 6 games. It could get even worse as they face Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in their next three League games.
Ugly
Gareth Bale scored one and assisted another in Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Espanyol at the weekend yet he found himself being booed by some fans at the Bernabeu Stadium. His ‘crime’ was shooting rather than passing to team mate Cristiano Ronaldo who would have scored a simple tap in. The pressures of playing for a big team!
Vocabulary
were tipping: Were predicting
tremendous: Fantastic, wonderful
Old Trafford: Manchester United’s home ground
tactical nous: Tactical understanding
slumped: Fell to a bad defeat; lost badly
strugglers: Another team doing badly
they face: They will play against
the Bernabeu Stadium: The home ground of Real Madrid
tap in: A shot from very close to the goal line
