This Week: Exquisite

Welcome to This Week from Premier Skills English, a weekly review of football action for learners of English from across the globe. In This Week, Jack talks about three stories from this week in the Premier League and there are lots of football English words and phrases for you to learn.

If the listening was difficult, you can listen and read the transcript at the same time.

Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to the weekly round-up called This Week on Premier Skills English.

In This Week, we’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

If you are listening to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at britishcouncil.org/premierskillsenglish where you’ll be able to download the podcast.

On the Premier Skills English website, you can read the transcript and join the Premier Skills English community by completing a language task in the comments section. This will really help you remember the new words and phrases from the stories from the Premier League.

This week, I’ve got three stories for you. I’m going to talk about Brighton’s performance against Wolves, Fulham putting up a fight against Manchester City and Spurs' brave attempt at a comeback at Anfield.

The vocabulary from the stories that I’m going to talk about this week is:

miserable
a gamble
exquisite
glory
intimidated
unfazed
sublime
valiant
clumsily
controversial
salvaged

But before I get to this week’s stories, I want to give you the answer to last week’s football phrase. If you didn’t hear it last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week’s football phrase was to be ****** *******. This idiom is a football cliche that is used to describe a team who concede a goal in the opening minutes of the match. It’s as if the team were not quite ready for the game to begin. The phrase can be used to describe other situations where someone failed to do something because they were not paying attention.

Congratulations to Gabriel Salgado from Brazil, Denis2000 from Belarus, Vietnguyenngo from Vietnam, Hasan from Turkey, Shikabala from Egypt, Ryohei from Japan, and Renan from Brazil. It must have been a difficult one this week as not many of you answered it. Well done to those of you who managed to work out that the football cliche I was looking for was to be caught napping.

At the end of this podcast, I have a new football phrase for you and I think it’s the hardest football phrase I’ve ever challenged you with so I wonder if any of you will get it.

Thanks for all of your responses to the task. I was really impressed by the different lessons people have learned from football. Renan spoke about learning resilience and to never give up and Isshin wrote about communication skills and the value of building team spirit. Ryohei shared experiences of learning good sportsmanship and treating opponents in a friendly way, even when they are not being friendly. Alex from Ukraine spoke about the value of a shared goal and the proverb if there’s a will, there’s a way and Shikabala has learnt the importance of motivating the people around them.

I was so happy to hear these lessons and to see how you take the lessons from the pitch and apply them to other problems and challenges in your lives.

Now it’s time for this week’s first story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

How many changes did De Zerbi make before Brighton played Wolves?

Brighton thrash Wolves

Following defeat in the FA Cup and a miserable midweek performance at Forest, Brighton’s manager Roberto De Zerbi had to make some changes for Saturday’s meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He made five swaps, giving some players who don’t often get the chance to start, an opportunity to prove their worth.

Swapping so many starting players is a bit of a gamble but it paid off for De Zerbi who got to watch his side crush Wolves as they put on a spellbinding display in the Sussex sunshine.

The first goals came through holes in the visitors defence. Denis Undav looked as surprised as anyone after he poked home his first for his club. Pascal Gross got the second when Brighton countered. Wolves just couldn’t keep up with the pace and let Gross run unchecked to fire in the cross.

While Wolves back four was poor, Brighton’s attacks would have tried any defence in the league. Pascal Gross’s second goal was exquisite. He took one touch to control a squared ball. Without letting the ball drop, he curled it past the keeper.

Wellbeck scored with a header that was a bit too easy before getting his second with a world class strike from outside the area.

In the 66th minute, Undav found himself with only the keeper to beat. Sa came out, quickly shutting down Undav’s angles so he tried a risky lob and executed it perfectly.

When Roberto de Zerbi was interviewed after the match, he told reporters that he thought Brighton’s performance was the best of his career as a coach and I’m not sure anybody would disagree.

Final score: Brighton and Hove Albion 6 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Before the story, I asked you:

How many changes did De Zerbi make before Brighton played Wolves?

The answer is five. De Zerbi changed almost half his team when Brighton welcomed Wolves on Saturday.

The language from the story that I want to talk about is:

Miserable
A gamble
Exquisite

Miserable

Miserable has two meanings. The first is very sad. If your team has just lost a really important match, your friend might say: Cheer up, you look miserable. The second meaning is unpleasant in a way that makes people feel unhappy. We use miserable to talk about wet, grey, depressing weather. Not for thunderstorms or really dramatic weather, just the sort of weather that means you can’t go outside and play football or do anything fun. We don’t use the word for really tragic events, just events that make you feel unhappy.

Gamble

The word gamble comes from gambling which is when people play games or make predictions about things and win and lose money based on whether they win the games or are right about their predictions. Personally, I don’t gamble but there are lots of businesses in the UK called bookmakers where you can go and place a bet on the outcome of a sporting event, mostly horse racing, I think. We also use the word to talk about any activity that involves risks, where things could go wrong and someone could lose something important like their job or some money. If someone takes a risk, you can describe their action as a gamble and if it works out well, you can say that the gamble paid off ... or didn't pay off if it doesn’t work out well.

Exquisite

The adjective exquisite is used to describe something man-made that is really beautiful, usually because the person that made it is a master at their craft. So you might hear people talk about exquisite jewellery or an exquisite dress. Sometimes, people describe fancy food as exquisite. You can’t use the adjective to describe something natural, like a sunset or an animal or person. But anything that’s been created, if it’s really beautiful, might be described as exquisite.

Now it’s time for this week’s second story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who should have scored for City?

Fulham put up a fight

Manchester City went to Fulham on Sunday. The new league leaders are on an impressive winning streak and haven’t lost a match in the Premier League since the beginning of February. City are that good and they know it.

Fulham have been having a respectable season. They are safe in the middle of the table with only 15 points left to be played for which means they are not going to be relegated and they are not going to challenge the top four. This means, they are now playing for the fun of it and the glory.

Fulham were not intimidated by City and while their players might not have been earning as much money as their rivals on Sunday, they made them work for it and easily earned as much respect and support from their fans.

Manchester City went ahead from the penalty spot after only three minutes. The incredible Erling Haaland took the penalty with such force that even though the keeper had read the direction of the shot, there was no stopping it.

Fulham though were unfazed by the goal and kept pushing back. They took advantage of City’s confident high press and back three when Andreas Pereira caught them out with a lovely flighted pass to Harry Wilson. Wilson headed the ball back into the path of Carlos Vinícius who let the ball bounce once before slamming it hard into City’s goal.

Julián Álvarez restored City’s lead with a sublime finish fired over the heads of 6 Fulham players and out of reach of Fulham’s keeper Bernd Leno.

Leno did well to save that scoreline with some incredible stops, denying Jack Grealish more than once who was unlucky not to have scored.

Final score: Fulham 1 - 2 Manchester City

Before the story, I asked you:

Who should have scored for City?

The answer is: Jack Grealish. Grealish has been playing really well this season and was unlucky not to have scored.

The phrases and word from the story that I want to talk about are:

Glory
Intimidated
Unfazed
Sublime

Glory

This is a word that has come up before in these podcasts, but it’s quite common in football English and it’s a word I like. In football English, glory means honour and admiration. So if you do something that other people respect and admire you might say that you did it for the glory. Most of the time, glory is achieved through victory in sports or in war. When a player scores a goal, they often run to their fans and for a second or two, they are seen to absorb the shouts and cheers. This is often described as basking in the glory of their goal.

Intimidated

The word intimidated has the word timid in it. Timid means shy and nervous and without confidence. It’s very close to frightened. To intimidate means to make someone nervous. Before a boxing match, when the boxers are weighed, they try to intimidate their opponent by looking as tough as they can. If you have to talk to the director of the company that you work for, you might feel intimidated when you meet them.

Unfazed

Unfazed is an interesting word because the negative form is much more common than the positive form. Fazed means disturbed or surprised so unfazed means not surprised, not worried or intimidated. So if something scary or worrying happens to you, but you are able to carry on with what you are doing, then you are unfazed.
Manchester City must be an intimidating team to play against, especially if they score an early goal. But Fulham didn’t change their game plan, they carried on attacking and played well. They were unfazed by City and their early goal.

Sublime

Sublime means really good, really beautiful. To me, the word means the very best of something beautiful. If you are expecting something to be beautiful and then it still surprises you with how beautiful it is, then it is sublime. The word has a sense of beyond the limits. So if a footballer plays with sublime skill, then they are playing beyond the skill levels of normal players.

Now it’s time for this week’s third story. When you listen, I’d like you to try to answer the following question:

Who was lucky to stay on the pitch?

A valiant effort at Anfield

Last week, when I spoke about Spurs, I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. When they went three-nil down after 15 minutes on Sunday, it looked like we were in for a repeat, but somehow, Spurs fought back.

Liverpool’s first two goals came in the first five minutes and in both instances Spurs' failure to defend played as big a part as Liverpool’s ability to attack. Spurs had nine players back yet Curtis Jones scored after he was left unmarked at the back post. The second goal came when Cody Gakpo surged forwards, slicing through Spurs defence to then cut back for Luis Diaz who struck the ball well.

Ten minutes later, things went from bad to worse as Romero clumsily took down Gakpo in the area, giving away a penalty and somehow, Spurs were three-down in 15 minutes.

Spurs didn’t get back into the game until the 40th minute when Perisic ran onto a well played through ball and got the better of Virgil van Dyke to cross for Harry Kane who scored with a right footed volley.

Son Heung-Min put Spurs back in in the 70th minute when he found space behind Liverpool’s defence to collect a beautiful pass and then score with a very composed finish.

Liverpool started to look worried and make mistakes, including a controversial foul by Diogo Jota on Skipp that earned Jota a yellow card but could easily have seen him sent off.

Spurs finally equalised after three minutes of added time when Son Heung-Min took a free kick that Richarlison headed down and into the net. He ran to his fans, convinced that he’d salvaged a point from the match.

But there was still a minute left and that was all it took. A terrible mistake by Lucas Moura let Diogo Jota run through the defence. The strike was good and Liverpool was back in front.

Seconds later, when the referee blew the final whistle, Spurs had lost the match, but through their resilience and determination, they must have won back their supporters.

Final score: Liverpool 4 - Tottenham Hotspur 3

Before the story, I asked you:

Who was lucky to stay on the pitch?

The answer is: Diogo Jota. Liverpool’s forward was a bit lucky not to have been sent off after catching Oliver Skipp’s forehead with a high boot. Apparently, he apologised after the match.

The phrases and word from the story that I want to talk about are:

Valiant
Clumsily
Controversial
Salvaged

Valiant

Valiant is an adjective that means very brave and determined or heroic. We talk about valiant soldiers. It’s related to valour which is an old fashioned word meaning great courage and honour. I think the word valiant is most commonly collocated with effort. So if someone tries very hard to do something and shows courage, then we can describe their attempt as a valiant effort. This is used to make people feel better if they try to do something and fail. You can tell them, it was a valiant effort. Meaning the attempt is worth praise even if they weren’t successful.

Clumsily

The adverb clumsily describes an action that is performed without grace, by a clumsy person. Last week, I mentioned the word when I was describing the adjective agile. Clumsy is like the opposite of agile. I am quite clumsy. I’m OK at slow speeds, but when I play football, if I’m running with the ball, I am not very good at stopping or changing direction so I cause accidents by clumsily running into people. I like the sound of the word clumsy. I looked it up and it comes from an old Scandinavian word that means to make numb. If you have an anaesthetic at the dentist it will make you numb so you can’t feel any pain. If you are clumsy, it’s as if you are numb and you can’t feel and control your body properly.

Controversial

The adjective controversial describes something that causes a lot of arguments and disagreements. The noun form is controversy. For example, the ex-president of the USA, President Trump is a very controversial figure as different people have very different ideas and opinions of him. In football, VAR is still quite controversial as lots of people disagree with it and think it breaks up the flow of the game too much.

To salvage

This verb means to save from destruction. If a ship sinks at sea, anything that is saved from the wreck is salvaged. You might also try to salvage things from a shop or business if there has been a fire. When Richarlison scored an equaliser well into added time, he was confident that Spurs were going to finish with a point. After 15 minutes, when they were 3-nil down, it didn’t look like they were going to win anything so it looked like they had salvaged a point from figurative football destruction.

OK, that's 11 words from the stories today. They were:

miserable
a gamble
exquisite
glory
intimidated
unfazed
valiant
sublime
clumsily
controversial
salvaged

Listen to the stories one more time to hear the language in context.