This Week: Your own worst enemy

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 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 premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org 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’m talking about Newcastle who hosted Manchester United, Arsenal, who welcomed Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City who were visited by Tottenham Hotspur.

The words and phrases I am going to talk about today are:

To pummel
To pay off
To glance off
A well-worked goal
To halve the deficit
To pounce
To intimidate
Your own worst enemy
To make amends
Livid
Listen out for this vocabulary in the stories.

After each story, there will be a language focus and then at the end of the podcast, there will be a new football phrase.

But before that, I want to look back at 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 just a word. The word was ******. This word is commonly used when talking about the world’s greatest players and it’s kind of related to the topic of today’s podcast. A ****** is a person who has unusually high levels of intelligence, creativity or skill in a specific area.
Diego Maradona was one of the best if not the best footballer to ever play the game. He was a true ****** on the football field.

This was a really tricky one and lots of people came up with really good suggestions that weren’t the word I was looking for, but that fit the clue. The most common wrong answer was legend. This is commonly used to talk about players whose brilliance and glory has stood as an example to players and fans. Diego Maradona was a legend of the game, for sure.
Another wrong answer was wizard. I love this. We do use the term for someone who is particularly knowledgeable or skilled or gifted at something, but not so much with footballers. I associate the term (aside from the Harry Potter uses) with people with technical skills, people who can use technology and equipment in a very skilful way so that to an outsider it looks a bit like magic.

Congratulations to Ryohei from Japan, AdreTorre102 from Brazil, Sisman74 from Turkey, Denis2000 from Belarus, YuriiPrado from Brazil, Welcome to Premier Skills English and well done getting a tricky one right on your first go!, Congratulations to Hasan from Turkey and Ken from Japan.

You all worked out that the word I was looking for was genius.

Keep listening till the end of the podcast for a new football phrase.

Now it’s time for the first story.

Manchester United face icy welcome at Newcastle

The Red Devils travelled North to spend a snowy Saturday afternoon at St James’ Park. Manchester United had been playing well having won their last three Premier League matches and the fans that travelled with their team were hoping to extend the run. However, Newcastle United have been playing their best football in years and looked hungry for goals from the start.

From the moment the referee blew the whistle for kick-off, Newcastle went full throttle. The Magpies pummelled their opponents who just about managed to block and save each attempt. Until ... At the start of the second half, the relentless Newcastle United pressure paid off and Anthony Gordon broke through. Gordon ran onto a well-placed Trippier cross and fired the ball into the net.

Manchester United are not a team to be underestimated and almost equalised towards the end of the match when they won their first corner of the match. The ball was played into the box and headed clear by Schar but only as far as Reguilon who fired a cracker towards the goal. It was blocked but served as a reminder to the home side that a one-goal lead makes the game far from safe.

In the closing minutes of the game, the Manchester side finally found the net. However, the ball had glanced off the chest of Maguire who was in an off-side position so the equaliser didn't stand.

Final score: Newcastle United 1 - 0 Manchester United

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

To pummel
To pay off
To glance off

To pummel

This means to hit something again and again, usually with your fists. Boxers try to pummel their opponents. In the match, Newcastle managed 22 shots while their opponents only managed 8. To strike again and again is to pummel your opponents.

To pay off

If something pays off, it is successful. I think we normally use this phrasal verb when a strategy isn’t successful right away. It’s common to hear that a strategy paid off in the end. I said that Newcastle’s relentless pressure paid off. Their strategy of continually pushing forward, of attacking and attacking hadn’t resulted in any goals in the first half, but they didn’t change the way they played. They kept pushing and eventually, that strategy paid off, it was successful and Anthony Gordon found the net.

To glance off

This is an interesting phrasal verb. It is very similar to deflect. In football, if a strike hits another player and changes direction, if it’s not a controlled move, it’s called a deflection. When this happens, the person who played the ball before the deflection is still credited with the shot if it goes in. If a deflection is very small, if the ball touches another player very lightly, then instead of saying the ball was deflected, we say the ball glanced off the player. So a ball glances off something if it hits it quickly and lightly and changes direction, but only a little. Normally, the word glance is a really short look. Or it can be a verb and you might glance at your mirror when you are driving. I think the phrasal verb glance off has a similar sense of a quick and light interaction. When the ball caught Maguire’s chest, it barely touched him. The commentators had to watch the slow-motion replay to see if it actually made contact. Maguire was in an offside position so even though the ball only glanced off his chest, the goal was disallowed.

Let’s move on to the next story.

Arsenal keep Wolves at bay

Wolverhampton Wanderers went to London on Saturday to take on Arsenal at the Emirates. The Gunners looked in control from the start and following a neat and effective build-up, Arsenal went ahead inside six minutes when the Wolves’ defence parted obligingly, allowing just the narrowest gap for Saka to squeeze the ball through.

The home side extended their lead with another well-worked goal. Saka whipped in a cross that flew straight across the goal. It was picked up by Zinchenko who played it to Jesus who played it back to Zinchenko who cut it back for Odegaard who fired it into the bottom right corner of the goal. The poor Wolves' defence were turned around so many times in the build-up that they looked stunned when Odegaard struck.

Towards the end of the match, Arsenal looked like they had relaxed a bit and started making some basic errors. With five minutes left to play, Matheus Cunha halved the deficit. Zinchenko gave the ball away right in front of the Arsenal goal and Cunha pounced on the opportunity and struck well.

The closing minutes of the match were suddenly nervy. Arsenal almost made the result safe when Nketiah’s shot clipped the post.

Final score: Arsenal 2 - 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

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

A well-worked goal
To halve the deficit
To pounce

A well-worked goal

This phrase is used to describe a goal that is scored after an extended series of passes. When a team passes the ball across the pitch and then deep and then cuts back, this stretches and moves the opposition's defence. When a team finds a way through after this sort of build-up, the commentators will call it a well-worked goal.

To halve the deficit

This phrase is quite common in football English. This is used when a team is two goals down and then scores. The word deficit is most commonly used to talk about money, normally when talking about government spending or spending in organisations and institutions that are funded by the government. If a government spends more money than it receives in taxes and income, then there will be a deficit. So a deficit is the amount more that a government or organisation spends than it receives. In football, we sometimes call the difference between two scores the deficit, but most of the time, the word is used in this phrase ‘to halve the deficit’. So if a team is two goals down, you could say they have a two-goal deficit. If the losing team scores a goal, then the deficit will only be one goal so they have reduced the deficit by a half, they have halved the deficit.

To pounce

The verb to pounce is what animals do when they are hunting. So if you have ever watched a nature documentary about a lion, when they hunt, they creep up on their prey. They are really sneaky as they slowly approach their prey and then when their prey is within their striking distance, they pounce. They jump quickly and strike. I used to have a cat who still had hunting instincts but wasn’t bothered about actually going outside to catch animals. Instead, he would find other things to hunt, like my toes. When I was in bed, he would look at my toes, sticking out at the end of my blanket and to him, they would look like a great prize. He would flatten himself to the ground and creep on his belly so that my toes would not see his approach. And then, when the time was right, when he was in range, he would launch himself and pounce with claws and teeth.

We use the verb to say that someone reacted quickly when they had an opportunity to take advantage and score or win something. When Zinchenko made a mistake, Matheus Cunha pounced on the opportunity and scored.

Let’s move on to the final story.

Spurs and City share the spoils

Tottenham Hotspur are the closest thing Manchester City has to a bogey team, having beaten Guardiola’s side 6 times in the last four and a half years. The roar of the Etihad on match day is impressive, but when the teams walked out onto the pitch on Sunday, there was no sign that either were going to be intimidated.

Son Heung Min opened the scoring for both sides, scoring twice within three minutes at both ends of the pitch. The first was a classic breakaway goal. From their own corner, Tottenham broke and quickly passed the ball up the field. At around the halfway mark, the ball was pushed through and beyond the City defenders for Son, who ran it all the way and fired past the keeper.

Three minutes later, Alvarez was brought down in Spurs’ half and won a free kick. He played the ball slightly ahead of Haaland who couldn’t reach it. The ball fell onto Son’s outstretched knee and flew off and into the goal.

City took the lead after 31 minutes after a long period of pressure with a well-worked goal. City had been pushing forward but were struggling to find a way through Spurs’ defence. The first ball in was headed away, the next was blocked until a clever series of short passes cut through the defence for Phil Foden to tap home.

Just after the start of the second half, Spurs keeper Vicario played a quick pass out which was poor and was intercepted. It looked like Spurs were their own worst enemy, giving the ball away right in front of goal. Bernardo Silva struck the ball well but Vicario made amends for his earlier mistake when he pulled off an amazing diving save.

Giovani Lo Celso equalised in the 69th minute with a thundering strike that clipped the inside of the post.

Jack Grealish put the home side ahead again and celebrated as if he had just scored the winning goal. But Kulusevski equalised again in the 90th minute with a powerful header and Tottenham were level again.

City were denied a chance to score at the end of the match after Haaland was caught by a late challenge. However, the young Norwegian was back on his feet right away and played the ball through to Grealish whose run caught out Spurs' defence. Grealish was running at the goal, one-on-one with the keeper when the referee blew his whistle to award a free kick from where Haaland was fouled. Haaland was livid that the referee had not played the advantage.

Minutes later, the match was over and the crowd booed the referee.

Final score: Manchester City 3 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur

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

To intimidate
Your own worst enemy
To make amends
Livid

To intimidate

The verb intimidate means to frighten someone, usually to make them do something you want. The word intimidate is based on the word timid which means afraid or fearful. I think we normally associate the word timid with shy nervous children. If you are feeling timid because your opponents intimidate you, then you will not be confident and will not be able to play as well as you do when you are not afraid.

Your own worst enemy

This is a fun idiom. If you tell someone that they are their own worst enemy, you mean that most of the problems they face are their own fault because of the decisions that they make. When I was younger I knew a few people that were their own worst enemies. I had a friend who loved to go out and socialise too much and as a result, they were not at their best during the day. If they ever complained that they were not doing well at work, I would say ‘You are your own worst enemy, you’re always going out and staying out late, it’s no wonder you are having problems at work.’ In the story, I said that Spurs were their own worst enemy because City scored against them because of their mistakes.

To make amends

This has come up before. To make amends means to do something good that balances out something bad that you did before. So if you make a mistake at work, you might offer to work late or just work really hard to make amends, that is to make up for your mistake. In the online dictionary, it says that you make amends to show that you are sorry about something you have done, but I think it’s to try to repair the damage that you caused. When Vicario made a mistake clearing the ball, it put Spurs in a dangerous position. However, he made amends when he saved the resulting shot.

Livid

The last adjective today is livid. This is easy to explain; it just means extremely angry. It’s a strange word and not really part of any word family. It comes from an old French word that means kind of blue and it might have come to mean extremely angry because people sometimes go a bit reddy purple when they are really angry, but it’s not clear. Oddly enough, we sometimes use the word to describe scars or bruises and I had always thought that the use was related to anger or rage and the meaning worked for me. However, the dictionary just refers to the colour. I prefer the idea of an angry bruise, like your skin is raging because of an injury.

Today, I’ve spoken about 10 useful words and phrases. The words and phrases I have spoken about are:

To pummel
To pay off
To glance off
A well-worked goal
To halve the deficit
To pounce
To intimidate
Your own worst enemy
To make amends
Livid

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