Learn English Through Football Podcast: In and Around and Liverpool’s Title Win

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Learn English Through Football Podcast: In and Around and Liverpool’s Title Win

In this week’s football-language podcast we look at a phrase that has recently become quite popular in football, ‘in and around‘ and we will have a special guest explaining this expression for us. We will also have Damon talking about Liverpool’s title win, while we’ll also have some predictions, which feature the Champions League semi finals. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com

Hello

DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.

Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English language skills. My name is Damian and I hope you are all well and enjoying some good weather like we still have here in London. I wonder what the weather is like in Tokyo where the other member of the Languagecaster team, Damon, is based? But more to the point, I wonder how Damon is feeling after his favourite team, Liverpool, won the Premier League title last weekend? Remember, that was Liverpool’s 20th title – a record-equalling 20th title – and this phrase was featured in our weekly football expression on Monday.

Damon how are you doing?

DB: Hi Damian. Well the rain today can’t dampen my mood after Liverpool sealed the title with a Languagecaster derby win last Sunday! Now, I can enjoy the last four games and start reviewing all the high points of the season!

We were fortunate to have a much-changed Spurs side to play against us. It looks like resting some of your key players paid off. You had a great result in the Europa League, didn’t you!

DF: Yes Damon we did and of course congratulations to Liverpool on winning the title. I’m not so sure about my team Tottenham – we did win 3-1 but the trip to Norway will be a tough one. Fingers crossed that they can make it to the final!

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)

DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message was in Spanish. And we are going to have more stingers or messages throughout the show – in different languages so which languages can you recognise? Don’t worry if you don’t know them, we’ll give you the answers at the end of the show. here’s another one to get you started.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Catalan)  

Today’s Show

DF: Right, what do we have on today’s show? Well, we have a packed show with lots and lots of football language. We’ll be looking ahead to some of the big games this week and in particular, the Champions League semi-final second legs. We’ll also be hearing from Damon as he talks about Liverpool’s 20th league title win – we’ll ask him to describe the season in three words. After this, we have another interview; this time with materials developer and teacher trainer, James Taylor, who will be talking about his favourite football team, as well as some football language, including the phrase, ‘in and around‘.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Dulwich hamlet FC fan)

Copa del Rey Final: Lashed in

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DF: Now, I was lucky enough to be in Spain last weekend where I watched the Spanish Cup Final between Real Madrid and Barcelona on TV with some friends. Let’s take a quick  listen to a friend of the podcast (and a very good friend of mine) Fran who is based in a rather Malaga with his pre-match Copa del Rey final prediction:

Fran: You can never rule out Real Madrid because we know what Real Madrid is capable to do…

DF: Right, give me a quick score.

F: I will say…even if I say that Barcelona is going to win, I will go, you know, for a draw; any draw 1-1, 2-2 and then you know, like, probably a decider in penalties.

DF: Fantastic. Thank you, Fran.

DF: Not bad at all Fran – the game did finish 2-2 after 90 minutes and it looked like the final was heading to penalties until French international Jules Kounde scored the winning goal. It was an amazing game full of excitement and tension: red cards, great goals, an overturned penalty, extra time and that wonderful winning goal from Barcelona’s French defender Kounde. Here is what the BBC report said about the goal:

Jules Kounde lashed in an extra-time screamer as Barcelona beat Real Madrid to win the Copa del Rey in a remarkable Clasico in Seville.

So, Kounde received the ball just outside the Real Madrid penalty area and lashed in the ball or lashed home the ball. So, to lash the ball is to hit the ball really hard; so it has a similar meaning to ‘smash the ball’; to smash the ball home or to lash the ball home‘ Kounde hit the ball really hard and it went in the net past the Real Madrid keeper Courtois. A great strike from the French defender (a screamer) and well done to Barcelona who are still on for a treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League).

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Greek)

Liverpool’s Title Win: Three Words

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DB: Well, Liverpool aren’t chasing a treble, or even a double, but they have won the league title for a record-equalling 20th time! Now, I could talk about the 5-1 win over Tottenham all day long, but Damian has asked me to sum up Liverpool’s title win in three words. A difficult job, but here goes.

Perch

DB: First, is ‘perch’. Liverpool’s heyday, when they were winning lots of trophies, were in the 1970s and 1980s. They were certainly the most successful side in England and seemed to win titles and cup competitions every year. Until Manchester United and Alex Ferguson took over as the English game’s powerhouses.

The United manager famously said his ‘greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off its f*cking perch‘, (excuse my language) meaning he wanted to replace Liverpool as the dominant side. He succeeded, but with the 20th title and more major silverware than Manchester United, Liverpool are back on their perch!

Klopp

DB: My second word is ‘Klopp’. The title-winning side is Jurgen Klopp’s side, with Chiesa the only new signing by manager, Arne Slot, and the Italian didn’t play more than a handful of minutes. So, the fans owe a big debt of gratitude to the former German coach for leaving the team in such good shape for their new Dutch head coach.

That’s not to say Slot doesn’t deserve credit. Of course he does. Many managers could have wasted the opportunity given by having such a good squad, by buying lots of new players for example, But Slot won the title with the team he inherited, changing small things, and slowly put his personality on the team.

He also recognises Klopp’s importance with his call for the fans to sing Klopp’s name after the title was won (returning the favour Klopp had given Slot last year).

Tweak

The last of my three words is ‘tweak‘, which means a small change or to tweak, make a small change. As I said, Slot used the same team as Klopp did last year, but he made small but effective changes. He tweaked the team rather than make big changes.

For example, he played Ryan Gravenberch as a holding midfielder, whereas last year Gravenberch was in and out of the team, mostly as an attacking midfielder. Gravenberch has had an excellent season and has played every league game so far.

He allowed Salah to focus on attack and to not defend as much. He was rewarded with 28 goals and 18 assists from the Egyptian forward. He played Trent and his replacement Bradley as more traditional fullbacks, rather than allowing Trent to roam into midfield.

These are just a few examples of successful tweaks that quietly changed Liverpool into a more controlled team, while still being dangerous on the attack. They are top scorers and have the second best defensive record in the league.

So, ‘perch’; ‘Klopp’ and ‘tweak’ are my three words for Liverpool’s title-winning season.

I wonder what Damian thinks of those choices?

DF: Thanks Damon. Some really interesting choices there. I think tweak is a really good word. This idea of making small but effective changes is a really good one, that the Dutch manager of Liverpool, Arne Slot, as you said, did really well over the season. Well done again to Liverpool.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a West Ham fan)

DF: Right, next up we have an interview with James Taylor who is a freelance teacher trainer and materials developer and a big football fan and he’s based in New York.

Now, before we hear from James, try and listen out for his favourite team, which team does he support? Also, can you hear the three words he uses to describe this team?

Interview: James Taylor

Right, on today’s show, we have a very special guest from New York, James Taylor. Hello James.

James: Hi Damian. It’s lovely to be here.

Damian: Good to hear from you and thank you for coming onto the show. Now, James is a materials writer, teacher trainer and project manager for Active Education. James, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

James: Yeah, sure. So I do a lot of different things. I’m a freelancer basically, so I am hired by different companies to write materials for them mostly. I don’t actually, teach right now. I also do the occasional bit of teacher training, and I work as a project manager and community manager for Active Education where we are offering support materials for young learner teachers mostly in Brazil at the moment.

Favourite Team: Brighton

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Damian: Oh, fantastic. Fantastic stuff. Um, now it is a very important question for all our guests. What’s your favourite team?

James: So, my team, Damian, as you can see, because you have the… the pleasure of the visuals is…Brighton and Hove Albion.

Damian: For those people who may not know Brighton, can you give us maybe two or three words to describe them for you? What do they mean for you?

James: Okay. So in two or three words I would use to describe us. I think we are, I think we’re cool. I think we’re a cool team. Uh, I think we are fun. Because, our games are often very entertaining for the neutral, and I think we’re ethical because we’re not owned by a terrible person. We don’t get our money from bad sources. We have one of the best owners…in the world, I would say. So, as you can see, I feel pretty good about us… generally.

Damian: That’s fantastic. Can you, for those people who again, may not know Brighton, how, how are they doing this season?

James: Pretty well. I think you have to put it in the context basically, which is, we’re a club that is 123 years old, and this is the best period of our entire history. It’s happening right in the last five or six years. And since we came into the Premier League…every season we’ve got a little bit better. And we are sometimes…they sometimes drive me crazy with the inconsistency, like we…we’ll play the worst team in the league and we’ll draw or lose at home, and then the next week we’ll play Arsenal away and we’ll win.

And they drive me mad because we could be even better. We… if we beat the teams we’re supposed to beat, we would be in the Champions League places. But…we have a chance of being in Europe next year. And… yeah, up and down, but generally positive, I would say we’re, we’re in ninth as I, as we record this. So, I’m hoping we’ll finish in eighth and get that Conference League spot because I think we could win the Conference League and I have never seen us win a…a cup.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Dutch)

Damian: So James is a Brighton fan. Can you remember the three words he used to describe his club? That’s right, cool; fun and ethical. If you were describing your favourite team what three words would you use? We have a forum on this topic so join in the conversation and let us know.

Now, next up James talks about a football cliche which he finds a little weird or strange. It has three words and two of them are prepositions!

Football Cliche: In and Around

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Damian: Okay, so it’s a football language podcast for learners of English. So, can we ask you a question about a football cliche or a football phrase, maybe one that you like or maybe dislike?

James: So I was…I did a bit of research before I was looking at sort of football cliches and things, and there’s something that came up immediately to me that I thought was really interesting is the phrase in and around, which is a really weird bit of language that I think has come from football, really in, in this use.

So it’s the idea that…the player is in a certain area of the pitch. And so quite often I think it’s used with the penalty spots because that’s where goals are likely to be scored. And I think for language learners, prepositions in English are famously difficult, right? And then you hear an expression like this and you think, well, what chance do they have? Because you, you, you are not in the penalty spots. That doesn’t make any sense. You are in the penalty box, but you can’t be in the spot. Makes no sense.

And, and how can a person be around the penalty spot? They can’t be around… unless they sort of lie down and wrap themselves…neither of those…prepositions make any sense. And so I just find football fascinating because it has its… so, so much language that is invented around it that, and I just think that’s one of the examples. And so do I like it? No, not really, but I kind of respect it in a way… The creativity is amazing.

Damian: It’s a fantastic example. Can I ask a question? I mean, if you heard that phrase, you listened to it on the radio, you’d know exactly where the player was?

James: Exactly. About what it is….exactly what it means and exactly where they are. Yeah. It works as a piece of language…

DF: Yeah, yeah, yeah…

James: …but, uh, I mean, language doesn’t always make sense when it makes sense, right?

DF: Exactly.

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster.com (in French)

DF: Did you hear the phrase? Yes, it was ‘in and around‘ – in and around, especially when talking about players in the penalty area or penalty box. It’s a…it’s an interesting phrase indeed; try and listen out for it when next listening to an English commentary.

Right, here’s another example of interesting football language from James.

Mo Salahs and Kevin De Bruynes

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James: I can give you another example, which is using plurals of players, right? So it would say, ‘your Mo Salahs‘ and ‘your Kevin De Bruynes’ of this world, right? They love, like…in commentary they love saying this kind of thing. But there’s only one of those. So. I think what they’re trying to say is it’s like players of this type, like, and here’s one example and here’s another example. But they pluralize something that has never been pluralized before.

And yeah, it works. I mean, I…I would say that this is probably not something I would teach my learners but maybe if they’re really into football, then it might help them to, and they hear things in English…they, I’d say… understand, but don’t use.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a Brazilian fan)

DF: That was great! Thank you so much to James for that. Have you ever heard of any of the examples he gave in English or indeed an equivalent in another language that you know? If so, let us know and drop us a line here at the Learn English through Football team.

We’ve also posted some contact details for James: websites, Instagram pages, podcasts that he has on our post here at Languagecaster.com.

More Information

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster.com (Besiktas fan)

Predictions

DF: OK, next up we have our predictions section with Damon and we are going to focus on the second legs of the Champions League semi-finals – both of which are still in the balance after some amazing first legs.

Inter Milan (3) v Barcelona (3)

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DB: OK, before the predictions a big thank you from me too to James. That was really interesting, especially the use of plural names to talk about a type of player or even manager. I wonder if Slot will join the greats like ‘your Shanklys’ and ‘your Fergusons’?

Right, predictions and first up is Inter vs Barcelona. Well the first leg was a cracker, wasn’t it? A six-goal thriller! I predict more goals, as Barcelona certainly looked open at the back. I am going for a 2-1 Inter win. Home advantage might see them sneak this one!

PSG (1) v (0) Arsenal

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DB: Next is Arsenal away at PSG. The Gunners really needed a lead to take to the second leg, and will be very disappointed to be behind. PSG looked in control when they needed to be and I think this PSG side will not let this tie slip through their fingers. A 2-0 win for PSG.

Does Damian agree I wonder?

DF: Some interesting predictions there. The first leg matches were great – that Barca-Inter game was incredible. At the end of the game I wondered how it finished 3-3. How about the second leg? Well, I reckon Inter will have the experience and the physical strength to hold on in front of their home fans but Barca have Lamine Yamal…so…3-2 for Barca for me! As for the other game I don’t think Arsenal will come back – they were outplayed by PSG and I expect the French side to win 2-1 and go through to the final.

Champions League Winners?

DF: Now, we also asked James – before the first legs of those semi-finals – which team he thought would win this year’s tournament and here is what he said:

James: And so the obvious, kind of, stand-out candidate is not there. So, I think PSG have probably looked like the strongest team so far but of course they have a famous record of bottling it. I have a sneaky feeling for Inter Milan. I think they’ve been sort of…quietly, very efficiently going through this competition and I’ve been quite impressed with them. Ok, if I had to choose, I’m gonna’ choose them…because I really don’t know!

DF: So, what do you think of those predictions? Let us know what you think might happen in those or indeed any other games over the weekend. And how do you think your team will do this weekend?

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Japanese)

Contact

DB: Right, remember to contact us via email at admin@languagecaster.com if you have any questions about the language of football or if you have some feedback on our podcast. Check out our website at languagecaster.com and explore our Football Language Forum, where you can ask and answer questions about all kinds of football language. There is also our huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases, and clichés about the beautiful game. And finally, please help us by spreading the word about our podcast and our site. Give us a like and follow us on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, YouTube, and more.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Vietnamese)

Goodbye

DF:  Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message, or stinger, was in Vietnamese. We also heard Italian, Greek, Catalan, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese from Brazil and Dutch.

Thanks everyone for listening this week. We heard about the phrase, ‘lash home‘ which described the winning goal from the Barcelona defender Jules Kounde. Can you think of another similar expression to this one in any language that you know? We also heard Damon talk about Liverpool’s title-winning season and the three terms: perch; Klopp and tweak.

And then of course we also heard from James Taylor explaining the phrase, ‘in and around‘, as well as the rather funny football expression that uses plural forms of names. I wonder is there something like this in another language that maybe you know? Is there something like that in a language that you know?

Enjoy all the football this week – the semi-final second legs of those Champions League matches are taking place and of course my team Tottenham play in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final in Norway. They are 3-1 up but face a tricky trip to the Arctic Circle on a plastic pitch next Thursday. You can hear I am not confident at all!

And we’ll be back soon with a new football expression early next week. And we’ll also be hearing more from James over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy all the football and we’ll see you soon. Bye bye.

DB: Enjoy all the football this week – Ta-ra.

Related Terms

Football Language Glossary