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Blogs

Mark's picture

Mark

League leaders and strugglers

One topic which both fans and football writers usually comment on is the position of teams in the "table", so let's look at this vocabulary as we review some of the results from the Premier League at the weekend.

Firstly, "league leaders" Manchester City stayed "at the top of the table" thanks to their 3-0 victory over Fulham. Despite the defeat, Fulham are still "seven points clear of the relegation zone".

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Mark

Late goals

In the Premier League matches over the New Year period, there were lots of goals scored in the last ten minutes. In fact, the results of about half of the 20 matches in this period were decided by "late goals". So let's have a look at some of the vocabulary used to talk about this.

Grant Hanley's late goal gave Blackburn a surprise victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Norwich and Everton also scored "late winners" to get victories at Queens Park Rangers and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

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Mark

Laying siege

In the reports on several of the recent Premier League games, I notice that the phrase "lay siege" was used. This expression is often used when a strong team is dominating a weak one, so that they keep on attacking for long periods of the match. But they don't necessarily score a goal or win the game! There have been plenty of examples of strong teams laying siege to weak ones in the PL ganes played so far over Christmas.

Mark's picture

Mark

The vocabulary of drawing

Last weekend's Premier League games give me the chance to look at some of the words and phrases which we use to talk about draws -- in other words, when the two teams have the same number of goals,

Three of the ten PL games last weekend ended in draws. Everton drew 1-1 with Norwich, Wigan and Chelsea also drew 1-1, and Newcastle drew 0-0 with Swansea.

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Mark

The consolation goal

We use the term "consolation goal" when a team is losing badly and has no chance of winning or even drawing the game, but they score anyway. In everyday language, "consolation" is when something bad has happened to someone and you do something to make them feel better.

Declan's picture

Declan

Predictions for games: December 3 - 5

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games coming up this weekend (December 3rd - 5th). He makes predictions about this weekend's games and talks about the featured game: Wolves v Sunderland

Declan's Predictions

Featured game

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Declan

Review of games: November 26 - 28

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games from last weekend (November 26th - 28th). He talks about the best game and goals of the week, Instead of a surprise of the week, he talks about the sad death of Gary Speed and explains a football phrase of the week. This week, his football phrase is: pressure.

Declan's Review

Game of the week

Mark's picture

Mark

Coming off the bench and seeing red

Last weekend's Premier League games give me the opportunity to focus on two common phrases used in football reports. When players "come off the bench", it means they enter the game as substitutes. And when they "see red", it means they receive a red card and have to leave the game.

As usual, lots of players came off the bench in the PL over the weekend, and three of these substitutes scored . Three other players saw red. And one player not only came off the bench but also saw red! Guess who?

Mark's picture

Mark

Against the run of play

One very common expression in football reports is when a team scores a goal "against the run of play". This means that the other team were attacking more and everyone thought that they would probably score, so the goal was a surprise. There were several examples of goals scored against the run of play in the Premier League games this last weekebd.

Let's start with Arsenal's visit to Norwich. Arsenal are playing very well at the moment and started the game attacking the home side. But then their defender Per Mertesacker made a mistake and Steve Morrison scored for Norwich.

Jack's picture

Jack

Predictions for games: November 5 - 6

Editor's note: This week, Zahra was going to make some predictions, but she couldn't get her camera to work so she sent her predictions to me. The featured game this week is Aston Villa v Norwich City.

Jack and Zahra's Predictions

Featured game

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Predictions

Declan's picture

Declan

Predictions for games: December 3 - 5

Declan's Predictions

Featured game

Declan's picture

Declan

Review of games: November 26 - 28

Declan's Review

Game of the week

Jack's picture

Jack

Predictions for games: November 5 - 6

Jack and Zahra's Predictions

Featured game

Declan's picture

Declan

Review of games: October 22 - 23

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games from last weekend (October 22nd - 23rd). He talks about the best game and goals of the week, He also talks about the surprise of the week and explains a football phrase of the week. This week, his football phrase is: top scorer.

Declan's Review

Game of the week

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Declan

Predictions for games: October 29 - 31

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games coming up this weekend (October 29th - 31st). He makes predictions about this weekend's games and talks about the featured game: Chelsea v Arsenal.

Declan's Predictions

Featured game

Declan's picture

Declan

Predictions for games: October 15 -16

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games coming up this weekend (October 15th - 16th). He makes predictions about this weekend's games and then talks about the featured game: Liverpool v Manchester United.

Declan's Predictions

Featured game

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Declan

Review of games: October 1 - 2

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games from last weekend (October 1st 2nd). He talks about the best game and goals of the week, He also talks about the surprise of the week and explains a football phrase of the week. This week, his football phrase is: comeback.

Declan's Review

Game of the week

Zahra's picture

Zahra

Predictions for games: October 1-2

Editor's note: This week, Zahra talks about the games coming up this weekend (October 1st - 2nd). She makes predictions about this weekend's games and then talks about the featured game, an exciting derby: Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal.

Declan's picture

Declan

Predictions for games: September 24-26

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games coming up this weekend (September 24th - 26th). He makes predictions and talks about the featured game, Newcastle United v Blackburn Rovers and then talks about the rest of this weekend's fixtures.

Declan's Predictions

Featured game

Newcastle United v Blackburn Rovers: Home win

Saturday 24th September games

Manchester City v Everton: Home win

Arsenal v Bolton Wanderers: Home win

Declan's picture

Declan

Review of games: September 17-18

Editor's note: This week, Declan talks about the games from last weekend (September 17th 18th). He talks about the best game and goals of the week, He also talks about the surprise of the week and explains a football phrase of the week. This week, his football phrase is: possession,

Declan's Review

Game of the week

Fans Blog

Mark's picture

Mark

It can be tough watching a match on TV ...

First thought: does anyone out there share my frustration at not being able to watch many games from start to finish, live? And by live I don’t mean in the stadium, but on television at the time they’re played, not later. This isn’t because there’s no reasonable cable or satellite TV where I live, or because of the time difference.

Comments: 3

Mark's picture

Mark

My first Premier Skills blog

Hi there. My name's Mark and I live in Caracas, Venezuela. I'm starting this blog to share a few thoughts about the Premier League. I'm a big PL fan but don't get much chance to talk about it because most Venezuelans prefer baseball! So I'll use the blog instead and hope that you'll share your thoughts too. Don't worry if your English isn't perfect -- this isn't a grammar lesson!

Comments: 3

AndyHewitt's picture

AndyHewitt

Maracanã - the best game I ever saw

Football is now a huge global industry, with the Premier League, La Liga, the Champions League and many more competitions shown on television every week. With satellite TV it’s now possible to watch nearly every game from the comfort of your own home, with all the action replays and live commentary from expert pundits and players. All this has helped the game become more popular than ever and allowed fans to watch their favourite teams wherever they live in the world.

Comments: 1

AndyHewitt's picture

AndyHewitt

World Cup 2006

Like many people I’ve watched football at many different times and in many different places. Given a choice I love nothing more than being in the pub on a Sunday with my friends, drinking some beers and watching a game or two. When travelling I’ve watched many games alone, or with friends in cafes, bars, restaurants and a range of houses of welcoming hosts in Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. I’ve also been to a range of live games in many different countries. The great thing about football is how it unites people - it really is a global language.

Comments: 1

AndyHewitt's picture

AndyHewitt

My friend the relegation threatened supporter

I’ve been very lucky to be a Manchester United fan, especially over the last 20 years. We have been one of the most successful clubs of all-time, winning Premier League title after title and a whole host of domestic and European cups. We have become very accustomed to winning, and an unsuccessful season for us is coming second in the league or losing in a cup final. I don’t have to watch my team lose game after game, and still give my support and try to be positive every Saturday afternoon - but I have a lot of friends who do.

AndyHewitt's picture

AndyHewitt

I always love this time of year

I always love this time of year. The weather starts to get better, the winter is over and the football season reaches it’s climax. Most football fans are more excited at the “business end” of the season, and as I am a lifelong Manchester United supporter I can always guarantee that we will be challenging for something as May approaches.

Comments: 1

Lesson Blog

Manchester City's Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri - Action Images: Jason Cairnduff Livepic

Lesson Blog: Review

This lesson blog is a review of some of the most important lessons from the last season of email lessons.

Comments: 4

Manchester City Celebrates - Action Images: John Sibley Livepic

Manchester City match ball - Action Images: Jed Leicester

QPR and Fulham - Action Images: Paul Childs Livepic

Lesson Blog: Past Perfect Simple

In this lesson, you will learn about the past perfect simple.

Comments: 8

Wayne Rooney - Action Images: Carl Recine

Lesson Blog: Quantifiers with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

In this lesson, you will learn about using quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns.

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