You're listening to the Footglitch Podcast. Love football, learn English.
Was the referee right to send Declan Rice off in the Arsenal-Brighton game for gently kicking the ball away?
Which two teams haven't dropped any points yet this season?
Did Haaland win the Hero of the Week again after scoring another hat-trick?
And what does the phrase year in and year out mean?
The Footglitch Podcast
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Footglitch Podcast, your go-to English learning podcast about football.
And today we are talking about the Premier League again and we will be discussing round three or game week three.
And for that I have here with me Nrup again. Welcome back Nrup, how are you?
I'm alright here. It's okay.
Fantastic. Are you still in India?
I am, I am, yeah.
Okay. I wanted to ask you, do Indian people love watching football and the Premier League?
Yeah, I mean there's a huge fan base. In fact, like I would say the older generation, there are lots of Man United fans and there's a huge fan base.
Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Lots of Chelsea fans.
They can't be too happy these days.
Yeah, it's true, but it is what it is. They are still staying strong and they watch the games very religiously.
Although I must say that football is still not the best or the most popular sport in India, but there is a huge fan base.
Let me guess, the most popular sport is cricket.
It is, yeah.
Okay, well, this is not the Krikglisch podcast, this is the Footglisch podcast.
So we are here to talk about football.
Sorry, wrong look, I just leave. See you guys.
No, you can stay, you can stay. Of course, I know you are a football fan and you have a lot of insight and that's what we need here.
First of all, I'm going to go through the results of this round quickly Nrup.
And I'm going to ask you as well if you think that any of these results are a surprise.
Okay, so on Sunday, no, sorry, we should start with Saturday, right?
Saturday before Sunday, I think. So Arsenal Brighton, that was actually the first game.
It was an early kickoff, as we say, one all.
So I'm sure we will talk about this one because as we know, you are an Arsenal fan and so am I.
So one all, Arsenal Brighton. Then Brentford, Southampton, 3-1.
Everton, Bournemouth, 2-3. Ipswich, Fulham, one all.
Leicester, Aston Villa, 1-2. Nottingham, Forest, Wolves, 1-1.
West Ham, Manchester City, 1-3. And then Sunday's games, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, one all.
Newcastle, Spurs, 2-1. And then finally, Man Utd, Liverpool, 0-3.
Nrup, which of these results surprises you?
I would go with, let's say starting with Saturday.
I would go with Arsenal Brighton. Then I would go with Ipswich, Fulham.
And yeah, that's it. And of course, when it comes to Sunday, I would go for Chelsea and Crystal Palace.
And United versus Liverpool.
Okay. So that's interesting. United versus Liverpool.
Before we get into the Arsenal game, because that's the main sort of main thing on the agenda here today.
Why does the result of Man Utd surprise you, Nrup?
Because in my opinion, in the last few years, hasn't it always been like that?
Didn't Liverpool always play really well at Old Brefford?
They did, but Liverpool, they have a new manager and I was just not expecting such five-star performance.
I mean, even the players, they were not really satisfied with the result.
They were like, yeah, we were expecting 6-0, 5-0 easily.
Who was expecting 6-0? Sorry, I'm not getting it.
Shubhandyke and Mohamed Salah. They said that after the game, that you were expecting much more goals.
Yeah, it was a quote-to-quote. So I was really shocked.
That's shocking, right? Because Manchester United, home game.
One of the best teams historically in the entire history of Premier League.
And how can they be in a position like that?
How can they be struggling so much? Because it seems like this is happening year in, year out.
I think it's the players because I would say Arsenal have been in such a situation.
It feels familiar. So to me, it looks like it's the players.
There needs to be a massive overall. You can see the contracts of the current players and their wages.
I don't think it's worth it.
Okay, well, do you think that the issue is the manager, Erich Ten Haag?
Because some fans are not really happy with him either.
It could be, but I don't think it's completely on him because even the new owner,
if I'm not wrong, the Radcliffe, is that his surname?
I'm not sure. Something like that.
Something like that, yeah. So even he said that we would need at least three, four transfer windows
to actually create a competitive sport.
And I think last year, Ten Haag was saying that we shouldn't be with the current squad,
with the current situation of Manchester United, we shouldn't be aiming for the title,
for the Premier League title, and we should take things step by step.
So I believe that they're going in a decent direction if you look at how he's handling some players.
But at the end of the day, we have to provide results.
You do. And if you are a Manchester United fan, unfortunately, because of what they have experienced,
the years of winning trophies under Alex Ferguson, these fans, they are not going to take these results lightly.
They remember these victories and they need it back.
Old Trafford is a very stronghold, so it's really embarrassing for a team with 13 titles
losing comfortably for the past five, six years to a team that has won one title.
So it says a lot. There's a heritage from both sides.
It looks like a one-sided game for the past six years.
Yeah, and 3-0. It doesn't say much, but it's enough.
It says a lot, in my opinion, actually.
I mean, I'm talking about the result. It could have been more, but yeah, 3-0.
I mean, they can't be happy there. Even Gary Neville, the famous Pandit reporter, journalist,
Sky Sports journalist, he's not happy either.
He always blames it on the owners, actually, whenever he speaks.
Right, interesting. I mean, even we had a phase where we were blaming the Crowing Keys
for not spending enough and how Wenger was managing a positive transfer window
after so many years of having such players. We used to be the number four team,
but now being the number four team itself is a heritage of its own.
It's an achievement these days, right? Manchester United, they will struggle with these results.
But, well, we gradually started talking about Arsenal here.
So 1-1. I think the result doesn't tell the story, though.
I think it's all going to be about that one incident, right?
So what exactly happened there? So basically we are talking about a second yellow card for Declan Rice.
I think this is the turning point in the game. No doubt about that.
Before that, we were controlling the game, right? 1-0. Who scored our first goal?
Kai Havertz. Kai Havertz, Saka assist. It was a beautiful goal.
It was great. Absolutely great. Those two are really working well together.
They have a great partnership. But, Nrub, what did you make of that incident?
And can you actually explain to the listeners of the Footgris podcast what happened there?
Because it was rather bizarre. It was bizarre.
So it happened, I think, somewhere between 55th or 60th minute.
What happened was Rice was already cautioned in the first half. He already received a yellow card.
And somewhere on the left flank, there was supposed to be a free kick.
But for a free kick, the ball has to be stationed somewhere. And it was a moving ball.
So apparently, the referee thought that Rice was intervening the incident.
Well, what happened was exactly that he made a foul, right?
It looks like he made a foul. And the game was stopped. And the game was stopped.
It was not a yellow card incident or anything like that. But it was a foul, right? I think.
It looked like a foul. And he was walking away from the ball slowly.
And as he was walking away, he slightly kicked the ball from the...
Which wasn't in his vision. But the ball was moving.
The thing was, the ball was moving. It was moving slowly. I agree with you.
It wasn't stationed, which it seems quite important for that incident. I agree with you.
But also, it was kind of in his way.
Although, it did look like he knew what he was doing.
And the issue is that we see this all the time, right? Players do this all the time.
It's a bit of what we call a shithousery. You just want to...
You don't want... Normally, what you should do, actually, is just to stand in front of the ball
until everybody is able to get back into their positions and be ready for whatever happens from that free kick.
But instead, he slightly kicked it. And I think the ball rolled for about one meter.
One meter away from that spot that he kicked it from.
And also, the player, he was trying to take that free kick immediately. Super quickly.
As you said, the ball was moving. Also, in doing so, he kind of kicked the rice.
It was such a bizarre moment.
He did not touch the ball from what it looked like. He did not touch the ball at all. He just kicked the rice.
But he was trying to kick the ball. And the reason he kicked the rice instead of the ball
is actually that the rice had kicked it away from that spot slightly.
So he couldn't really. Right? Yeah. But the way he kicked it, to me, it looked like it was deliberate.
I think he wanted to kick the rice just to, I don't know, provoke it.
But what rice did, let's be honest, what rice did was also deliberate.
It was, yeah. It's not something that is rare. It's not something that is often criticized.
It's honestly just ignored normally. Under normal playing conditions, it doesn't matter who the player or the team is.
It seems so innocent. It doesn't matter the competition.
Even on the highest stage of the competition, be it UCL final or FIFA World Cup, people still do that.
Yeah, but it was just usually something bigger than that. It was just so innocent.
And the referee, what did the referee do then?
Yeah, he did something that was apparently not. And that was just give him a yellow card.
Yeah, because first of all, rice was kind of rolling on the floor because it looked like it wasn't nice that he got kicked at that moment.
So everybody thought, oh, what's going to happen? Is he going to get a yellow? The Brighton player?
I don't know who it was anymore. It doesn't matter. Is he going to get the yellow or what's going to happen there?
Or is the referee just trying to calm down everyone, you know, before this set piece is taken?
And to everyone's surprise, he showed the second yellow card to Declan Rice.
And we're talking about when was this? 60th minute or something?
Something like that. 50th, 50th or 60th minute.
Yeah, it's quite early, quite early. Declan Rice, a super important player.
Exactly.
Right. And I think it was also his first red card in career.
In senior football, he has never had a red card.
Yeah, such an important player to go away. We were one man down against Brighton, which is a team that always hurts the top teams.
Exactly.
Yeah, it was a huge loss.
He couldn't believe it, Rice, right? He couldn't believe it.
Nobody could believe it.
Not even Brighton players.
Yeah, I'm sure 100%. And it was just embarrassing, shocking.
And the thing is, at one point I'm just numb because, you know, referees and referee decisions in Arsenal,
I mean, you know, it's like we are each other's protagonist and antagonist of each other.
So we are like an actual enemy.
But we can't, we can't sort of get hung up on this because then we get this label, oh, Arsenal fans, you're always crying.
Because unfortunately, this is what we always do.
I don't like this, because whenever there's a referee problem, Arteta always speaks about it.
This is my issue with what happened. I absolutely hate it.
I think it was insensitive from the referee. We can talk about the letter of the law.
Maybe they have changed some rules that now they don't tolerate this shithouse-ery.
And I think these were instructions. That's why he did it.
I don't think the referee did it because there's any malice, there's any animosity against Arsenal.
I don't think, I think these guys are professionals.
I think he was under the instructions to, you know, to stop players from doing these things and to caution them immediately,
to show yellow cards for things like this.
And so he stuck to the letter of the law.
My issue with that is it's just he was not using common sense because, yes, there is the letter of the law.
But if we always stick to the letter of the law, there is no football.
I just pinch you or I slightly touch you and it's a foul.
Do you know what I mean?
You also have to use common sense when you're refereeing a football game.
And this was, I think, I'm sure he regrets this now, this referee, because...
And there's another thing, and that's what Arteta was pointing to.
He said, and Declan Rice as well, that basically there have been more incidents like that in the game.
And it was Brighton who kicked the ball away.
And I think Joel Pedro, more than this.
This seems just so innocent.
And the fact that he was on a yellow card as well, I mean, it's just incredibly stupid decision from the referee, in my opinion.
I agree with you on most segments.
Regarding the part where, you know, we have been labeled as victims of referee, I think it's true.
The facts speak for itself and we have the data, we have the clips.
And I think I would say they are partially to be blamed for us to at least be in the hand for us to lose the title last season.
Because I remember those games where we lost points because of referee decision.
I know.
And it is a huge factor because referees, they are the so-called demigods of the game and they play a huge factor.
And it's not just Arsenal.
There are many other teams that also suffer from it.
Liverpool, another example.
I mean, there was a time where Liverpool used to be called.
Also Wolves, right?
Yeah, but at the same time, there used to be a time where Liverpool used to be called Liverpool.
Maybe, I don't know why, maybe there was some other reason.
Liverpool. Yeah, but my point is, listen to me.
My point is, this is the wrong mentality.
If, or the wrong mindset, if you always blame the referees for whatever happens to you, you are putting yourself in a position of victim.
And I think it's always an unhealthy habit to victimise yourself because then you are not focusing on improving yourself, on making progress.
This is my point.
I think this is distracting us from progressing.
I think it's a rule of thumb in life anyway.
Yeah, that's my point.
And I agree with you.
This was completely unfair.
Nrup, we have three minutes because then I have to teach a lesson.
Let's do our hero of the week and villain of the week.
So let's start with the hero of the week.
Who is it for you?
For me, it would be Erling Haaland for his action against West Ham.
Yeah, I mean, it was just heroic.
Heroic like this guy.
He just cannot stop.
You know what?
Yeah.
Hat trick.
Another hat trick.
Two back to back hat tricks.
Yeah.
And incredible.
He's a monster.
And I'm thinking of renaming this segment into Haaland of the week.
Yeah, I was thinking of that.
To be honest, it also starts with age, so not much will change.
Yeah, well, he is.
I mean, he was really fantastic.
Shout out to Luis Diaz for his performance.
Do you know what his dream is?
What is his dream?
He once said that his dream is to score four goals with four touches,
because sometimes people say Haaland is not that good.
He doesn't even touch the ball much in the game.
How does he impact the game?
He scores goals.
And then to that, he responded, yeah, my dream is to score four goals with four touches.
That's lovely.
I mean, honestly, such answers are not really to be encouraged,
but I really like how he really answers everybody's criticism with his work.
Exactly.
So yeah, it's good.
That's my hero.
OK, yeah.
To be honest, I was going to say Haaland too,
and my second choice would be Luis Diaz for scoring two goals against Manchester United.
Very nice goals as well.
He seems to be playing really well.
I regret the decision to choose Diego Jota now over him in my fantasy team.
But anyway, villain of the week for you.
I think we know who that's going to be.
It's going to be the usual suspect.
The ref, right?
Which ref?
I wonder which one.
Anyone that always harms us, really.
It's a fact.
Oh, come on.
Yeah, it has to be the referee.
He really impacted the game.
We forgot to say that after that we conceded a goal.
João Pedro equalised.
And since, well, from that moment, from that red card,
we were not the same team and we were under the coach.
Brighton were all over us.
I think we were actually quite lucky to get a draw from that game.
But yeah, we have a point.
Brighton are playing amazing football.
We can quickly have a look.
This is the last thing we will do here.
We can quickly have a look at the table.
Yeah.
So where is that?
Those of you who are watching on YouTube, you will be able to see the table now.
Liverpool and Man City, the only two teams who didn't drop any points yet.
They are both on nine points.
Man City have a better goal difference.
That's why they are ahead.
And Brighton in the third place ahead of Arsenal.
And then also Newcastle United who don't seem to be playing well,
but somehow they keep getting points.
This time they beat Tottenham.
Yeah, then sixth place, Brentford.
Then Aston Villa, Bournemouth.
And Everton in the last place.
Okay, it's early doors.
It's early in the season, of course.
But how do you see this league so far?
Yeah, it's going great.
35 more games to go.
And yeah, I mean, there's one more transfer window in the middle of the season.
So looking forward to everything.
I still think that we will win the league.
And yeah, I'm just positive.
Progress.
We still haven't been defeated yet.
Okay, thank you very much for featuring on the Footglitch Podcast again.
I'm going to speak about the Fantasy League in the language corner section
because I know this season you don't play.
You're not the manager.
I think you are like Jurgen Klopp.
You're taking a break.
Hopefully you will be back next season with the Fantasy League.
We miss you.
We miss you in the league.
Cheers, man.
I'll be back.
Hopefully one day.
Yeah, either for national team or club football.
I don't know.
Okay.
Fantastic.
Cheers anyway.
Take care, man.
Take care and bye bye.
Bye bye.
All right, everyone.
Welcome back to the language corner.
As always in this part of the show, I will be teaching because it is my job to teach English.
That's right.
I'm an English teacher.
And this time I would like to talk about the phrase year in, year out.
We were talking with Nrub about Manchester United Liverpool
and the fact that in the last few years Liverpool have been dominating Manchester United.
And that includes games at Old Trafford, right?
At the Manchester United Stadium.
And I just wanted to say that this keeps happening all the time.
And I use this phrase.
It's happening year in, year out.
It's a very simple phrase, very flexible as well.
You can say month in, month out, week in, week out, day in, day out.
And it has a similar meaning.
Basically, it means all the time.
Or we could say if you use year in, year out, it's kind of on a yearly basis, like every year.
If you say month in, month out, it's kind of on a monthly basis.
If it's day in, day out, it's kind of like every day, right?
So continuously or repeatedly over a period of years, months, weeks or days,
depending on which word you use.
Day in, day out, right?
Like every single day, pretty much.
By the way, there are similar phrases you can use if you don't want to overuse this phrase
or if you don't want to stick to all the time, all the time.
See what I did there?
Instead, you can use the phrase over and over again, again and again, time and time again,
or time after time.
All these phrases pretty much mean the same thing.
And yeah, by using these lexical chunks, as we call them, you will sound more natural, right?
Because it is our tendency for us, the non-native speakers, to overuse certain structures
because they become automatized in our language.
But we don't always show how much we know.
We don't always show the variety of the language in the way we could.
All right, I guess that will be all that I will squeeze into this episode.
Do you know what?
I'll talk about my fantasy team another time.
It's not necessary to always involve it into the Footgritch Podcast, right?
Especially if your guest doesn't play it, right?
Okay, guys, that's absolutely everything for today.
Thank you so much for listening and I'll speak to you soon.
Take care. Bye bye.