Will the win in the Manchester Derby be a turning point for Manchester United?
Does Ruben Amorim have more charisma than Eric Den Haag?
Has Pep Guardiola gone insane?
And what does the idiom to have a sticky patch mean?
Hello listeners, welcome back to another episode of the Footgrish Podcast.
My name is Denik Lucas.
I'm your host and the Footgrish Podcast is a podcast for English learners about football.
And speaking about football, of course, we always need to have a guest like Martin Johnston
from The Rock and Roll English because I know he is a huge football fan.
Hello Martin, how are you?
Hello, Zennik.
Yeah, I'm good, thanks.
Very good.
After yesterday, so very glad to be here.
So we'll have to explain that.
So the last time I had you on this podcast was to talk about England because you're English.
However, you are also a Manchester United fan.
Yes, which hasn't been that brilliant over recent years, but we've had our moments luckily
and yesterday was another one of them.
So you're referring obviously to the Manchester Derby, which you won, which doesn't happen
all the time.
To be honest, it doesn't happen that Manchester still lose games and right now they're not
doing that well.
I just can't believe.
You've seen in the years, we've seen like, you know, the dominant team like have a sticky
patch and they slowly go down, but they have like literally fallen off a cliff.
It's just, I thought they lost like seven in 10, something like that or more.
Obviously they have a run of 11 games where they won only one game in 11 games.
Of those 11 games, I think they won one game and they drew three games or something like
that.
So imagine they got defeated in most of these games.
It's unprecedented.
It absolutely is.
Because like I said, I remember, so like the Arsenal invincible team, the next year, they
weren't obviously they weren't invincible, but they didn't like, it wasn't like losing
every week.
Like Manchester City are like, you know, like Manchester United and other teams that have
been dominant Chelsea.
I'd never seen the team just crash like this so much.
It's bizarre.
Yeah, it's very bizarre.
That's why I need to ask you, does it really feel like a win?
Like can you even enjoy this as a Manchester United fan?
Because it's like, it's equivalent of kicking, kicking someone like imagine you're fighting
a boxer in the ring and you're just boxing someone who is already lying on the floor.
Yeah, well, yeah, if this was, you know, like the Manchester United of old, like under like
Sir Alex Ferguson, it probably wouldn't have felt like such a win.
But you know, I think as football fans, you need to like, it's all about moments really.
And when your team's not having a lot of them, you need to take the ones that you can get.
So and not only that, it was the the manner of it.
If for example, we had scored in the 60th minute and like 70th, right, it wouldn't,
it wouldn't have been so dramatic, but like two goals in the last two minutes, like unbelievable.
I'm not sure if you've heard, but obviously I was watching it in England and Gary Neville
had one of his moments of like, it was just obviously probably if I was a Manchester City
fan, I wouldn't enjoy that.
I mean, he wasn't like cheering.
It was just one of those moments.
He had one with Torres.
I remember when he scored for Chelsea in that semi-final against Barcelona, where he was
just almost like they described it as like having an orgasm.
It was absolutely brilliant.
Yeah.
It was one of those moments where he kind of doesn't control himself and does something
that is a bit over the top.
It wasn't like a cheer because obviously he's a Manchester United fan, but it wasn't like,
yes, it was more of just like, because as sort of Ahmed got the ball and sort of knocked
it, it didn't look like it was going in.
So he was just kind of like, and it was, it was one of those moments of like, could this
happen?
That is brilliant.
It sounds more like something I would say or a sound I would make if I were to ride
on a roller coaster.
Yeah.
Oh, it very much was like that because he's knocked the ball over and then it's coming
like anything.
Is the defender going to get there?
And it just kind of trickles in.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely brilliant.
There's nothing like a last minute winner and especially when it's an important match.
If it's a derby match, you know, like we're not challenging for the league, I don't think
it's going to be particularly important for our league season, but a derby match is always
an important match away from Manchester City.
Exactly.
At the Etihad, right?
So Manchester City were one nil up.
They scored through Guardiola.
I think it was a set.
Was it a set piece situation or something like that?
Again, because Manchester United are terrible at defending set pieces.
There was a cross, I think from De Bruyne, it got deflected.
And then Guardiola was where he was supposed to be.
So Manchester City one nil up.
And then actually, they were not the dominant forces they normally are.
They are always so good at killing the game off, like seeing the game off, right?
But it didn't happen.
Even Guardiola in the post-match conference, he said they asked him a question about whether
they had the match under the control.
He said, no, that's not the way we look when we have games under control.
Yeah.
Although, at the same time, I think it was kind of two poor teams, to be honest.
I don't think Manchester United were particularly dominant, but it all came from that dodgy
back pass.
I can't remember who it was by, Manchester City right back, and then Ahmed cut it out.
So it came from that really.
And this is the thing about football.
I mean, I still play on a Tuesday and we might be four goals up, then you concede one, and
then you just feel that tide and you just can't stop it.
And so when you score in the 88th minute and there's still a few minutes left, the opposition,
they just get a spring in their step and sometimes there's almost nothing you can do.
I know exactly what you mean because yesterday I played a pickleball match, not a professional
game or anything.
It's just a social activity where we play pickleball.
I don't even know if the listeners of this podcast know what a pickleball is.
I don't actually know what pickleball is.
I'm not surprised because it's kind of a new sport.
It's like an alternative to tennis.
You play on a small record with plastic paddles.
But not, what's that?
Plastic ball.
What's the other paddle?
Not paddle.
Paddle.
No, no.
It's like paddle, but paddle has mantinas.
It has the glass board and it can bounce off the wall like squash.
But pickleball doesn't.
Pickleball, right.
Pickleball, it reminds you a little bit of, it's like a cross between tennis and table
tennis, but it's still more tennis than table tennis.
And we were eight, two up in that set.
And you play until 11.
And I started sort of like joking around and doing stupid things.
And suddenly it was 10-10.
Almost lost the game.
It's just something, isn't it?
Like when someone's on that back and you can feel it coming and you start to panic, if
you're in the lead, you start to panic and they're getting more and more confident.
And then so when that happens, like a goal, someone like equalizes in the 88th minute,
there's always that moment.
And then it's like, if you can see that out or not, and they weren't able to.
There was a penalty, right?
You equalize through a penalty.
It was a stone wall penalty.
I actually thought we should have had another penalty in the match.
It was like a foul, I thought on Hoyland.
But the one they gave, the one which I thought was, yeah, kind of, I suppose, 50-50, that
you've seen them given kind of thing.
But the one on Ahmed, that was absolutely, again, in commentary, Gary Neville, as soon
as it happened, just went penalty because it's so blatant.
And again, because the back pass and the defender was running back, I think again, panic had
set in.
And so he made like a stupid challenge.
But I thought Ahmed was clever the way he sort of shielded the ball was like, if you're
coming this way, you've got to go through me.
And that's exactly what he did.
I mean, he's been a revelation in recent weeks.
It's just unbelievable.
Yeah.
And the form of Manchester City has been a revelation too.
And you're speaking about psychology and mental sort of mental state, mental strength, strong
will and all that.
It's so important.
And I think two ways this happened in this game.
It's like the short-term mental state in that particular game, like as you said, they started
panicking and whatnot.
And then of course, that sort of bad run of form kind of mental state kicked in as well.
So it's like a double.
Yeah, I agree.
And when you're in that run of form, like again, from my playing career, when I was
like a child, we were playing, I was playing in a team.
If you're on a bad run and like you were near a victory, it's like we need to hold on.
And again, like you said, like panic sets in there as well.
Like we need this so much.
And then, but yeah, when things aren't going for you, things aren't going for you.
When it rains, it pours, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's really what happened because then two minutes later, yeah, you scored the winner.
Oh, what a goal as well.
Quite another sort of unbelievable moment.
So who was the goal scorer?
So yeah, Ahmed Jalot.
And the only disappointing thing was I had Martinez in my dream team, but I had him on
the bench and he got the assist.
But the ball threw, I mean, just the run as well.
This is, I mean, it sounds so stupid, but for example, Rashford wasn't even in the squad.
Same as Garnacho yesterday.
Right.
Do you know why?
Did Amorin say why?
Yeah, he didn't obviously specifically say it, but he basically said they haven't been
training well enough.
He said, in our club at the moment, people losing jobs because of like the new ownership,
people losing their jobs.
So he said, we need to set the standards.
So if you're not coming into training, like prepared, ready, he punished them.
Well, he said it wasn't a disciplinary thing.
He just basically said they weren't good enough in training.
That sounds a bit iffy because they are obviously huge superstars on large salaries.
I think it's some sort of punishment or maybe setting an example or something.
I mean, it could, if it, I mean, it could obviously be, but I almost hope it is just
the fact it wasn't training well enough because it's like, look, you need to be, you need
to be at it all the time.
And so in the goal, if you watch it, so Ahmed was kind of like out sort of on the right
and just the ball.
So Martinez had the ball in the left back area and just, he made that run.
And I just thought like, if that was Rashford, he would have just been standing there.
But like, so, but like Jaller just says, I'm going.
And then obviously he picked him out.
And it was great to see, and hopefully like, um, Amarin said, he said basically like next
week, you know, it's a clean slate for like Rashford and Garnacho.
So hopefully it will give them the kick up the backside that they need.
And hopefully it does send a message to everyone of like, look, you need to be giving everything
all the time, because if you're not, it's not even you on the bench, which I, I've thought
it was, I'm sort of really pleased he did that.
Not even on the bench, like you're out the squad.
Like if you want to play, you have to be like at it all the time.
And so, so that was great to see, but obviously because we won the match, I'm sure if we had
lost the match, there'd have been a big story and all decisions work well when you win.
Um, and especially with one of the players, like what got a goal and won the penalty.
Um, but yeah, it, it couldn't really have finished better yesterday, but my concern
is that I think I said to you this in the message.
Before we're playing Tottenham on Thursday in the Carabao cup, and then we've got Bournemouth
at home next week.
And I could easily see us losing both of those match matches.
This has just been Manchester United.
Um, certainly since, yeah, even say that I, Solskjaer, Ten Hag, their reigns, it would
be like, things would be really bad.
Then you would get a great result.
And for example, Solskjaer won, I think four, I saw recently, but he played Guardiola, I
think seven or like nine times, four wins for Solskjaer, four for Guardiola and one
draw or something like that.
So he did get lots of results against Manchester city.
And this is just Manchester United.
You just have these moments where you think things are going so badly.
And then there's a great result.
For example, the FA cup final, like, I mean, it was like end of the season was terrible.
You go in the FA cup final, thinking that's why, that's why, that's why Eric Ten Hag
stayed, I think, because otherwise he would have been, he would have been sacked.
Yeah.
So, and I think Ten Hag had lots of these moments actually of like getting, it was getting
so bad.
You think he's going to get sacked now, but then it would be like, we beat Liverpool in
the FA cup in the last minute.
For example, it just like something, you get like a really good result and then he would
stay in the job a bit longer.
And save his job.
Yeah.
So now, so with this new manager, I thought at first you had a bit of a manager's bounce,
right?
Yeah.
Manager's bounce.
And, and then it all went pear shaped again, because you lost to Arsenal, then Nottingham
Forest.
Exactly.
But then, then I have to also mention a game against a team from my country, Victoria Pelsen,
where I was hoping, this happened by the way last Thursday, and I was hoping it was a Europa
League game.
I was hoping that your team would before the game visit the brewery.
Victoria, like Pelsen is famous for its beer, right?
But it turned out that they visited the brewery after the game.
So.
Oh really?
So you won.
So you won, you won 2-1.
Right.
You also had to turn it around.
But you know, the consolation for me is that you beat Manchester City 2-1, Pelsen you lost
2-1 as well against you.
So we are as good as Manchester City.
So it's not too bad after all.
Absolutely.
But, but yeah, this, as I said, is, is Manchester United.
And it has been for a few years now of like, it's going really badly.
Like I said, we're playing obviously, like a Czech team who Manchester United would be
expected to win comfortably and then like scrape out a result.
And then you think, gosh, things are so bad.
And then bang, beat Manchester City.
And everyone's like, oh wow, like we're back.
No, no, let's, let's calm down.
The same as the new manager, to be honest.
So some of my friends said, like, what do you think of him?
And I said, like, you know, he seems, he seems nice.
He seems good, seems to know what he's talking about.
Some good signs of like, especially this with the Rashford thing, but it was the same as
like 10 Hard, like I must admit, I didn't know much about 10 Hard before or Amerem.
And it's like, I've heard this so many times in the last 10 years of like, yeah, you know,
things are going to change now, Mourinho's here or things are going to change now, Rangal's
here.
But it's just like, you just follow the same cycle.
So obviously you hope, one thing that I do like about Amerem, which I think 10 Hard lacks,
is he's got charisma.
And, and, you know, but Martin, to be honest, like compared to 10 Hard, even you and I have
more, more charisma than him.
So yeah, that is true.
And I'm not saying like you, you 100% need to have charisma, but I don't know, I just,
I think it helps when you're in such a big job like Manchester United.
I think, yeah, I think it helps, but I don't know, we'll have to wait and see.
But who we thought also had charisma is of course Pep Guardiola.
And this is the last question I have to ask you.
I don't know whether you saw that post-match conference, but if you haven't seen it,
the headline of like, he said, I'm not good enough or something.
Oh, and watch, it's such an unbelievable press conference.
And with him, the thing is like, whenever he talks, I don't know whether he's being
genuine and he's just so honest or he is being ironic and sarcastic because he speaks in
that kind of voice that you kind of don't know like what he means actually.
And he did sort of self-fledulently point out several times, I think, that he wasn't
good enough, that he isn't good enough right now.
And it seemed like such a bombshell.
It was hard to take in from someone like that because you have this legend sitting in front
of you and you're watching him on screen broken.
And you don't know whether this is some sort of alternative universe or what the hell is
going on there, like science fiction or something.
Because really it's the first time I think in his managerial career that things haven't
been going well for him really.
So he obviously started at Barcelona, they won the treble in the first season he was
there.
And then the season he left, they finished second.
And that was obviously like a disaster.
Then he left, they went to Bayern Munich, won everything.
Even at Manchester City, the year, so his first year they didn't win the league.
And then I think 2020 when Liverpool won it, they're the only seasons.
But well, except his first season, which people could understand, but in that season where
Liverpool won the league, Manchester City didn't reach the levels that they had, but
they weren't falling off a cliff thing.
They just had, they weren't great that season.
So this is the first time it's gone so badly for him.
And yeah, it's a test of how good of a manager is he?
Can he get out of this now?
Because most managers go through this at some point in their career.
And most managers get sacked.
He's not, he's not second.
So it's never going to happen.
And the irony is that everyone was hoping that the only way Manchester City don't win
the title is if they, you know, if they get punished by the FA for those 130 breaches
of financial fair play rules or something.
But instead we are getting this.
Like I don't know, I don't know what to think about it.
The surprise is as well, everyone expected Arsenal to be there.
It looks like Liverpool and Chelsea are the teams.
Yeah, Arsenal had a chance to like reduce the gap at the weekend and didn't again.
They seem to be having lots of problems scoring goals at the moment.
So yeah, I almost feel sorry for Arsenal in some way, because you know, if this has happened
in any of the previous two seasons, then I think Arsenal would have comfortably won the
league because there weren't really any other challenges.
You know, at least we know there is a second meaning to that famous London underground
phrase, mind the gap, mind the gap.
We know there's a second meaning to that, you know, and that's, that's the one, unfortunately.
Anyway, Martin has been fantastic, always fantastic to talk to you, to use, to steal
a phrase from your podcast, which is called the Rock and Roll English for anyone who wants
to check it out.
A great podcast, by the way.
Thank you very much for talking to me about your team Manchester United.
No problem.
Anytime.
Always happy to talk about football.
It's never a bad time for me to talk about football.
Absolutely.
Take care, man.
You too.
Take care.
Bye bye.
Welcome back to the language corner.
As always in this part of the show, I'm going to explain some language, the English language,
and that's because I'm an English teacher.
That's right.
That is my job.
I know it may not be obvious at first when you start listening to this podcast, but actually
I'm an English teacher and I set out to do this podcast with the idea of connecting my
favorite interest, which is football, and of course also make use of my experience as
an English teacher.
So hopefully you guys like this podcast.
If you do, why don't you make a review, leave a review on iTunes or I don't know, leave
a comment down below the video if you're watching this on YouTube.
Anyway, I would like to explain just two idioms today, just to keep it short and sweet.
And this is from a short sentence that Martin said.
He said, I just can't believe you have seen over the years, we have seen that dominant
teams have a sticky patch and they slowly go down, but they've like literally fallen
off a cliff.
So Martin was talking about Manchester City and their form and he used two idioms.
So to have a sticky patch.
And then he said they have fallen off a cliff.
So let's explain this.
So if you have a sticky patch, it means that you are experiencing a lot of problems in
a period of your life.
Yes.
So you can go through a bad, difficult, rough or sticky patch.
All these words, bad, difficult, rough, sticky, collocate with the word patch and they are
all used as an idiom, as part of this idiom.
So you could be going through a sticky patch in your relationship.
Maybe things are not going well at work.
So you could be going through a rough patch there.
So it's a nice little idiom to learn.
Then Martin said that they have literally fallen off a cliff.
So again, he was talking about Manchester City.
Okay.
So if you fall off a cliff, you know what a cliff is, right?
It's that high area of rock with a very steep side.
Often it's on a coast, right?
So wherever you have an ocean and there's a high area of rock and people often like
to look down, but it's very dangerous, right?
And of course, if you fall off a cliff, you usually die if it's very deep, right?
So you can die.
So nobody wants to do that, right?
Nobody wants to fall off a cliff unless I guess somebody decides to take their own life.
But in this case, it's also used as an idiomatic expression, which means to suddenly and quickly
become less successful, right?
So if you fall off a cliff, you are like you're doing all right, all right, or you are successful
and suddenly you become less successful.
It almost comes out of nowhere, out of the blue.
And so that kind of was like that because I even remember Manchester City thrashing
Sparta Prague 6-0 or something like that.
And then out of nowhere, they had 11 games in which they only won one game and they have
seven defeats there.
It's unbelievable.
It's unprecedented.
But I think this episode of the Footgrish podcast was believable.
Hopefully it's the standards that we keep here on the Footgrish podcast.
I hope you guys enjoyed this one.
It's always a pleasure to have Martin on, of course.
And thank you very much for listening.
If you do like these podcasts, I wonder why don't you subscribe on iTunes or is it called
Apple Podcasts these days, sorry, or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe
to the TeachersDenek YouTube channel because most of these podcasts are also available
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Actually it's called just TeachersDenek.
Okay.
Thank you very much, guys, and I'll speak to you soon.
Take care.
Bye.