You're listening to the FootGlish podcast. Love
football, learn English. The new Premier League
season is here. Can Liverpool keep their crown?
Or is a new champion waiting in the wings? Which
promoted side has what it takes to stay up? Are
West Ham set for a step forward or a stumble?
And what's the real meaning behind fall through?
Hello and welcome to this pre -season special
of the Footgrish podcast. I'm Zdenek Lukas and
here on the Footgrish podcast we mix football
and English like Pep Guardiola mixes formations.
Sometimes genius, sometimes complete nonsense,
but always worth watching or listening to because
this is... YouTube video, but also an audio podcast.
And as always, we've got a guest. And today is
none other than Ben from the To The Point English
YouTube channel. Ben, welcome back to the podcast.
Hi, Zdenek. Thank you for having me on again.
It's a pleasure to be here, as always. Lovely
to have you back. And the first question is obvious.
The Premier League season is here. It's starting
this weekend. Are you buzzing for it? Yes, I'm
trying to get up, to be honest. I think I'm getting
old and I don't want to be a grumpy old man,
but I found last season was probably the most
boring season for a long time, especially as
a West Ham fan. I mean, it was just a nothing
season. We weren't in Europe. We did nothing.
The only special aspect of last season for West
Ham was that we finished above Man United and
Tottenham, which is... which is surprising because
I think we finished 15th and they were 16th and
17th. So, yeah, I mean, there are interesting
things that can happen next season. So I'm trying
to get worked up for it. But hopefully West Ham
can at least just survive in the Premier League
for another season. I think that's the objective
at the moment. I feel you. I have to say I had
a bit of a crisis myself. I think I was just
overwhelmed with football last season. And then...
I mean, in the spring part of the season, I realized
that I had been watching less and less of football.
Even episodes of this podcast were less frequent.
So I think maybe we are just sort of bombarded
by so much football that it's just untenable
for us. We can't take it anymore. I don't know.
I think it's very different. I mean, I am old
enough to remember like the 90s. That was the
peak when the Premier League started, for example.
I just remember a lot of legends and characters
in the game, like Cantona, Gascoigne, even Ginola
or Henry. A lot of... Nowadays, it doesn't say...
I mean, you have fantastic players, amazing players,
like Salah and Haaland and De Bruyne. Loads of
great quality players, but you don't... I think
it's also the style of football is more technical
nowadays. It's probably a higher level of...
Just better football in general. But for me,
it's not as exciting. I think it's partly because
I'm a grumpy old man too. Me too, probably. But
despite all that, I think when there is a new
season, it feels kind of like a fresh start.
You're turning over a new leaf. It's all sort
of starting again. I think beginnings are always
nice. Whether it's a relationship or starting
a new podcast or listening to a new podcast.
Hopefully, if you guys are new listeners, don't
forget to subscribe. Don't forget, right? And
it's always nice. It's like that honeymoon period,
right? Yeah, and I like the fact that Crystal
Palace won the Community Shield. I think that's
a good start because it's not just going to be
the same. Usually it's Man City or Liverpool.
Exactly. any of the other big big teams and so
that that makes it a little bit more interesting
and hopefully it won't be like last season i
mean i guess last season was interesting because
we had man united and tottenham almost getting
relegated but i don't think they were any they
were never really in danger of getting relegated
they they just focused their attention on the
europa league but um but yeah it's always The
start of the season is always interesting when
you've got all the new players coming in and
you're seeing how they're going to fit in and
which players are going to stand out. Because
you expect Haaland and Salah and those to start
scoring goals, but it doesn't always happen that
way. And as a football fan, basically everybody's
at the starting line. Like when you are about
to run a marathon, run in a marathon, you all
have kind of the same chance, right, to win it.
You don't, really. But you know what I mean.
Everybody has zero points. Yeah, whatever happened
last season, you kind of forget about that. I'm
sure, again, Tottenham and Man United fans will
be thinking they can qualify for Europe at the
Champions League, probably, even though they
were almost relegated last year. So, yeah, I
mean, I know what you mean. Every team has different
objectives. I still think that although West
Ham were in Europe a couple of seasons ago, Our
objective every year is just to not get relegated.
And I think the three teams that got promoted,
they're always the favourites to get relegated
and they just have to do their best to fight.
Speaking of which, why don't we do our predictions
here? Okay, yeah, sure. Here and now. And perhaps
we could start with the winner of the Premier
League. Who do you think will clinch the title
this... this time. So last season it was Liverpool,
so they are the current holders, as we say. So
do you think they will reclaim the title? I think
that they're definitely favourites, but I'm going
to be a little bit controversial and I think
Arsenal's time might be coming. I think, I know
it won't make you happy, but... Yeah, yeah. You
can come on this podcast anytime. Well, I just
get a feeling that Liverpool, I don't know, because
they were great last year, but I think Arsenal,
it might just all come together this year and
Arteta might just make everything click. I think
they've made some new signings, some interesting
new signings. I can't tell you the names, but...
Sorry, Jokeresh, the striker, I think is the
biggest name, probably, from the Portuguese league.
And, yeah, there are some other names, like Madueke
and Zubemendi. I'm probably forgetting about
some more as well, but those would be, I guess,
the biggest names. And they've still got Rice
and Saka and the quality and the really good
defensive players. True. Maybe it will all click
for Arsenal. I mean, you can't ignore Liverpool.
I think they're probably the best team in Europe,
perhaps. I don't know. That's maybe going a little
bit too far. On paper, Liverpool are probably
the best team in the Premier League, but I've
got a feeling about Arsenal this season. Liverpool,
they were really dominant last year. And yeah,
I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they won it
again, especially since they got such amazing
signings. such as Florian Wirtz. I mean, he's
a German wonder kid. And I was watching him because
there's a Czech player at Bayer Leverkusen, Patrik
Schick. So I was watching some Leverkusen games
and this guy, this Florian Wirtz, oh my God,
he's something else. He is the real deal for
Liverpool. But you know what? I think there is
this, of course, sad, really, really tragic moment
for Liverpool when they lost Diego Jota because
he... He had a car accident and he passed away.
So I think that's something that they have to
get over as well. And yeah, who knows? Who knows
what will happen this year? You don't know how
those kind of things can affect a team. Obviously,
it's tragic, him and his brother passing away
in the car accident. And that's the most important
thing. But Liverpool have to now, partly for
him, try to regather. It can have a... you know
like a bonding effect on the team and you know
it's like literally that let's do it for Jota
and it gives them that extra motivation or it
may be a distraction who knows but we'll see
as the season progresses but yeah exactly it
could go either way but also we have Manchester
City I would say they have something to prove
as well right Pep Guardiola I think, isn't this
his last season or something? Hasn't he announced
a while back that this would be his last season?
I read something about that. I don't know if
it's official yet, but I think he was talking
about it. Am I wrong about this? I think he's
not the kind of person that would... I think
it depends on how they... If they win the Premier
League, he'll probably... He wants to live on
a high, doesn't he? Yeah, he's so competitive,
I think. He is extremely competitive and he's
used to winning. And obviously, I mean, a blip
can happen, right, to anyone. So I think one
season where things didn't go well for them,
that's fine. But now I'm sure he wants to be
back. I'm sure he will do anything he can to
make that happen. And also we should mention
probably Chelsea because they won the Club World
Cup. No matter what you think about that competition,
it still has some sort of significance, I think.
To say the least, it has probably improved their
confidence, hasn't it? Yeah, if nothing else,
it's improved their confidence. Chelsea are such
a strange team with so many players out on loan.
It's difficult to know what they're going to
do. But yeah, you can't ignore them. You can't
ignore Man City. You can't even ignore Man United
and Tottenham. I don't think they're going to
be pushing for the title. But I think, you know,
there's so many big clubs in England. I'm not
sure. But if you look at Tottenham, they made
a lot of changes. Like, look at their signings.
They've got some really big names now. And also,
they have a new manager. So Thomas Frank, I think,
is Premier League proven. And he did an amazing
job at Brentford. So if anyone can do it, it
could be him. And then with these new signings,
new energy, don't you think that they might be
strong this time? Well, you say if anyone can
do it, it might be him. But I seem to remember
people saying that about Mourinho and Conte and
Pochettino. Poste Coglu. Yeah. They're all good
managers, fantastic managers, but it almost seems
like an impossible job. I mean, what did they
win last year? They won the Europa League. They
won the Europa League. So if they now won a trophy,
we have always been making fun of them for not
winning anything. But if they now manage to win
a trophy, anything could happen. But they win
a trophy finally and they sack their manager
immediately. Typical. Yeah, it was a strange
season, wasn't it? They finally won a trophy,
but they almost got relegated at the same time.
So top four, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal.
And then do you think Chelsea or who do you think
will be there? It's difficult. I'd like to be
interesting and say something. I mean, Newcastle
could be up there, but Notts Forest did really
well last year, but I can't see them maintaining
it. So, yeah, you can't. look past those four
teams. I think, for me, it's Arsenal maybe to
win it, Liverpool, City, second and third. Yeah,
unfortunately, it's probably Chelsea. But, I
mean, maybe Man United. I mean, Amorim, is that
his name? Yeah, Ruben Amorim. He's, maybe he's...
I don't know. He's working something for us.
Yeah, maybe he's worked it out. He's finally
cracked the code. They bought Mbomo, right? Bram
Mbomo. Yeah, Mbomo. And someone else, yeah. Yeah.
I don't have it here in front of me, but yeah,
you always have some changes in teams and it
could, you know, do something with the... I think
it's a bit like Tottenham. At the moment, there's
an intrinsic problem with the culture of Man
United. It doesn't matter who the manager is.
To a certain extent, it doesn't matter who the
players are. There's something... That is true.
There's something rotten there. Yeah. As maybe
Gary Neville would say. So, yeah, it's true.
It's true. How about the newly promoted teams?
You mentioned that they might be favourites to
get relegated. So we've got Burnley. Leeds United
with a lot of Premier League experience. Of course,
these teams are yo -yo clubs, you could say,
Burnley and what was the other one? Leeds, you
said? Leeds, sorry. Leeds United, of course.
And then we have got one team that is coming
back after a longer break, and that's Sunderland.
And obviously, everybody knows the documentary
Sunderland Till I Die. So I think this is a big
story as well. And they bought Granit Xhaka,
I think, from Leverkusen, an ex -Arsenal player.
So yeah, you never know. It might not be all
of them going down this time. Well, I hope not,
because if that's just what always happens, then
it becomes very predictable and a bit boring.
And for those teams, it's a bit demoralising.
And, you know, for the fans, they get, you know,
one year in the Premier League and then they've
got to go back down. I mean, I don't know. It's
just not good for football, I think, if the same
teams that get promoted get relegated again.
There's something wrong with the structure, the
infrastructure. So, yeah, hopefully they won't.
I mean, as long as West Ham don't go down, I
would be happy with three different teams, not
the same teams. Makes sense. Makes sense. Golden
boot? Callum Wilson. No. I think you're being
sarcastic here because I think West Ham fans,
they are not happy about this signing. Not really.
It's just a nothing signing, really. It's a typical
West Ham nothing signing. Golden Boot, probably
maybe Isak or Haaland. Salah, obviously Salah
will be up there, but he's going to have... He
had a great season last year, I think, but he's
going to start dropping. It could be Haaland
again, right? Haaland. Yeah, Haaland has to come
back. He has to prove himself again, I think.
So it might be him. Yeah. But Isak, it looks
like Isak's staying at Newcastle in the end.
So maybe he's gone. I think so, yeah. Well, I
don't know, but anything can happen in these
last few weeks. But yeah, Haaland, I think. You
can't look past Haaland. All right. So let me
ask you a few questions about West Ham now. So
there's a connection. You know, I'm from the
Czech Republic. So there's a connection to the
Czech League again, because you bought a player
called El Hadji Malik Diouf, who played for Slavia
Prague. And he was like the best player of the
league, to be honest. So what do you make of
him? Did you watch any preseason friendlies?
I've seen a little bit, not much, but he looks
very good, yeah. I'm quite excited about him.
We have some kind of connection with Slavia Prague,
with Sucek. Oh my God, he's just left and I can't
remember his name. Sofal, Sofal. Sofal, yeah.
He also left the club. Exactly, he left the club,
yeah. He's a legend of West Ham. I think he was
four or five years at West Ham. He's very popular.
status of a legend, but I think he stayed in
some fans' hearts and that's good enough. Yeah,
so El Hadj, I can't pronounce his whole name
yet. El Hadj Malik Diouf, so he's a winger, he's
a left winger, a left -footed left winger, which
is always a hot property and he's fast, he has
amazing crossing ability and good decision -making.
But also we have to say he's only 20 years old.
So there will still be, I think he will need
some bedding, like there will have to be a bedding
period, right? Yeah. But I mean, I think in one
pre -season friendly, we won, I don't know if
it was 2 -0 or 2 -1, and he provided both the
crosses and the amazing crosses for the goals.
And with Fulkrug, a big German striker, he didn't
do much last season, but if they're putting crosses
onto his head like that, then... he could get
a few goals. It could be interesting. So yeah,
I'm quite happy about that signing and optimistic.
I think also we need to mention Paqueta, Lucas
Paqueta, the creative midfielder, who was cleared
of his spot -fixing charges, max -fixing or spot
-fixing charges. So I think that's definitely
good news for you as well. Yeah, of course. And
hopefully he can focus on his... on football
now because I think he possibly has been a bit
distracted over the last couple of seasons. And
that, I mean, hopefully West Ham will be compensated
for that because it's disgusting if he's been
found completely innocent of all match -fixing
charges. Then it's clear that, first of all,
he was linked to Man City a couple of seasons
ago. We were going to sell him for quite a lot
of money. That fell through because of these
charges. And I think he hasn't been the player
he could have been. due to these charges. So,
yeah, I mean, he's an amazing player. He's a
regular in the Brazilian national team. So, I
think every big team, I know West Ham are maybe
not a big team, but you need a player like Paqueta,
sort of a playmaker that can make things happen
in the centre of midfield. So, I'm glad we, yeah,
if it hadn't been, the reality is if it hadn't
been for these match -fixing charges. He wouldn't
be a West Ham player now. We would have sold
him at least a season ago. So it kind of worked
out for you. But what didn't work? Well, it's
a question. Did it work out for you? Because
you sold Mohamed Kudu. So is that a good thing?
Because you've made a lot of money. It's not
you, the fan, who made the money. It's the club.
It depends what they do with that. Do they buy
someone else? Was it around 50 million pounds?
I think it was more than that. That's a lot.
I thought it was 60 or 70 or something in that
region. And that's a lot of money. 55 million
pounds. So of all teams, he went to Tottenham.
And that's also surprising. It hurts a little
bit more, yeah. I loved Kudus in his first couple
of seasons. I was really excited about him and
I think he's a fantastic player. He's the typical
player that will be really good for a... any
other team, Tottenham in this case. He didn't
quite do it for West Ham last season. I think
we always just expected a little bit more from
him and he didn't quite make it. It seemed to
me like he didn't try hard enough at some point.
He sort of gave up. He's a very skilful player
and he's got a great shot on him. I think he'll
be great for Tottenham, unfortunately. It's one
of those things I don't think he would have...
developed much more at West Ham so I'm sad to
see him go but I'm really sad the fact that we
can't develop players like that players that
seem to I don't know if they're not interested
in doing it for West Ham I don't know I don't
know but like to me he didn't seem like a team
player so it looked like all the time he played
on himself like he only dribbled didn't pass
the ball at all. And I think some of his teammates
might have been a bit frustrated about that.
So from that point of view, maybe this is a healthier
situation for you. You will see. Only time will
show if this was the right move for Wazam or
not. Yeah, and we got quite decent money for
it. So I think we made a bit of a profit. And
yeah, it depends how they spend the money. But
I think... This is Graham Potter's first full
season in charge. A lot of players have left.
Their contracts weren't renewed. Fabianski was
quite sad. Cresswell had been in West Ham for
over 10 years, I think. Fabianski, a long time.
Vlad. Vlad. So fell. And the striker, what's
his name? Antonio. Antonio as well. Yeah. What
about that striker? What's his name? Oh my God.
From Aston Villa. Can't remember his name now.
From Aston Villa? That striker that didn't play
much. He was always on bench. Oh, Danny Ings.
Danny Ings, yeah. He did play for Aston Villa,
right? I think so. Yeah, he played for Southampton,
Villa. Yeah, I think Villa for a bit. Well, it
was at Liverpool. I can't remember who we signed
him from. But yeah, he's... I think we had to
let those players go. I mean, it was like, thank
you very much for your service, but now is the
time to go. And I think that was kind of a clean
out a little bit. Getting rid of the dead wood,
as they say. How about Tomáš Soček? Because to
me, it looks like the captain of the Czech national
team doesn't have the same kind of position as
he used to have in the previous seasons, because
it turns out that he doesn't start. games in
pre -season? So what's going on there? Is he
getting phased out of the team, of the first
team? Maybe it's just Potter's trying different
formations. I don't know what the idea is. I
mean, we have a lot of midfield players and it's
difficult. Suchek, he's been great for West Ham
and hopefully he will continue to be great for
West Ham because he scores goals and he's integral
to the team. So I don't know. I don't know what
Potter's thinking there because he's a survivor.
He's always staying positive. I think even if
he really starts on bench, he will be positive.
He won't grumble. That's him. He's a true professional.
I think what might happen is after a few bad
games, he will be back in the starting 11 because
that's the kind of guy he is. He never gives
up. He's always... there and thereabouts. And
it's just Tomáš Soček for you. And when you need
goals, you can always rely on him. So I don't
know what to think about this. Even some Czech
fans are divided on him, which is a surprise.
It's also kind of like 50 -50 in the Czech football
environment. Yeah. No, he's proven himself. I
think we spoke about this before. He doesn't
look like a typical football player in the way
he moves. So I think that is quite awkward, but
he gets the job done and you can't argue with
what he's done over the last few years. So I
don't know. Sometimes it can be extremely frustrating.
He's got the skills. It's almost the opposite
to Sucek. He's very skillful, very natural. football
player but sometimes he doesn't perform he's
a bit incremental one game he could be the man
of the match and the next game he disappears
but sulchek is always always there always stable
yeah so i don't know what will happen with sulchek
in the future but hopefully he'll continue to
i mean it's going to take a lot there are a lot
of changes at west ham so it's going to take
some We probably won't start the season that
well. We probably won't finish it very well either,
but who knows? The jury is still out with Potter
because he didn't have a good season last year.
I think he's got the worst statistics of any
West Ham manager in the last... I can't remember
what it was, but we've lost more games or he's
got the worst win -to -lose ratio of any West
Ham manager. I think something like that. But
I think we have to be patient. We have to give
him a full season and see if he can make it happen.
I'm not convinced, but I'm patient, I think.
I think West Ham fans have a bad reputation because
of the Moyes situation. He did well for us, but
in the end we wanted him out because he wasn't
taking us to the next level. But generally West
Ham fans... quite patient with their managers.
We've had very long -term managers. So I think
most West Ham fans would want Potter to be given
a full season to show what he can do. Unless
we're sort of in the relegation zone in March,
then we'd have to think about making a change.
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, good luck to West
Ham. And I think we also have to ask you about
the Fantasy Premier League. Do you play it? I
do, yeah, yeah. chosen my team already although
i may make some tweaks over the next few days
before it starts but um good old fbl yeah so
here's the link if any of you want to join the
food glitch podcast mini league it's 5 v t 9
6 0 5 small v small t 9 6 small o or you can
join through this link it's also in the description
of this episode Okay, Ben, any last words before
the start of the season? No. Well, good luck
to everyone's team. Hopefully West Ham don't
get relegated and if we can get anywhere near
Europe, then I'll be happy. But yeah, I just
hope it's more entertaining than last year. I
found it quite boring last year, but hopefully
there'll be more attacking football and a bit
more interesting. But maybe it's because I'm
a West Ham fan and I found it so boring. Really
boring season for us. Let's have a good season,
whether you are a fan of one of the Premier League
clubs or neutral. It's still an exciting league
to watch, of course. So let's have some fun.
Exactly. Thank you very much, Ben, for being
a guest on the FootGish podcast. And if any of
you guys need to study for the first certificate
or CAE or the CPE exams, then Ben is your guy.
check out his YouTube channel To The Point English
with Ben. Thank you, Zdenek. Lovely to have you
back and take care, Ben. Cheers. You too. Bye
-bye. Bye. Welcome back to the Language Corner.
If this is your first time listening, then let
me tell you what this is. Basically, this is
a segment of this... the second part of the show
where I showcase my teaching skills. That's right,
I'm an English teacher, so I have to teach you
something. I still want this podcast to be more
about football than about explaining grammar,
vocabulary and whatnot. But also, you have to
learn something from this, right? Today I'm going
to keep it short and sweet and that's because
I think the interview was quite long. So let's
have a look at one little phrasal verb. This
is what Ben said when we were talking about Lucas
Paqueta. He said we were going to sell him to
Man City for a lot of money. But it fell through
due to the charges. So we are looking here at
the phrasal verb to fall through. So the situation
was that Lucas Paqueta was worth a lot of money
and Manchester City wanted to buy Lucas Paqueta
from West Ham United. And I think West Ham United
were prepared to let Lucas Paqueta go. However,
it didn't happen. It didn't materialize. And
the reason for it was the charges, because suddenly
out of nowhere, there was this spot fixing or
match fixing scandal that Lucas Paqueta was allegedly
involved in. And therefore, his price went down,
rapidly went down, and suddenly Man City were
not interested in him anymore. The plan fell
through. What they were negotiating, the negotiations
fell through. If something falls through, usually
it's a plan or negotiations or something like
that, then it means it does not happen. It does
not materialize. It fails, right? Usually we
really use this phrasal verb with the word plan.
Okay, so that's the phrasal verb for today. That's
the phrasal verb of the day, if you want. All
that remains to say is thank you very much for
listening and watching, everyone. Don't forget
to smash that like button. It is something that
you need to do right now because obviously it
will make me super happy. Anyway, I'm rambling.
It's high time this podcast episode came to a
close. Let me wrap it up. Thank you very much
for watching and listening. And until next time,
bye -bye.