Learn English Through Football

On today’s football language listening, we look at the phrase ‘up and running‘ and explain some of the different ways that it can be used in football. For this audio report there is a transcript which is great for learners and teachers of English. If you have questions or comments, email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Language: Up and running
Introduction
DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Learning English Through Football team – we hope you are all well. And after a short break it’s good to be back up and running with the new season here at languagecaster and in this football language podcast, I am going to explain this phrase ‘up and running‘. We will look at some of the different ways that the phrase can be used in football and of course we will have some examples as well. You can access the transcript to this listening practice by coming along to our site here at languagecaster.com – it’s a great way to help learners improve their listening and reading skills and of course to improve their football vocabulary.
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Up and running
Now, if something is up and running it means that it is working well but its meaning also has associations with something starting up. So, for example, if a company is up and running it means that this company has started operating and that it is working well, while it can also mean that something has returned – just like the latest languagecaster season! Currently many of the European football leagues have started their 2020-2021 seasons so we can say that they are ‘up and running‘. Ligue 1 in France, for example, has been up and running for about three weeks, while the new Premier League is up and running after last weekend’s set of matches or fixtures.
Another way of using this phrase in football is when a team starts their season (or campaign) well – probably by winning one of their first games. So, after Arsenal’s away win at Fulham in the weekend’s opening match of the 2020-21 Premier League season we can say that their season is now up and running – they have started positively with a win.
We can also use this phrase to describe when a player does well at the start of a new season or when they play with a new club – maybe making their debut. So, in the Liverpool versus Leeds match this weekend, Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick to give his side Liverpool the three points and so we can say that the Egyptian is up and running for the season – he’s already started to score goals.
So, here’s an example from the Guardian newspaper from this week; it’s from one of their headlines and it says:
Example: Crystal Palace up and running after Wilfried Zaha sinks Southampton (Guardian, September 12 2020).
So this means that Crystal Palace have started to win, have started well this season.
Example: Arsenal are up and running after their 3-0 win away at Fulham in the Premier League. 
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OK, thanks for listening – we hope that you are enjoying football now that it is up and running again in many leagues – Serie A and the Bundesliga will be up and running nex...