Football Phrase of the Week: On Toast

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Football Phrase of the Week: On Toast

In this football phrase of the week we take a look at the phrase, ‘on toast‘ and explain how it is used in football. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.

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DB: Hi there everyone. My name’s Damon and this is our football phrase of the week. How was your weekend everyone? What football did you watch? I watched Liverpool beat Manchester City 2 -0 at Anfield and our football phrase of the week this week is, on toast.

Have Someone on Toast

DB:  Now, this phrase is used with the verb have, to have someone on toast, and it is used when a player is dominating his opponent. In football, a winger or a wide player is often marked or defended against by a full back. It’s like a mini battle – attacker vs defender. If the winger is easily beating the full back, for example, taking the ball past the defender each time, then we can say the winger has the full back on toast.

Although Liverpool comfortably beat Manchester City,  City’s left winger, Jeremy Doku, won his individual battle with Liverpool’s right back, Trent Alexander-Arnold. He had him on toast. Nearly everytime Doku got the ball, he beat Alexander-Arnold. If his crossing or last pass were better, perhaps Manchester City may have scored.

In his/her pocket

The opposite situation, when a defender dominates the attacker, or the full back is easily stopping the winger, we can say the attacker is in the defender’s pocket. The defender is playing really well and the winger cannot get past him or her.

Last week, Liverpool’s other right back, Conor Bradley, faced Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé in the Champion’s league. The young defender stopped Mbappé from creating any chances, taking the ball past him, or crossing: he had Mbappé in his pocket.

Example: ‘Liverpool crush sorry Real Madrid as Conor Bradley puts Mbappe in his pocket and Mac Allister shines’ (headline, football 365, 27 November 2024)

I wonder how would you say these in another language? Let us know by dropping us a line here at admin@languagecaster.com.

We’ll be back with some more football language later on in the week and until then ta-ra!

Glossary

Football Language Glossary