Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 95

95: Starting Lineup, Burnley Kindergarten

[Goal! Another goal!]

[88th minute of the second half! Burnley’s central striker Wout Weghorst receives a cross from right winger Jo Gelhardt and easily heads it into the net! The score is now 4-1. Newcastle is completely sinking!]

The commentator and analyst’s exclamations echoed.

In the first half, Karim Adeyemi, starting as Burnley’s right winger, confidently dribbled into Newcastle’s penalty box and converted a beautiful pass from Nico Gonzalez in midfield into an easy opening goal.

Then, around the 60th minute of the second half, all three forwards were substituted, and this time, substitute right winger Jo Gelhardt scored one goal and provided one assist, dismantling Newcastle.

In particular, Newcastle’s defenders, who had been tormented by Benjamin Šeško’s constant movement and speed throughout the first half, failed to adapt to Wout Weghorst, who came on as a substitute in the second half and battered the defense like a blunt hammer.

The commentator, who was broadcasting the game, clicked his tongue.

[Newcastle’s manager Eddie Howe said in yesterday’s press conference that he wanted to avenge last season’s defeat against Burnley and manager Kim. Unfortunately, as Newcastle themselves and the strong teams of the Premier League experienced throughout last season, they are dealt a blow by Burnley, led by the young and renowned manager.]

The analyst nodded beside him.

[Newcastle has made more noticeable reinforcements to their squad, but Burnley’s new recruits are showing better performance. Sebastian Szymański, who started today, also recorded one goal and one assist, just like Jo Gelhardt. He is perfectly filling the void left by Hannibal Mejbri and Jacob Ramsey, who were responsible for Burnley’s midfield last season.]

[Burnley’s squad registered for the first team this season has an average age of 23.5 years, making them the youngest of the 20 Premier League teams. It will be interesting to see what they can achieve this season with the youngest team, where most players are eligible to play in the under-23 matches!]

***

Premier League Round 1: Won 4-1 against Newcastle (away).

Premier League Round 2: Won 2-1 against Tottenham at Turf Moor.

Premier League Round 3: Won 3-1 against Wolverhampton (away).

Finally, Premier League managers realized that the young Asian manager, who had won the Manager of the Year award twice last season, was not at all concerned about the sophomore jinx [the difficulty of repeating a successful season].

Burnley’s organization has certainly become less sharp compared to the previous season.

Burnley, which recorded the most clean sheets [games without conceding a goal] in the Premier League last season, conceding one goal in every game proves that their defense isn’t as impenetrable as it once was.

But… If that’s the case, can’t we just increase the attack power enough to offset the dulled organization?

The managers of the teams that faced Burnley seemed to hear the Burnley manager gently pointing this out to them.

In particular, Burnley’s central attack last season was represented by Chris Wood in the first half and Wout Weghorst in the second half.

Solid, physically excellent, and giant figures who could defeat the opponent’s central defenders with brute force played the roles of bait and hammer.

In particular, their ability to win aerial balls was at a level where they could compete with the Premier League’s tall defenders without difficulty.

However, the disadvantage was their slow feet, so when they came down as bait, Burnley’s pattern was for the left and right wingers to penetrate the gap created while the central striker failed to return to the penalty box.

However, Benjamin Šeško, a Slovenian national team player newly recruited in this summer transfer market, has annoyingly exquisite positioning and movement despite being only 19 years old, is 195 centimeters tall [approximately 6 feet 5 inches], and even fast.

He still only weighs 77 kilograms [approximately 170 pounds], so he is not yet at a level where he can gain an overwhelming advantage in aerial ball contests with Premier League central defenders physically.

If he becomes more physically solid and gains more muscle mass as he gets older, he could grow into a giant of 88 kilograms [approximately 194 pounds] with a similar height, like Erling Haaland, who is currently devastating the Premier League in his debut season with Manchester City.

In fact, both players left RB Salzburg around the age of 20 and joined big league clubs.

And Erling Haaland, after a short adaptation period, developed into a player who devastated the Bundesliga [German Football League].

Anyway, it is true that Benjamin Šeško is a promising player with a brighter future than the present, but what is immediately troubling the opposing team managers is that, unlike Wout Weghorst, Benjamin Šeško is equipped with both the movement and speed to leave the penalty box and immediately penetrate again.

In other words, he can drag the central defender down and finish the resulting empty space himself.

Or, like the existing tactics, he can give space to wingers such as Karim Adeyemi, Dwight McNeil, Jo Gelhardt, or Maxwel Cornet.

In addition, since Hyungmin can start Wout Weghorst instead of Benjamin Šeško at any time, or make a substitution during the game, the number of cases that can occur in attack has greatly expanded.

It was clear who was the mastermind behind designing and adding a much more delicate and sophisticated attack tactic to Burnley, which recruited the promising Benjamin Šeško.

Because she occasionally came out to the technical area instead of the manager, fluttering her long blonde hair, and giving instructions for tactical adjustments to the attack.

***

Eddie Howe, Antonio Conte, and Bruno Lage.

While giving headaches to three opposing team managers, Burnley won the first three of the four games scheduled in August and earned 9 points.

However, contrary to the increasingly strengthened external atmosphere of vigilance, the Burnley coaching staff was immersed in worries about the next game.

The next opponent is not easy to deal with in any way.

Hyungmin, who had been reviewing video analysis data on the next opponent, Manchester City, for hours in the first team coaching staff’s private conference room, asked the person who was analyzing the video data with him across the table.

“What do you think?”

The media is still only publishing gossip articles about her, a woman, working as a head coach in a Premier League men’s first team.

However, Karolina Stefan, Burnley’s new head coach, whom all teams that have faced or analyzed Burnley this season consider to be a key figure influencing Burnley’s tactical diversity, rubbed her stiff eyes with the back of her hand and shook her head with a sigh.

“I think it’s better to just pray?”

“What the f***.”

In a corner of his mind, he was expecting a smart friend to suggest some brilliant detailed tactics or strategies.

However, Hyungmin cursed as he realized that she had reached the same conclusion as him.

“Haa… What the hell should I pray for?”

“Um… That Erling Haaland is in bad condition that day? No, just pray that the entire Manchester City squad gets food poisoning.”

“Agh!”

Hyungmin grabbed his head with both hands.

The large screen on the conference room wall showed the games Manchester City had played this season.

Tottenham 2-0.

Wolverhampton also 2-0.

Brighton was completely destroyed 6-0.

In the meantime, they lightly defeated Lazio, the winner of last season’s Europa League [a European club football competition], 3-1 in the UEFA Super Cup [an annual match between the champions of the Champions League and the Europa League], which they played like a seasoning.

A total of 13 goals scored in 4 games and only 1 goal conceded.

In fact, the goal conceded also occurred at the end of the game when various players were substituted to provide opportunities to play in the Super Cup, and it was not a normal game situation.

Even if Burnley’s attack is flying high with a cumulative score of 9-3 in 3 games, the harmony in both attack and defense against Manchester City, which won the Champions League last season and ranked second in the Premier League, and then reinforced its strength with top-class players in attack and midfield, cannot be compared.

Karolina seemed to know that well, and began to point out the situation with her finger.

“First of all, we can’t keep up with Manchester City’s crazy passing game.”

The index finger was raised.

“Right now, our stamina, organization, and therefore pressing and defense are behind them.”

The middle finger was raised.

“The only weakness of Manchester City that we could have said so far was that they create a lot of chances but didn’t have a strong striker who could turn them into goals, but Erling Haaland came and solved that in one shot.”

The ring finger was raised.

“Oh, but the corresponding player on their side is better than our player in every position?”

The little finger was raised.

Karolina looked at Hyungmin with an absurd expression after looking at her hand with four fingers spread out for a moment.

“How the hell did you get 2 wins and 1 loss against Manchester City last season?!”

“Just… The kids defended desperately, pressed hard, and counterattacked diligently.”

Hyungmin, frustrated, answered while looking up at the ceiling, half-sprawled on the chair.

“Um… That was possible in the second half of last season, but you recorded 1 loss when you faced them in the first half, right? Because Burnley’s stamina and pressing were not complete in the first half… Unfortunately, this game is the same. Rather, the organizational aspect is worse than in the early part of last season.”

Karolina coldly assessed.

Basically, the starting-level defense was mostly replaced as Matt Lowton, the immovable right defender, and Ben Mee, who held the center as captain, left, and Charlie Taylor changed positions.

Central defender Abdou Diallo, right defender GuGa, and left defender Jamal Lewis are good players, but teamwork is not something that can be achieved so quickly.

Moreover, in modern football, defense is built up by systematically attempting forward pressure from the attackers, and it is not possible to stop it just by suddenly strengthening the organization of the defense.

Hyungmin, who had been contemplating for a long time, looked at Karolina.

“What about the attack?”

“Are you saying we should overcome this situation with an attack? Well, I want to give an A+ for your mindset.”

Karolina sneered at her boss and friend.

“Hey, do you think attack tactics are something that can be completed by putting them in the oven and taking them out like baking bread? Right now, the wingers and midfielders are already confused because the number of cases has increased with the addition of Benjamin… No, even the midfield has been revamped!”

“It wasn’t my will to sell Brownie…”

Hyungmin muttered, avoiding responsibility.

“Ah, I don’t know. Benjamin was originally trained in various attack systems at Red Bull, and Sebastian is fortunately catching up quickly, but basically our system is completely different from Dynamo Moscow or Poland, so he needs an adaptation period.”

The strategy of launching counterattacks after intense pressing and defense is eliminated because pressing and defense are not possible.

I’m not sure if the flashy attack that led to victory in the last 3 games can break through Manchester City’s defense yet.

Hyungmin decided to bet on a really slim possibility.

“…Do you think manager Pep Guardiola might be careless?”