Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 108

108. Sticking to the Plan

Burnley drew 1-1 against Red Star, conceding a goal in the final moments of the second half.

However, Hyungmin and the coaching staff didn’t see the draw in the Europa League away game as a negative outcome.

More encouraging was the confirmation that the ‘reckless smash’ strategy, proposed by Hyungmin and refined by Karolina, was effective against defensive teams employing a ten-man defense or ‘parking the bus’ [a defensive tactic where a team plays very defensively, packing players near their own goal].

“How many pattern plays have we added now?”

Hyungmin asked, watching the players slowly moving and practicing attack patterns on the training ground.

One step at a time.

Without the ball.

It was shadow training to familiarize themselves with their positions and those of their teammates, moving slowly each time the coach’s whistle blew.

Recently, Burnley has been intensively training in attack pattern plays, gradually increasing the speed, adding the ball, and finally deploying at full speed like in a real game, even bringing in youth team players to act as defenders.

“We used three in the Red Star game. Well, they’re still quite clumsy.”

With limited time, they forcibly cram the patterns into the players’ heads in the classroom, and after one or two training sessions, the next game proceeds immediately.

Naturally, in the Red Star game, they hadn’t perfectly memorized all three patterns, so the attacks often broke down.

“If we add one more each week, we should be able to use about seven or eight patterns before the winter break starts.”

“That’s more than enough.”

Burnley hadn’t been a team that attempted many elaborate attack patterns.

Hyungmin’s style itself involved defining the players’ roles within a broad framework and then encouraging them to freely express their creativity.

With Karolina’s appointment as assistant coach, more delicate and precise movements were added to the attack, but they didn’t completely predefine patterns and execute predetermined movements.

However, these elaborate pattern plays are a great help against teams that come up with customized tactics against Burnley.

“Haa, still, I’m glad everyone is keeping up well.”

“Well, they’re still young… it shouldn’t be too hard to memorize about three.”

Hyungmin replied, thinking of his Korean friend who always complained that his mind was getting stiffer as he got older.

Conversely, Karolina tilted her head.

“Hmm… is it because we started with the easy ones? I want to settle them in faster…”

“It’s okay to take it slow. Not all teams come out defensively against us.”

“That’s true. But you know that most teams that don’t play defensively against us are strong teams full of confidence in their own style, right?”

“…”

Karolina sighed again at the sight of the manager avoiding her gaze without answering her question.

“Next season, it might be good to bring in a set-piece specialist as a coach. If we can create more patterns in corner kick or free-kick situations, it would be helpful.”

Not many clubs are trying it yet, but top-tier clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, or clubs sensitive to the latest trends like Brentford, are increasingly hiring set-piece specialist coaches as full-time staff.

Hyungmin nodded at Karolina’s suggestion.

“I’ll discuss the budget with Jonathan. I think it would be good to have someone like that. Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Not specifically… You know our coaching staff is too small, right? Most Premier League clubs have about 6-7 first-team coaches. Big clubs have over 10.”

“I know… but there was no budget…”

“…And?”

“Um… I need to build a team with someone who can understand that well, but I don’t think there are many people who would accept that.”

Karolina looked at Hyungmin with an absurd expression.

“Hey, last season, people might have thought of you as a lucky rookie who grabbed the first-team manager position, but no one thinks that this season. How can you say that…?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Karolina firmly cut off Hyungmin’s timidity.

“Now, I need to focus on training, so get lost.”

“Yes, Coach!”

Karolina, watching Hyungmin walk away, put the red hat she was holding on her head.

It seems like there’s something uncool about this, but once you wear it, it feels like your shoulders broaden, like it has some kind of power…

Thinking to herself, Karolina brought the whistle to her lips.

“Alright, chicks! It’s time for real training!”

“Ugh…”

Faint groans were heard from somewhere, but Karolina cheerfully ignored them.

“Alright, to position number 1!”

“Number 1!”

Karolina smiled as she watched the players scatter to their respective positions.

***

Brentford, who achieved a dramatic promotion to the Premier League last season, succeeded in settling into the Premier League by finishing 14th.

Although Danish veteran midfielder Christian Eriksen, who greatly improved the team’s strength after joining in the second half of last season, left, they made appropriate reinforcements through the summer transfer market.

Honestly, until last season, there was no Premier League club poorer than Burnley, which was on the verge of bankruptcy financially.

Of course, as Hyungmin leads Burnley, and as the small clubs that have written fairy tales have shown, money is not directly linked to rankings.

And Brentford, who have been praised by critics for their innovative club management and gradually climbing up the lower leagues step by step, were getting thoroughly beaten today at Turf Moor [Burnley’s home stadium].

Brentford, who had been tenaciously defending for about 60 minutes against Burnley, who were firing shots in their own half.

They had kept a clean sheet for the first 15 minutes of the second half, following the first half, but rather than Burnley becoming impatient due to not scoring, the anxiety and fatigue of the Brentford players, who had gone into full defense, were rising faster.

Karolina told the Burnley players, who were hesitating between trusting the pattern plays against Red Star and the closed goal in this game, only one thing during halftime.

“There are hardly any better opportunities to practice pattern plays in a real game like today, right?”

Thanks to that, the Burnley players were gleefully unleashing the pattern plays they had learned as if they were venting their frustrations from being forced to learn them.

“Number 2’s B!”

At the shout of Nico Gonzalez, who had the ball, the seven players forming Burnley’s attack scattered to their respective positions inside Brentford’s penalty box.

The core of the pattern plays planned by Karolina and forcibly crammed into the players’ heads is not just about maintaining a specific position.

It’s about attracting or pushing the opposing team’s defensive line while moving to that position, disrupting it.

And the number of cases expands depending on how the opposing team’s defensive line reacts.

The player in charge of distributing the ball in the attack situation primarily chooses and executes the options among all those variables.

The young loanee from Barcelona, who was given that role in this play, watched the leisurely unfolding situation with the ball at his feet.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Nicolas Seiwald, who had come up to the attack line, pushed away Brentford’s midfielder who was trying to approach him with a light shoulder charge, but Nico Gonzalez didn’t lose his focus on such a trivial matter.

The number 2 pattern involves the left and right wingers penetrating diagonally into the penalty box along with the central striker, while the left and right fullbacks make linear movements, widening the formation to the left and right up to the corner flags located at the ends of their respective sidelines.

Thanks to Karim Adeyemi and Dwight McNeil crisscrossing in an X shape with Benjamin Sesko, who started as the central striker, in the middle, a total of four defenders, two Brentford fullbacks chasing each winger and two center backs guarding Benjamin Sesko, and three attackers were concentrated in the center of the penalty box.

Thanks to that, vast spaces were revealed on the left and right flanks, giving Nico Gonzalez a comfortable opportunity to choose his favorite option between the right and left.

“Going!”

As soon as Nico Gonzalez confirmed the situation in the penalty box, he swung his right foot and sent the ball flying towards the right corner flag.

In the second half, they had intentionally concentrated their attacks only through Jamal Lewis on the left flank.

With the Brentford defense’s attention unknowingly focused on the left, a pass aimed to the right as if to stab them in the back.

The person who would receive the ball cutting through the air was Guga, the Brazilian fullback running along the right sideline.

“Nice!”

The young defender, who was waving his lion’s mane similar to Hannibal Mejbri from last season, responded in heavily accented English and ran excitedly to the opportunity given after a long time, connecting the smoothly laid-out pass in front of him with a sharp cross.

“Ugh!”

As soon as the cross came up, the Burnley players, who had been concentrated in the center, scattered rapidly in all directions like ants hit by a bomb, and Brentford’s defenders and goalkeeper David Raya screamed.

The tall Benjamin Sesko briefly cut off the cross with a header, running towards the goalpost closer to Guga to connect it with a shot.

Dwight McNeil, who had penetrated diagonally from the left side of the penalty box, continued forward and jumped as if to connect the cross with a header in front of the goalkeeper.

“I can’t see!”

Brentford’s goalkeeper David Raya, whose vision was blocked by Dwight McNeil jumping right in front of him, sent a desperate shout to Brentford’s center back Pontus Jansson, who was coordinating the defensive line, asking him to tell him the position of the ball.

“Further back!”

The desperate reply from the veteran Swedish national team defender came back, but it was already too late.

The cross, which had passed Benjamin Sesko, who had thrown himself towards the near post, and Dwight McNeil, who had lifted himself in the center of the goal with the goalkeeper, had already arrived at the far post.

Waiting there was Burnley’s right attacker Karim Adeyemi, who had made a diagonal penetration from the opposite side of Dwight McNeil.

Hiding in the blind spot of the Brentford defense, which was tangled up, and Brentford’s goalkeeper David Raya, who was incapacitated with his vision blocked, Karim Adeyemi smiled and lightly brought his forehead to the incoming ball.

Thump!

There’s no need for speed or angles that would tear through the net or that the goalkeeper couldn’t block.

“Uwaaa!!!”

The cheers of the home fans, filled with joy, echoed as the background to the young attacker lightly pushing the ball into the empty goal.

“Hahaha!!”

The Burnley players who rushed towards Karim Adeyemi, who was smiling with his arms proudly raised towards the stands, jumped on top of him.

“Good pass.”

“Thanks. Good cross.”

“Hehehe.”

Behind those players, Guga and Nico Gonzalez, who had broken through Brentford’s solid defense with just two passes, bumped fists and praised each other.

“Yeah, honestly, Karim didn’t do anything here. Puhaha!”

Nicolas Seiwald said with a burst of laughter as he approached them.

“What? Hey, you!”

Karim Adeyemi’s protest seemed to be heard by Karim Adeyemi, who was lying under the Burnley players who had jumped on top of him to celebrate, but the three young players ignored their friend and slowly started walking towards the Burnley side.

“I’ve been thinking, it might be good to add a pattern where we pretend to give the ball and then pull it back to shoot from long range.”

Guga pretended to be startled by Nicolas Seiwald’s words.

“Won’t we get scolded by the coach if we do that?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Nico Gonzalez reassured Guga.

“Creative attempts to score goals in a winning situation are all forgiven. That’s what the manager said.”

“Then, we’ll try it when we get the chance?”

“If we get the chance.”

Nico Gonzalez nodded, looking at the manager and assistant coach who were wearing satisfied expressions on the sidelines.