Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 185

185. The Relentless Run

“Ugh, bleh!”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in this state during the season. Or is this your first time at Burnley?”

Despite his blunt words, fitness coach Paulo Morais kindly handed Kin Lewis-Potter a water bottle. Kin, gasping for air, managed to rinse his mouth.

He glared resentfully at Sebastian Szymański, who was suffering similarly beside him. The rising star of the Polish national team simply shrugged in response.

“I told you in advance… Haa… There’s no need to add fear… Ugh… to the pain that’s coming anyway, right?”

They had grown close during the long and tedious recovery and rehabilitation process that had started last August.

As a senior player who had arrived at Burnley earlier, Sebastian had kindly explained various things to him and Adam Hložek. But strangely, he had been reluctant to talk about the training. Kin Lewis-Potter, realizing Sebastian’s true intentions, tried to sigh but swallowed hard, feeling something more than air rising up.

“Ugh…”

Sebastian Szymański frowned, looking at his comrade who had endured the terrible rehabilitation with him with a pitiful expression.

He really hadn’t told him out of good intentions.

But he forgot to tell him to eat only a little on training day.

Rehabilitation was painful, but it was focused on recovering the body and injured areas to function as usual.

In comparison, Burnley’s physical training, designed by Hyungmin and Paulo Morais, was focused on transforming humans to exert extreme activity on the field for 90 minutes.

Sebastian Szymański, who had already raised his stamina to the level required by Burnley last season, still had some memory in his body and, more importantly, a sense of how far to push before the training ended and his body adapted.

On the other hand, Adam Hložek and Kin Lewis-Potter were carried off injured before proper physical training even began.

Moreover, like the two who had returned this time, coming in the middle of the season after completing rehabilitation from injuries meant they had to recover their game sense, stamina, and coordination with their teammates.

Kin Lewis-Potter, exhausted from training all day and playing in matches for gradually increasing durations of 10 to 15 minutes, saw the rest of the first team players doing tactical training on the other side.

Among them, Emanuel Vignato, who was looking at him with a pitiful expression, waved slightly and clenched his fist as if to encourage him.

“Vini! Are you done with training? Want to join the physical training?”

“No, coach! I’m busy!”

Emanuel Vignato, startled as if burned by Paulo Morais’s words, immediately disappeared.

Kin Lewis-Potter, gasping for breath, resumed the dilemma he had been having since morning.

Should I tell Adam Hložek about this situation in advance, or not?

He remembered the admiring look on his Czech friend’s face as he watched them finish their rehabilitation training, embarking on his last few weeks of rehabilitation.

He began to understand Sebastian Szymański’s dilemma.

***

“Overall, the team’s understanding of attacking tactics and coordination seems to be মোটামুটি 맞춰진 것 같아 [more or less aligned].”

Hyungmin nodded at Karolina’s assessment.

“It certainly seems that way. Both in training and especially in games, the movement has become much smoother.”

“Sebastian and Kin have also improved their stamina a lot. It’s still a bit much for a full game, but 45 minutes should be fine. By the end of December, they should be able to handle 60 minutes based on Premier League standards.”

Hyungmin sighed in relief at Paulo Morais’s report.

“That’s a relief. I could see Luka was getting a lot of 부담 [pressure], but with Sebastian rejoining, the 부담 [pressure] will be 분산될테니까요 [distributed].”

“He might dislike it because the number of games he plays will decrease.”

Hyungmin and the other coaches smiled wryly at Taejin’s words.

No matter how good and close teammates are, they can’t help but be 욕심 [greedy] for playing time.

No, players who don’t have 욕심 [desire] for playing time find it difficult to show the 투쟁심 [fighting spirit] that Burnley needs on the field.

In the end, the harmony of Burnley’s squad was a 아슬아슬한 줄타기 [a precarious balancing act] where they were friendly and harmonious with each other, maintained 욕심 [desire] for playing time and performance, and, above all, individuals could 어느 정도 희생 [sacrifice to some extent] for the team’s 성적 [results].

Fortunately, Hyungmin was 칼 같다는 것 [strict] about rotating players.

This tense relationship could be maintained because they could sit on the bench not only for reasons of skill or tactics, but also for 체력 관리 [stamina management] or to give other players playing time, and there was 신뢰 [trust] that they would be given another chance to play at any time.

Of course, the 전제 [premise] of all that was that they had to show proper skill in the training ground, but Burnley players 납득 [accepted] that that much was fair enough.

“It will be 부담 [a burden] to manage playing time from the second half of the season when Adam returns and all three injured players have fully recovered their stamina, but for now, it seems positive because we can 오히려 체력 관리 [manage stamina].”

And it’s dangerous to put players who have completed such long injuries and rehabilitation into games for full time right away.

It is the job of the manager and coaches to 잘 조절 [carefully manage] the playing time and activity level until the end of this season, for the sake of the club and the players themselves.

“I’ll manage it in detail. It would be 걷잡을 수 없을테니까 [uncontrollable] if they get injured again.”

The other three nodded strongly at Paulo Morais’s words.

Taejin was fortunate not to have had any major injuries during his playing career, but if you play as a professional player until your mid-30s, you can’t help but have friends around you who have ended their playing careers due to injuries.

Karolina also had to end her brilliant playing career in her early 30s due to accumulated minor injuries, and Hyungmin ended his playing career before he could even 제대로 뭔가를 시도해보기도 [properly try anything].

If you were to pick the manager and coaching staff who are most sensitive to player injuries in the Premier League, it would probably be Burnley.

Thanks to that, they had gotten through the past two seasons without any major injuries.

“Anyway, with that 정도 [level], we can say that the squad’s 컨디션 [condition] and 복귀 [return] are 어느 정도 궤도에 올라왔다고 봐도 되겠네요 [more or less on track]. Everyone has 수고가 많으셨어요 [worked hard]. Especially Paulo, 고생 많이 하셨어요 [you’ve suffered a lot].”

“Well, 별 말을 [don’t mention it].”

Paulo Morais waved his hand as if it was nothing at Hyungmin’s praise, but he smiled as if he didn’t feel bad.

“Okay, then the next game is Chelsea.”

The Todd Boehly consortium, which acquired Chelsea, was not satisfied with third place last season and 경질 [sacked] the manager. After a long period of wandering, the manager who finally settled in was Graham Potter, who was also being considered as a candidate for the next England national team manager.

Critics thought that it was almost a foregone conclusion that Graham Potter, who had achieved good 성적 [results] by leading Brighton & Hove Albion, a 시골팀 [small team] no less than Burnley, to the upper ranks of the Premier League while playing attractive, 점유율 중심의 축구 [possession-based football], would lead one of the teams at the very top of the Premier League.

The fact that the choice was Chelsea, which was still showing 불안한 모습을 [unstable aspects] in many ways outside of football, caused anxiety among fans and fellow managers who supported Graham Potter, but at least Graham Potter, who took over Chelsea in the summer transfer market of 2023, was gradually 개편 [reorganizing] the squad and 성공하고 있었다 [succeeding] in adding his own 색깔 [color/style].

Chelsea, who 영입 [signed] the French national team’s central defender Wesley Fofana from Leicester for a whopping £75 million, were undergoing a 적응기 [adaptation period] to the new manager’s tactics, 오가면서 [switching between] the 3-5-2 formation that Graham Potter 즐겨쓰는 [favors] and the 4-3-3 formation that had 자리잡은 [established itself] as Chelsea’s main formation since the José Mourinho era.

Chelsea, who finished 13th round with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses, recording 25 points, were in 5th place.

They had barely raised their 성적 [performance], which had fallen to 14th place at the beginning of the season, but it was a 참담한 [dismal] situation for Chelsea fans who remembered the glory of the Roman Abramovich era, when European Champions League qualification was 당연하고 [obvious] and they were 매시즌 우승 경쟁 후보 [candidates to compete for the title every season].

Fortunately, owner Todd Boehly declared that he didn’t necessarily have to secure Champions League 진출 [qualification] this season and gave his full support to Graham Potter, whom he had 선임 [appointed].

However, Chelsea, who have not yet 자리 잡지 못한 [established themselves] amidst the fans’ 불만 [dissatisfaction] that they are not properly 참전 [participating] in the 우승 경쟁 [title race], the 선수단의 불안 [anxiety of the squad] about a manager who has not yet been 검증되지 않은 [verified] at the 최상위 레벨 [highest level], and the 구단주의 전폭적인 지지 [owner’s full support].

Thanks to that, the number of 경우의 수 [scenarios] that Hyungmin and the coaching staff had to 고민 [consider] 급격하게 늘어났다 [increased rapidly].

“도대체 얘네들은 주전 선발진도, 주력 포메이션도 하나도 못 정해진게 너무 티가 난다니까 [It’s so obvious that they haven’t decided on their starting lineup or main formation at all].”

Taejin, who was in charge of analyzing the opposing team, 투덜거리면서 띄웠다 [grumbled while displaying] the data on the screen.

“이건 뭐··· Excluding players due to injuries, we can 대략 예상 [roughly predict] the 확실한 선발 [definite starters] for a few positions, but we’ll have to 어느 정도는 고려 [consider to some extent] the rest.”

First of all, the goalkeeper is the 부동의 [undisputed] Edouard Mendy.

He hasn’t 유지 [maintained] the 신선한 충격 [fresh impact] he showed when he first 데뷔 [debuted] in the English Premier League, and he has 잔실수가 늘기는 [made more mistakes] recently, but at least he is 낮다 [better] than the second goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The Spanish goalkeeper, who recorded the 최고의 이적료 [highest transfer fee] in goalkeeper history and arrived at Chelsea to replace Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, is now completely 진입한 [entered] in a 쇠락기 [decline].

Graham Potter seems to have given up on him after 기용 [using] him a few times in the preseason, and he seems to have 매각에 실패 [failed to sell] in the summer transfer market and 지워버린 것 같았다 [erased] one of the players who receives the highest 주급 [weekly wage] in the team at the 최고의 이적료 [highest transfer fee] in goalkeeper history on the bench and 지워버린 것 같았다 [erased].

“It 달라지기는 [changes] whether they come out with a 3-back or a 4-back··· 일단 [for now] there are some 확실한 얼굴들 [definite faces] here too.”

Scenarios for 3-back and 4-back were 펼쳐졌다 [displayed] above the goalkeeper at Taejin’s explanation.

First of all, in the 4-back, Wesley Fofana, who was 영입 [signed] after 지불 거액의 이적료 [paying a huge transfer fee], 출전 [starts] as a central defender, along with Kalidou Koulibaly, the 주전 [starting] central defender of the Senegalese national team, who was 영입 [signed] from Napoli for a 이적료 [transfer fee] of £33 million.

On the flanks, Marc Cucurella, who was 영입 [signed] from Brighton, as the left defender, and Reece James, from Chelsea 유소년 [youth academy], on the right.

“But if they 전환 [switch] to a 3-back, the number of 경우의 수 [scenarios] 살짝 늘어나기는 [slightly increases]. Three central defenders have to 나오잖아 [come out], right? But Thiago Silva is 너무 늙었고 [too old] Trevor Chalobah is 경험이 부족하니까 [lacks experience] it’s 힘들지 [difficult] to come out in such a big game. Then one of the 양쪽 측면 수비수 [both side defenders] will 들어오고 [come in], they’ll 내세우겠지 [put forward] another player.”

Karolina 킥킥 웃었다 [giggled] at Taejin’s words, 까버리는 [dismissing] the 현역 선수 [active player] who is 39 years old, older than Hyungmin, Taejin, and Karolina, as an 늙은이 [old man] in one fell swoop.

“그래도 Thiago will still 더 잘 할걸 [do better] than you?”

Taejin shrugged at Karolina’s 지적 [remark].

“이제 I’m not our team’s 주전 공격수 [starting striker], am I? I’m 턱 없이 부족하다는거지 [far from enough] to face Benjamin or Lorenzo.”

“너가 우리팀 주전 공격수였던 적은 없는데 [You’ve never been our team’s starting striker], am I? You just 땜빵으로 뛴 [played as a substitute] for 반 시즌 [half a season].”

Taejin 쓱 들어올렸다 [slightly raised] his chin at Hyungmin’s 지적 [remark].

“흥! In those 4 months, this body, who 은퇴 복귀한 [returned from retirement] in a completely new league, scored 무려 12 goals [a whopping 12 goals]. You heard Jonathan, right? There were 꽤 Premier League 구단들도 [quite a few Premier League clubs] who 요청한 내 은퇴 번복 [requested my retirement reversal] this summer transfer market.”

“….”

Hyungmin 다물자 [closed] his mouth with a 떨떠름한 표정 [bitter expression] that 괜히 긁어보았지만 부스럼만 생긴 [he scratched for nothing but made a boil], and Taejin, who 또다시 거둔 승리를 [again gained victory] to his 동창 [classmate], 의기양양하게 설명을 계속했다 [continued the explanation triumphantly].