Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 101

101. The End of September

Who said Southampton was an easy opponent?

Ah, it was me…

Karim Adeyemi, gasping for breath, wanted to slap his own reckless mouth.

Southampton was an opponent against whom Burnley had secured a decent number of points last season, with 1 win and 1 draw.

Having narrowly escaped relegation in the 2021/22 season, finishing 16th, Southampton sacked their long-time manager Ralph Hasenhüttl and appointed Vladimir Petković as the new manager.

As the Swiss national team manager for a long period, he led Switzerland, considered relatively weak, to the round of 16 in Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, and even to the quarter-finals in Euro 2020.

Since it was only their seventh Premier League game, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s influence, who had been in charge of Southampton for a long time, was more evident than Petković’s tactical style, but there were clear differences in the detailed tactics.

At first glance, for the first 30 minutes of the first half, it looked like Burnley was launching a one-sided attack against Southampton, who had come to Turf Moor and were sitting deep defensively.

However, the reality was somewhat different.

Benjamin Šeško, Dwight McNeil, and Karim Adeyemi, the three forwards who started in the attacking line, were joined by Sebastian Szymański, who was moving aggressively from midfield, but Southampton’s defense remained unshaken.

Rather, Bruno Tabata, an attacking midfielder, came down to support the central midfield, where James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu were deployed, putting strong pressure on Burnley’s defensive midfielders, Nicolas Seiwald, and Tommaso Pobega, who was in charge of the attack.

Against Burnley’s midfield, which was unusually weak that day, Southampton’s experienced midfielders began to gain the upper hand.

“James!”

“I know. Bruno!”

“Here I go!”

James Ward-Prowse, Southampton’s starting midfielder, nodded at the warning from his midfield partner Oriol Romeu, but didn’t lose his focus and called out to a teammate to receive the pass.

Oriol Romeu, a midfielder from Barcelona, is a rare veteran midfielder who is as good at defending as he is at passing.

Oriol Romeu, who bought time by shoulder-checking Nicolas Seiwald, who was approaching to stop James Ward-Prowse, watched with satisfaction as the ball left his teammate’s foot and sharply penetrated Burnley’s defense, landing at Bruno Tabata’s feet.

“Go drink some more of your mother’s milk, kid.”

“You’re going to retire the day after tomorrow, grandpa.”

Nicolas Seiwald, who retorted to Oriol Romeu’s harmless taunt, left the Southampton midfielders behind for the time being and ran at full speed to support his defense.

The Southampton midfielders might get involved in the attack later as the pass circulates, but reinforcing the defense was the priority right now.

Oriol Romeu, who is good at everything else but not fast, shrugged his shoulders at the sight of the young opponent disappearing like the wind and began to move leisurely.

His mission in the attacking situation that day was to cut off Burnley’s counterattack.

Watching the movements of James Ward-Prowse, who was running alongside Nicolas Seiwald to join the attack, and the fluctuating players of both teams, Southampton’s veteran midfielder Oriol Romeu positioned himself in Burnley’s passing lane and muttered.

“Alright, guys. Let’s make something happen!”

“Goal! Kyle Walker-Peters of Southampton scores. The score is now 0-1. It’s 0-1.”

As the stadium announcer’s calm voice echoed through the stadium, Southampton’s young full-back, who had run towards the away fans, roared.

“Tch!”

Hyungmin clicked his tongue.

The previous goal conceded was a combination of Burnley’s lack of organization and the newly signed players’ adaptation period to the Premier League.

Of course, in a bad way.

When Tino Livramento, the left-back who received the pass from Southampton’s attacking midfielder Bruno Tabata, dribbled into Burnley’s territory, Burnley’s right-back Guuga stuck to him and engaged in a 1-on-1 contest.

However, instead of holding Tino Livramento up by stalling for time, Guuga lunged in with a sliding tackle, which the young prospect from Chelsea easily dodged, leaving Burnley’s right flank wide open.

Of course, it was a pity that Guuga didn’t stall for time more calmly in the contest, but it’s not just the Brazilian defender’s fault.

James Tarkowski, the captain who should have coordinated the overall defensive situation and supported Guuga, was distracted by checking whether Anel Ahmedhodžić and Jamal Lewis, who started together, were keeping their positions well.

The defender, who had not been in the Premier League for long since coming from the Brazilian league, where breakthroughs relying on individual skills are the trend, had not fully adapted to the tempo of the Premier League, which mixes breakthroughs and passes to attack the flanks.

“James!”

Tino Livramento, who immediately dribbled into the penalty box, sent a low cross to James Ward-Prowse, the central midfielder who had advanced to the edge of the penalty arc, while Southampton’s forwards tied up Burnley’s defenders who were rushing in.

The central midfielder from Southampton’s youth academy volleyed the ball from the front, showing off his kicking ability, which is one of the best in the Premier League.

“Ooh!!!”

The moment the spectators let out shouts of joy and shock, Burnley’s goalkeeper Nick Pope stretched out his tall frame as if his arms had grown a few centimeters longer and blocked the shot.

It would have been unfortunate for James Ward-Prowse that the shot was within Nick Pope’s defensive range.

It was unfortunate for Nick Pope that the shot came so hard that he had no choice but to punch it away.

And the fact that the punched ball fell in front of the feet of Kyle Walker-Peters, Southampton’s right-back, who had sprinted into Burnley’s penalty box, can only be described as bad luck for Burnley.

A position where neither goalkeeper Nick Pope, who was just getting up from the ground, nor Burnley’s defenders, who were throwing themselves at Kyle Walker-Peters, could have any influence.

Kyle Walker-Peters, who had a perfect opportunity, volleyed the ball into the top left corner of Burnley’s goal once again.

“Ugh!!!”

Hyungmin, who was watching the Southampton players celebrate with the away fans, sighed and shouted to Southampton’s Vladimir Petković, who was cheering and applauding in the away team’s technical area.

“That was great! Please send me the playbook later!”

Petković smiled and responded to the opposing manager’s compliment with a thumbs up, while Hyungmin frowned again and turned his eyes back to the field.

That day, Southampton showed off a bizarre 5-2-1-2 formation.

With the three-back [three defenders at the back] and three midfielders focusing their weight entirely on the center and succeeding in dominating the midfield against Burnley, the defenders moved up and down on both flanks from time to time.

As a result, they start with a 5-2-1-2 formation but transform into a 3-5-2 or even a 3-3-4 formation depending on the situation.

If four players pour out their attacks side by side at the front line like that, the defenders all face 1-on-1 situations, and Burnley, whose organization is not yet complete, is shaken from side to side and concedes a goal, just like before.

In particular, Burnley’s midfield was struggling even more that day against James Ward-Prowse, Oriol Romeu, and Bruno Tabata, who make up Southampton’s midfield.

“This is too solid, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we spread out a little more? Both left and right?”

Carolina, who had walked up to Hyungmin, said.

“Hmm… they’re still focusing their weight on the center, so if we put more emphasis on both flanks, the center will be completely torn apart, and we’ll be broken through even more…”

Carolina clicked her tongue at Hyungmin’s point.

Players are people too, so they have their ups and downs, and sometimes they might not be in good condition on game day.

Or maybe the opposing players are just having a good day.

But from the perspective of the manager or coaching staff, they can’t just let it go and have to find an alternative…

Hyungmin and Carolina looked back at the bench at the same time and shook their heads.

There aren’t many players on the bench who can come out and influence the game, and they need to save their energy to prepare for the Europa League game in three days.

“So we’re just going to proceed as is?”

“We have no choice but to conserve our energy right now. First, we need to see how much damage is accumulating with the existing method…”

***

The day after the game.

While Paulo Morais was leading the squad through a morning recovery training session, Hyungmin and Carolina were looking at the results provided by the analysis team in Burnley’s first team meeting room.

“Wow… this is a mess.”

Carolina muttered as she looked at the pass map, which showed the average positions of the players during the game and the passes between each player.

The center backs James Tarkowski and Anel Ahmedhodžić.

The defensive midfielder Nicolas Seiwald.

And all the players except the central striker Benjamin Šeško were clearly pushed to both flanks.

“This one is my tactical failure. I didn’t anticipate or counter Petković’s focus on the center.”

“Still, it’s something to think about, isn’t it? Our players’ response was too clumsy.”

At Carolina’s cold criticism, Hyungmin ran a dry hand over his face and sighed.

“The team has been reset. They’re not yet tactically familiar, and they haven’t fully recovered their stamina to play a long game.”

“But aren’t we going to be in this situation all the time in the future? Burnley’s player management is confirmed to be based on developing and selling promising players.”

Carolina gave Hyungmin, who looked like he hadn’t thought about it, a dumbfounded look.

“What, weren’t you thinking that way?”

“Damn… then does that mean we shouldn’t expect much improvement in organization here in the future? Do we have to create tactics based on what works at this level…?”

It’s not like half of the squad changes every year, right? It shouldn’t be like that?

Carolina chuckled at Hyungmin’s grumbling to himself.

“Is it hard?”

“It’s hard. But…”

“…?”

“Isn’t it fun because it’s hard?”

Carolina leaned back slightly, moving away from Hyungmin.

“Hmm… that sounds like a masochistic thought.”

“Is it?”

Carolina, who was looking for data for the next game, asked Hyungmin, who was muttering, as if she had remembered something.

“By the way, what kind of performance are the board expecting in the Europa League?”

“Hmm… officially, they want us to get through the group stage and reach the round of 16.”

Carolina, who had discovered something hidden in Hyungmin’s words, asked a question.

“Officially? Then unofficially?”

“Helena said they’re hoping for the quarter-finals… but they’ll understand if we don’t make it.”

Carolina clicked her tongue in disbelief.

“You led a team that was ranked first in the relegation candidates last season to 6th place and qualified for European competition, and now you’re telling me to go to the Europa League quarter-finals next season? Isn’t that too high of an expectation?!”

“Why are you like this… we also won the FA Cup last season.”

“Ah, you’ve unnecessarily raised expectations, so it’s all your fault.”

“Hmm… well…”

“Shouldn’t we adjust the expectations to a more realistic level?”