Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 114

“Karim!”

As it became clear that the ball would be passed to Karim Adeyemi, voices calling out to teammates echoed around Leeds’ penalty box.

Burnley’s right-back, Guga, loudly calling Karim Adeyemi’s name, moved outside of Karim Adeyemi, pushing further towards the right corner flag.

A move to draw out Junior Firpo, Leeds’ left-back, who would normally have been marking Karim Adeyemi.

Meanwhile, Nico Gonzalez, who had been battling with Leeds’ midfielder Marc Roca until moments ago, abandoned his opponent and dashed past Karim Adeyemi into the penalty box.

And in response to Nico Gonzalez’s run into the box, Burnley’s central striker, Benjamin Sesko, and midfielder, Tommaso Pobega, who had been jostling with Leeds’ defenders inside the penalty box, retreated in the opposite direction.

With these coordinated movements between Burnley’s players, Leeds’ defense was stretched wide, both vertically and horizontally.

Inevitably, Leeds’ defenders were drawn out of the penalty box, following Burnley’s players, which exposed a large space in the center of the penalty box, and Karim Adeyemi began his full-speed dash towards it.

“Pascal!”

“I know! This guy is…!”

Liam Cooper, Leeds’ central defender guarding the center of the penalty box, urgently requested support from his teammate, but Pascal Struijk, Leeds’ other central defender, had already abandoned Benjamin Sesko, whom he had been chasing, and was running to intercept Karim Adeyemi.

“Diego!”

“What do you want me to do?!”

As Benjamin Sesko abruptly stopped and looked like he would re-enter the penalty box, Liam Cooper took a step towards Burnley’s young central striker while calling for support from his teammate.

But perhaps it would have been better to say nothing at all.

Liam Cooper needed more time to close the distance to stick to Burnley’s central striker, Benjamin Sesko, and the moment Diego Llorente, Leeds’ central defender guarding Burnley’s midfielder Tommaso Pobega, hesitated at his teammate’s request for support.

“Number 3, A!”

“Split!”

Shouting a pre-arranged play simultaneously, Tommaso Pobega and Benjamin Sesko split to the left and right, with Diego Llorente caught in between, penetrating into Leeds’ penalty box.

“Oh, shoot!”

If he had committed to marking either one of them, then the captain, Liam Cooper, would have covered the other.

As Diego Llorente let out a regretful exclamation and hurriedly turned, Burnley’s attack suddenly accelerated, successfully pushing Leeds’ three central defenders into an ambiguous situation where they couldn’t firmly mark Burnley’s three players, nor could they form a solid defensive line.

“I’m going!”

Karim Adeyemi, shouting without specifying a target, swung his left foot to loft the ball towards the goalmouth before Pascal Struijk of Leeds, who was rushing towards him, could close the distance any further.

Later, Karim Adeyemi never revealed which of the two Burnley players running into Leeds’ penalty box towards the goal he had intended to pass the ball to.

Tommaso Pobega cursed as he watched the ball, which had floated ambiguously towards Leeds’ goal thanks to Karim Adeyemi’s questionable crossing skills.

“Hey, you!”

If you’re going to pass the ball, pass it properly! How can you shoot so precisely but not cross?! Does that even make sense?!

Even as he internally vented his frustration, Tommaso Pobega leaped towards the falling ball.

Benjamin Sesko, who had split from him and made his run, was already out of position to receive the ball, so he was turning back to avoid being offside and to continue the attack.

Conversely, Liam Cooper, Leeds’ captain, and goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who were rushing desperately, both threw themselves towards the ball.

Generally, a goalkeeper, who can use his arms, has an absolute advantage in punching away a ball falling from above in the air.

And the advantage is even more significant because any contact or push on the goalkeeper by an opposing player in the penalty box results in an immediate foul.

“Liam, no!”

However, Diego Llorente of Leeds, watching the situation, screamed in anguish at his captain.

If he had stayed put, goalkeeper Illan Meslier would have beaten Tommaso Pobega to the ball and punched or caught it.

With a desperate mind, Liam Cooper also leaped into the air, and the three players suddenly became entangled.

“Ugh!”

Goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who had stretched out his arm while focusing only on the ball, groaned as someone’s hard head suddenly collided with his chest, pushing him backward.

Even in the midst of that, he desperately stretched out his fingertips, but the pristine white goalkeeper gloves he was wearing slipped over the smooth surface of the ball, barely missing it.

Thud!

And Illan Meslier, pushed back by Liam Cooper, collided with Tommaso Pobega in the air.

The young Leeds goalkeeper, staggering from the collisions, crashed to the ground, and Tommaso Pobega fell on top of the goalkeeper.

And the ball, flying unimpeded, fell onto Illan Meslier and Tommaso Pobega, who were entangled and collapsed in front of the goal.

“Huh?!”

With Benjamin Sesko’s dumbfounded exclamation as he watched the situation from close range, the ball, which had hit the back of Tommaso Pobega’s head on top of the fallen goalkeeper, bounced and trickled into Leeds’ goal in slow motion.

“Uh, uh…?!!!”

As home and away fans looked at each other, unsure whether to cheer or boo, the referee’s whistle blew.

“That’s goalkeeper interference! [A foul where a player illegally impedes the goalkeeper’s ability to play the ball.]”

“The goalkeeper ran into him!”

The referee shouted at the players from both teams, who were raising their voices and protesting vehemently in front of him.

“Shut up and wait for the decision!”

Hyungmin and Jesse Marsch, who were watching the game from their respective technical areas [The designated area for coaches and staff during a match], looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

“What do you think happened?”

At Jesse Marsch’s shout, Hyungmin shrugged.

“I don’t know either!”

“Isn’t that goalkeeper interference?!”

“I don’t think so?!”

“I think it is!”

“I’m telling you it’s not!”

Ignoring the childish, unwavering argument between the two coaches, Carolina stared intently at the referee, who was checking the VAR [Video Assistant Referee] footage.

Even the spectators were quiet, and as the fourth official chased away the players who were trying to follow the referee to watch the VAR screen with an absurd expression, the referee finally raised his head.

Beeeep!

The referee’s whistle blew, pointing to the center circle with his fingertips.

“Uaaaaaa!!!”

Amidst the cheers of Burnley’s players and fans, the referee acknowledged the goal scored by Tommaso Pobega’s head.

***

“Ah, really, if it wasn’t for that head, we could have tied! Do you even practice heading with your head?”

After the game, Jesse Marsch, with a look of regret but also relief, crossed over to the away team’s technical area and said, extending his hand.

Hyungmin smiled and shook hands with his senior coach.

“Hehehe. Should I tell you about our training methods?”

“Ah, no thanks!”

Turning around and greeting Carolina as well, Jesse Marsch made a clear refusal over his shoulder.

“Let’s definitely have a rematch in the second half of the season!”

“The second half of the season is at Turf Moor [Burnley’s home stadium], though? You’ll have to come prepared!”

At Hyungmin’s words, Jesse Marsch looked at Carolina with an incredulous expression.

“This guy’s personality has gotten worse since he became a coach.”

“He never had any self-esteem, did he? He still whines all the time.”

“Hehehe. So nothing’s changed?”

Hyungmin looked at his assistant coach, who was agreeing with the opposing coach, with a dumbfounded expression.

“No, you’re supposed to be on my side, aren’t you?”

“The game’s already over, you know? And I’ve known Jesse a lot longer than you!”

Ah, betrayal…

***

The day after the dramatic victory against Leeds.

After finishing the morning’s recovery training, Hyungmin conducted a special interview in his office at James Tarkowski’s sudden request.

With the winter transfer market just around the corner, Hyungmin, along with his assistant coach Carolina, waited in his office, worried that a transfer request might be coming, and wondered if he should contact the football director, Jonathan Landress.

James Tarkowski, who appeared, brought up a completely different topic for the interview.

“…You want to appoint a vice-captain?”

At Hyungmin’s question, James Tarkowski nodded.

“Yes. I’ve been serving as captain alone so far. There are times when I don’t play in the game, and I thought it would be better if someone could help me manage the team rather than doing it all alone.”

The way captains are appointed differs from club to club and from manager to manager.

For example, Real Madrid traditionally and almost automatically gives the captain’s armband to the player who has played the longest in the first team.

Conversely, some managers appoint a player as captain who can demonstrate the desired qualities, personality, or tactical understanding on the field.

Of course, there are pros and cons in either case, and to compensate for this, most teams appoint a vice-captain in addition to the captain.

Recently, the trend among large teams is to appoint a captaincy group, with three or four players sharing the role of captain.

In Burnley’s case, from the time Hyungmin first arrived, veteran Ben Mee was the captain, and James Tarkowski was the vice-captain, and after Ben Mee left on a free transfer last summer, vice-captain James Tarkowski naturally became captain.

Hyungmin thought that forming a captaincy group or appointing a vice-captain was something that the captain should discuss with the players and delegated that authority to James Tarkowski, but James Tarkowski, who had been thinking about the problem for half a season, finally came to him, a problem that the manager or coaching staff hadn’t given much thought to.

Carolina, listening to James Tarkowski’s words, tilted her head.

“So, who do you want to appoint as vice-captain?”

“Nicky.”

“Nicky?!”

Hyungmin and Carolina looked at each other, then simultaneously looked at James Tarkowski’s face.

“Are you saying you want to appoint Nicolas Seiwald as the first team’s vice-captain right now?”

“Nicky is a bit…”

James Tarkowski raised his palm to gently stop Hyungmin, who was about to object, saying that he was too young and had only been transferred to Burnley for one season.

“I know Nicky is young. But our team’s average age is the lowest in the Premier League. There are many young players, so I think he is more suitable to represent the thoughts and voices of those friends in the team, or conversely, to convey what needs to be kept to those friends.”

“Well… Nicky is a bit of a straight-laced guy…”

Hyungmin agreed with James Tarkowski’s thoughts in a slightly reluctant voice.

“What will the other veterans think? Will there be any backlash?”

James Tarkowski shook his head at Carolina’s question, who knew the players’ dynamics well.

“I’ve already talked to everyone, and they said they’d agree if it was Nicky. Actually, Max and Charlie find that kind of thing a bit annoying, and Wout said he wants to focus more on competing with Benjamin.”

“Then what about Dwight?”

When Carolina mentioned the young ace from the youth academy that Burnley fans cherish, this time Hyungmin and James Tarkowski shook their heads at the same time.

“Dwight would have a hard time if you put that kind of burden on him.”

“Honestly, Dwight isn’t the type of person who can come forward and talk to people or comfort players.”

Becoming a vice-captain is not just about supporting the players or conveying the manager’s instructions.

Of course, you have to attend important external events of the club, and there are also parts that you have to actively take care of when new players come, such as social service, media activities, and even welcoming new players.

Due to Dwight McNeil’s personality, which is quite timid and cautious outside the stadium, it was more likely that assigning such a role would be negative for the player himself or the team.

“Well… honestly, when I think about it, Nicky is the right person. It seems like Nicky is practically acting as the manager in the dorms anyway.”

As Hyungmin agreed to James Tarkowski’s suggestion, Carolina suddenly chuckled.

“That’s all good… but Karim is going to be incredibly jealous when he hears this news, isn’t he?”

“Hehehehe. He should have performed better in the first place.”

Imagining the expression Karim Adeyemi would make when his close friend’s arm was adorned with the armband, the three men chuckled and laughed.