Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 136

136. Riding the Momentum

There’s a saying that momentum builds.

And there’s also a saying that you ride the momentum.

After the winter break for the Qatar World Cup, Burnley recorded 4 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses in the 8 games played in December and January.

Winning more than half of their matches was a great achievement. They were also progressing well in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup while maintaining 4th place in the Premier League. However, their flow was often interrupted by draws or losses after each victory.

Especially in the Premier League, they had a 50% record with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses.

But from February, Burnley’s momentum subtly shifted.

Whether it was because Karim Adeyemi, who returned to Burnley after the World Cup break, successfully re-integrated with the team, or because Jung Tae-jin filled the striker position effectively in place of Wout Weghorst, Burnley went on a winning streak, securing 3 wins in the first 3 games of February.

And then, after causing an upset by defeating PSG 3-1 in the Europa League, the Burnley squad was filled with confidence that they could take on any opponent, and their momentum began to skyrocket.

And that momentum began to spread not only to the starting eleven but also to the reserve players.

***

Just 3 days after the game against PSG on Thursday.

Burnley was preparing to play the Premier League Round 24 against Brighton at Turf Moor [Burnley’s home stadium].

Thanks to the league schedule being disrupted by the winter World Cup, they were playing their second game against Brighton in just one month, having played a Premier League game against them at the end of January.

In the previous match, they visited Brighton’s home stadium, Falmer Stadium, and won 2-1.

Notably, after Karim Adeyemi returned, Benjamin Šeško each scored a goal in the first half, easily defeating Brighton, who only managed to score a consolation goal in second-half extra time.

However, in today’s game, they fielded a starting lineup with reserves and rotation players instead of the exhausted starters from the PSG game, against Brighton, led by manager Graham Potter, who was determined to take revenge.

A tight game was expected.

While waiting to enter through the tunnel, Tae-jin, who was patting the head of the young player escort who was fidgeting with his hand, was poked from behind.

“Coach Tae-jin.”

“Huh? Jo? What’s wrong?”

Tae-jin turned around and looked at Jo Gelahardt, who was staring at him with burning eyes, with a puzzled expression.

They were about to enter with the referees in a moment, so what did he want to say?

Did he urgently need to go to the bathroom?

As Tae-jin was idly thinking, Jo Gelahardt said seriously.

“I really want to play well in today’s game.”

“Well, you have to play well in every game.”

Jo Gelahardt shook his head vigorously at Tae-jin, who answered casually, thinking it was nothing important.

“That’s not it. Everyone wants to go all out in today’s game.”

“Huh…?”

He raised his head and looked at the players in front and behind him. Unlike the Brighton players who were talking among themselves and waiting for the game to start, the Burnley players all looked very tense.

No, was it not tension, but a fierce spirit?

Tae-jin chuckled as he looked at the young Burnley players with fierce eyes.

“Should we stage a protest against the manager?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a protest against the manager. We just want to show that we can do it too. At least that we won’t hold you back.”

In the Premier League game, with a large number of rotation and reserve players participating, had Hyung-min shown some anxiety or concern to the players?

Or did they get fired up watching the starters thrash PSG at Turf Moor?

Tae-jin, as a former player with a brilliant career, knew how important momentum was once the game started. He looked around at the young players with determined expressions and chuckled.

Now that he looked, not only Jo Gelahardt but also the other young players were all looking at him.

A high-spirited atmosphere as if they would rush at the Brighton players standing on the opposite side of the tunnel right away if they got permission from him, the playing coach.

“I can never allow actions that go against the manager’s instructions.”

“Of course!”

“Yes!”

Sounds of agreement with Tae-jin’s words were heard from the players in front and behind the line where the Burnley players were standing.

“Okay. Then… shall we go wild? Hehehe.”

“Great!”

***

[…Uwaaa!! Another goal! In the 58th minute of the second half, Burnley’s left-winger Max Cornet scores from a cross by left-back Jamal Lewis! Burnley’s fourth goal!]

“Waaaaa!!!”

The Rifle Volunteer Inn.

This place, which was the headquarters of the spam bomb operation that directly targeted the Burnley constituency Member of Parliament and the borough council, had now returned to its original mission: providing a place where local residents who couldn’t go to Turf Moor for various reasons could watch the home team’s games.

While the gathered fans were celebrating the team’s fourth goal, Mitch Tyler, the father of the Tyler family, who was sitting at the bar and casually drinking beer with his son Henry Tyler, finished cheering and asked his son, who was sitting next to him, with a puzzled expression.

“Didn’t you say today’s game was supposed to be a relaxed one?”

“Yes, I did.”

The son replied, looking thrilled because they were winning, but with a slightly sulky expression that didn’t quite fit his large frame, due to the unexpected situation.

Just by looking at the starting lineup announced before the game, the fans could understand the manager’s intentions.

Ah, this game is a breather.

The excitement of crushing PSG on Thursday hadn’t faded yet, and in fact, there wasn’t a single fan within a 10-mile radius of Burnley who would dare to publicly criticize the manager’s tactics or player selection, so everyone just accepted it.

Still, they hoped that the reserves and rotation players, who had shown good performances in the Europa League and cup competitions, would at least manage a draw against Brighton.

But what was this?

It seemed a bit tight in the early part of the first half, but as the first half progressed, the Burnley players all started to go wild.

Jo Gelahardt succeeded in scoring in the 27th minute by exchanging one-on-one passes with Jung Tae-jin, and then Max Cornet, Christian Medina, and Max Cornet again scored a whopping 4 goals in 30 minutes around halftime.

While the Brighton players were stunned, the manager standing in the home team’s technical area was also shown on the broadcast camera tilting his head, but Burnley fans decided to interpret it in a positive way.

“Um… Manager Kim must have done something.”

“…I guess so?”

They didn’t know exactly, but the Burnley fans, who had firmly imprinted in their minds that if they won, it was thanks to the manager, and if they lost, it was the fault of the incompetent players who didn’t follow the great manager’s excellent instructions, nodded in unison at Henry Tyler’s words.

Of course, it was a story that Jung Tae-jin and the Burnley players who were running wild on the field would feel incredibly wronged if they heard it.

***

“Ehehehe!!”

Jung Tae-jin, who ran to the corner flag, burst into laughter, spreading his arms wide towards the home fans who were cheering for him.

“Uwaaa!! Goal, another goal!!”

The Burnley players who chased after him jumped on top of his large frame and shouted along with the crowd.

While the Brighton players, who had desperately scored 2 goals after conceding 4, all hung their heads, the announcer’s excited shout echoed loudly throughout Turf Moor.

“Goal! Goal! The 5th goal for Burnley Football Club! The hero is the second man from Korea…!!”

“Tae!!! Jin!!! Jung!!!”

As the crowd responded in unison, loudly shouting his name, Jung Tae-jin, who had scored the decisive goal that poured cold water on Brighton’s fierce pursuit, wrapped his thick arms around the head of Jo Gelahardt, who had assisted him, and shouted to the cheering crowd.

“Yeah! This is it!”

“Ugh! Coach! I’m dying!”

***

Burnley won 5-2 against Brighton.

In the next Premier League Round 25 against Tottenham, they secured a 1-0 victory with a goal scored by Karim Adeyemi in the late second half.

While manager Antonio Conte, who suffered two losses to Burnley this season, gritted his teeth, the Carabao Cup final was just around the corner.

The opponent was Liverpool, who had inflicted a total of 2 losses on Burnley this season, one in the Community Shield [a pre-season match between the previous season’s Premier League champions and FA Cup winners] and one in the first half of the Premier League.

The accumulated score was 9-2.

While Mohamed Salah scored 4 goals, Roberto Firmino, who was often benched due to Darwin Núñez and Diogo Jota, strangely shone whenever he met Burnley, scoring 2 goals. Jamie Vardy, Luis Díaz, and captain Jordan Henderson each scored 1 goal.

In fact, the data clearly showed that Burnley’s midfield and defense struggled to contain Liverpool’s attack.

Of course, it was difficult to say how many teams could contain Mohamed Salah, the star of the Egyptian national team, who had risen to the top of the world.

And although Liverpool was highly dependent on Mohamed Salah, it wasn’t a one-man team.

Due to manager Jürgen Klopp’s tactical approach, he was extremely wary of entrusting the role of orchestrating attacks to a specific player, so it was impossible to use a focused defensive strategy like they might against PSG.

Everyone participated in forward pressure, and they were equipped with both intense pressing and the ability to vary the tempo of passes during the game.

Manchester City was gradually strengthening their pressing like Liverpool, and Liverpool was gradually becoming more proficient in passing like Manchester City, leaving Burnley stuck in the middle with a headache.

As Hyung-min reviewed the video analysis data with the coaching staff, he clutched his head.

“Wow… it’s getting better and better.”

Tae-jin, who was watching the data next to him, clicked his tongue and admired.

What the so-called first-generation Liverpool, which Jürgen Klopp led to win the European Champions League and the Premier League, boasted was a method of unfolding the game based on a solid midfield, with left and right fullbacks performing the role of playmaker with tremendous activity and passing ability.

It was a tactic that maximized the advantages of having excellent left and right fullbacks, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson.

Next, what the so-called second-generation Liverpool aimed for was to add creativity to the midfield, making attacks even more unpredictable, and at the same time, enabling smoother passing play when they wanted to slow down the tempo.

The recruitment of midfielder Thiago Alcântara, who had blossomed at Barcelona and then at Bayern Munich under the guidance of manager Pep Guardiola in both teams, was also a move in this direction.

And this change had properly settled in this season.

“Liverpool has been struggling with midfield consistency… but their prospects have definitely improved.”

Carolina, who was analyzing the data together, exclaimed with a mixture of admiration and concern.

Paulo Morais, who was watching the data together, nodded and switched the screen to display the data he had on the large screen.

“Hmm…”

Hyung-min quietly groaned.

Liverpool’s creative midfielders, who originally couldn’t play more than half of the season.

Thiago Alcântara, Naby Keïta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, or even Harvey Elliott.

This season, the number of games they could play had jumped up all at once.

Except for Thiago Alcântara, who was over 30, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose durability itself was questionable due to frequent injuries, the remaining midfielders were able to play in over 80% of the games, approaching 90%.

“Why did it suddenly get better this season?”

At Hyung-min’s question, Paulo Morais, who was constantly checking the overall Premier League and the physical condition of the opposing team, shrugged.

“I think it’s a combination of various factors. First of all, the club probably knows better where to focus on managing the players after they’ve been injured a few times. Also, the players who didn’t participate in the World Cup this time were able to get enough rest.”

However, except for Harvey Elliott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the other two participated in the World Cup.

“But the most important thing is that with the addition of Fábio Carvalho, the burden on Liverpool’s creative players regarding the number of games they play can be distributed. It’s probably a virtuous cycle.”

“So, because the game time they have to play is reduced, they can rest, and because they rest, the frequency of injuries decreases, and because the frequency of injuries decreases, the game time they have to play is reduced again, is that what you’re saying?”

At Tae-jin’s question, who was listening next to him, Paulo Morais nodded.

“This season, both Harvey Elliott and Fábio Carvalho have shown great potential. If these players play about 30% or 40% of the total playing time, the playing time that Thiago Alcântara or Naby Keïta have to play is greatly reduced.”

“And enough playing time is given for the prospects to grow. Liverpool has succeeded in fostering prospects this season.”

Carolina continued Paulo Morais’s words.

Thanks to this, Liverpool finally succeeded in pulling Manchester City down from the top spot in the fierce Premier League title race.

Of course, the title race was still fierce enough that the rankings could change with each game.

But now, with the Premier League trophy being awarded to the team that doesn’t make mistakes, they had to face Liverpool, who were heading to the Carabao final to secure their second trophy of the season.

“So, how do we deal with this?”

At Tae-jin’s question, the coaching staff’s gaze focused on Hyung-min, who was sighing deeply.