Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 141

141: OGC Nice

“Which representative?”

Taejin clicked his tongue and shook his head at his friend’s question.

“It’s none of my business, but even if you were a star player back in school, you’re making it too obvious that you’re pretending not to notice.”

“…Is that so.”

The married man nodded at the bachelor’s mutter.

“If you’re going to reject her, you should do it cleanly. Dragging it on like this isn’t polite. It was okay when you didn’t know, but now you must be catching on, right?”

“Hmm…”

Hyeongmin, who had little experience with romance, let alone office romance, wore a troubled expression.

“If you don’t like her, just meet her and tell her clearly that you appreciate the interest but you’re not interested.”

‘Okay, here I should ask what to do if he *does* like her, right?’

Hyeongmin frowned at his friend’s subtle leading question.

“Hey, you…”

“Curious? Of course, I’m curious.”

The married man with two kids leaned back on the sofa, speaking leisurely.

“There has to be some fun in a town like Burnley where there’s nothing else to do, right?”

“Hey!”

Taejin, ignoring the flared-up Hyeongmin, chuckled and asked,

“So, what do you want to do?”

“I’m not talking to you!”

“Looks to me like you’re not completely uninterested?”

“Agh!”

If he were just a coach in training and not a playing coach, he would have sent him back to Korea immediately, regardless of any cooperation requests from the two countries’ football associations!

Realizing that there was no alternative to Jeong Taejin as a forward, Hyeongmin trembled with anger. Taejin stretched his arms over the back of the sofa and leisurely crossed his legs.

“Come on, beg this older brother to impart his secrets of love. Hehehe!”

“Get lost!”

***

When the players returned from their special break, they were greeted by a sulky manager, a chief coach who flinched and glanced over his shoulder, and Taejin and Paulo Morais, who seemed to share a secret and looked at the manager with proud expressions, all waiting for them.

So, while the training wasn’t necessarily more relaxed, the atmosphere on the training ground itself was bright.

Compared to the sixteen games they had played from late December to late February after the winter break due to the Qatar World Cup, there were only four games scheduled in March, thanks to the national team call-up period lasting two weeks from the last week of March to early April.

Two Premier League games against Newcastle and Leicester, one game each.

One FA Cup 5th round game against Chelsea.

But the most important was the Europa League Round of 16 second leg against OGC Nice.

It was the second leg, but since the first leg was against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), this match was essentially a one-off.

Coincidentally, OGC Nice was the team that PSG’s coach, Christophe Galtier, had led until the previous season, taking them to the Europa League.

“We beat PSG, so we can easily handle Nice, right?”

First team meeting room.

Hyeongmin and Carolina stared at Taejin, who spoke confidently, with indifferent expressions.

“Hey, do you think the world is as easy as you think?”

Hyeongmin’s reply was laced with something sharp.

“Taejin, don’t raise such ominous death flags and shut up.”

This was Carolina’s polite warning, filled with anxiety.

Taejin grinned and opened his laptop, displaying the data he had compiled on the large screen.

Just because he was a coach in training or a playing coach didn’t mean he would neglect his duties as a coach.

Hyeongmin and Carolina wouldn’t tolerate that, and Taejin himself didn’t want it.

So, it was Taejin who analyzed Nice’s strengths and weaknesses, instead of Hyeongmin and Carolina, who had been racking their brains to prepare for the Carabao Cup final.

“Basically, Nice uses a 4-2-3-1 formation. Well, everyone knows that.”

Taejin started explaining as he flipped through the slides, and Hyeongmin and Carolina began to concentrate on his explanation.

“The problem is…”

***

[The problem is you run your mouth too much!]

Hyeongmin, standing in the technical area, shouted towards the field, but no one understood him.

Of course, Taejin, who was battling with the opposing team’s defenders at the front, wouldn’t have heard him.

“Ah, I should have shut that guy’s mouth!”

“Hmm… the basic tactics themselves weren’t wrong, were they?”

Carolina, who had come to Hyeongmin’s side, muttered while looking at the field.

“Actually, no one knew this kind of slugfest would break out.”

The home team’s technical area at OGC Nice’s home stadium, Allianz Riviera, where the hot sun was already starting to beat down in March, was as busy as a disturbed beehive.

Nice’s veteran coach, Lucien Favre, was also sweating profusely, repeatedly consulting with his coaching staff.

“Ah, I should have known when that guy raised the death flag that Nice would be *harder* than PSG!”

The tactics were based on Taejin’s proposal, with Hyeongmin and Carolina adding only a few details.

Thanks to Taejin’s suggestion that Nice’s defense looked lax at the beginning of the game, Nicolas Seiwald’s surprise long-range shot went in as soon as the game started, putting them ahead by one goal.

In addition, Benjamin Šeško, who moved actively in front of the goal, taking advantage of the fact that one of the central defenders was slow, scored an additional goal in the first half, and honestly, they thought the game was over when it ended 2-0.

Taejin, having confirmed that his tactics were working properly, was elated.

So, in order to manage the stamina of the players who had been exhausted in the Carabao Cup and not overdo it, he made early substitutions at halftime….

…Damn it, as soon as the second half started, Nice, gritting their teeth, changed their formation to 4-4-2, brought in an additional striker, and scored two goals in a row in seven minutes, leading to a slugfest.

When Karim Adeyemi was hurriedly brought in to score a goal and take the lead again, Nice’s coach Lucien Favre also didn’t stay put, immediately substituting in striker Andy Delort and scoring an equalizer.

Now the score is a thrilling 3-3.

“Agh… what substitutions do we have now?”

“Cards to change the flow of the game? We don’t have any?”

Benjamin Šeško was substituted out for Jeong Taejin, and there are no resources left on the bench to upgrade Dwight McNeil, who is already on the field.

Karim Adeyemi, who had been notified that he would be resting today and was lounging leisurely on the bench, hurriedly warmed up and was already substituted in for Joe Gelhardt and scored a goal.

“Oh, sorry…”

It was extremely rare for Paulo Morais to come out to the technical area, so Hyeongmin and Carolina tensed up at the same time.

“Dwight needs to be substituted out soon. Actually, it was a bit much for him to play in today’s game… he’s been in the red zone for a while.”

“Ugh…”

Hyeongmin covered his face as if in pain, but limiting Dwight McNeil’s playing time to about sixty minutes was something everyone had agreed on before the game even started.

“Tell Max [Max Cornet] to prepare for substitution. I’ll talk to the fourth official.”

Carolina answered instead, and Paulo Morais nodded and hurried back to the bench.

***

To take responsibility.

That was the thought that came to Taejin’s mind.

In fact, no one, especially Hyeongmin, would ever think that way.

The tactic proposed by the coach was the best tactic, and the manager who chose it would supplement it and take responsibility for the results.

Hyeongmin’s sharp attitude of never blaming others when a tactic failed was admirable.

And in fact, the first half ended with Taejin’s tactics working perfectly, with Lucien Favre’s face furrowed and a 2-0 lead.

Responding to the opposing team’s tactical changes in the second half was the manager’s area, not the area of the coach who proposed the first tactic.

In fact, even though Hyeongmin, who was grumbling in the technical area, was spewing all sorts of curses, Taejin could feel that he wasn’t cursing his tactics.

He was probably just cursing his own loose mouth for predicting an easy game compared to PSG.

But what good is it if the manager doesn’t blame the tactics, when *I’m* the one feeling responsible?

While self-reproach and responsibility each took up half the space and fought inside, Taejin’s eyes caught sight of Carolina and Paulo running busily in the technical area.

Soon after, he saw Max Cornet warming up on the sidelines, and he could understand the situation.

They were probably thinking of replacing Dwight McNeil, who was already breathing heavily on the left.

They couldn’t afford to lose one wing when there were still three months left in the season.

And with Dwight McNeil, unable to hide his exhaustion, leaving the sidelines with a light handshake and hug, and Max Cornet, full of energy, running onto the field, the thought of making up for the situation came to Taejin’s mind.

“Max! Come here!”

“Yes!”

Taejin, having confirmed that Max Cornet, who was running onto the field, was slightly changing direction towards him, smiled as he looked around.

That’s what’s good about being a playing coach.

You can immediately put into action what you think of on the field.

“Hoo…”

Taejin, having given Max Cornet brief instructions, took a long breath and bumped into Nice’s central defender, Jean-Clair Todibo.

There wasn’t enough time to give instructions directly to the other players, and the risk of the opponent noticing the plan was too high.

He had to hope that Hyeongmin and Carolina, who were watching him from the technical area, would read the plan on their own.

Thud!

“Khuk!”

The tall, young defender let out a painful groan at Taejin’s rush, but he stood his ground without budging.

Jean-Clair Todibo, twenty-three years old this year.

After going through the Toulouse FC youth team, he joined Barcelona, one of the two powerhouses of the Spanish Primera Liga [Spanish First Division], at the young age of eighteen.

Although he failed to secure a position in the first team at Barcelona and spent time on loan before eventually leaving for Nice, the young French defender was emerging as one of the top defenders in Ligue 1 [French First Division] this season as he turned twenty-three.

Honestly, he was just too young to withstand the pressure of Barcelona.

From an objective point of view, he should be proud of the growth of the young prospect who overcame such setbacks, but right now, Taejin was too busy trying to break through the opposing defender who was pushing back his rush to care about that.

[Damn it, get out of the way quickly!]

The young defender was immediately hooked by Taejin’s annoyed remark, uttered in Spanish, which he had honed during his time in the Primera Liga.

[You get out of the way, old man!]

[Old man?!]

In Spanish, it sounds like ‘ajusshi’ [a Korean term for middle-aged man] at first glance, but it can also be interpreted as ‘old man’ or ‘elder’.

[Oh ho, this kid…]

Taejin, suddenly feeling very *kkondae* [*kkondae* is a Korean slang term referring to an older person who is condescending or patronizing], decided to teach this young man, who lacked these four virtues, a lesson.

Just in time, Gu-ga, having received instructions from Hyeongmin who had recognized Taejin’s plan, was rushing fiercely along the sidelines towards the corner flag, penetrating to the front line.

“Gu-ga! Over here!”

“Okay!”

With a shout for a pass, Taejin pretended to move to the right, then suddenly changed direction and moved to the left.

And the Nice defense line began to shake as the opposing team’s veteran striker, who had already pushed into the penalty box and was making a mess of the defense line, moved.