Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 181

181: Counterattack

Even after conceding two goals in the first half, Arsenal continued to be thoroughly dominated.

It seemed that Eddie Howe’s plan was to implement total defense and total offense within a 4-4-2 formation, with the defensive and midfield lines maintaining a tight gap and moving up and down organically, but it completely failed.

First of all, Arsenal’s midfielders are too aggressive.

Martin Ødegaard already has an offensive tendency, positioned somewhere between an attacking midfielder and a forward, and Emil Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, who played as left and right midfielders, are closer to wingers or attacking midfielders.

At least Thomas Partey is struggling defensively in midfield, but he is also a player whose strength is his excellent passing ability, not a combative defensive midfielder like Nicolas Seiwald who can control the midfield alone.

On top of that, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, and even Gabriel Magalhães among the defenders all have a strong tendency to move forward.

In fact, all players except goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, right-back Ben White, and midfielder Thomas Partey try to break the line and move forward whenever they have the chance, and Arsenal’s forward press is not sophisticated and organized enough to handle such an aggressive stance.

As a result, after conceding two goals in the first half at home and being dragged down, the desperate Arsenal players were playing separately to score a consolation goal, while Burnley players pressed from the front to steal the ball and gleefully ravaged the space behind.

The only reason they didn’t concede more goals was thanks to the dedicated and sometimes tearful saves of Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale.

As the referee’s whistle signaled the end of the first half, the Arsenal players, led by their goalkeeper, who looked as if he had poured out all the super saves a typical goalkeeper would show in a season during the 45 minutes of the first half, disappeared into the home team’s locker room, completely exhausted.

“We need to be careful, don’t you think?”

Karolina said as she walked through the tunnel with Hyungmin towards the away team’s locker room.

“The kids are too excited.”

“I know. It’s good that the memory of defeat has already disappeared…”

“But this isn’t it.”

Hyungmin wore a troubled expression.

Pouring cold water on their momentum is dangerous, but running wild like a runaway horse is also dangerous.

Moreover, seeing the worried expression on Eddie Howe’s face, who was guarding the home team’s technical area, there is a high possibility that he will make a desperate move in the second half.

No, if the team’s performance is hitting rock bottom and they are in danger of suffering a complete defeat at home, isn’t it natural to make a desperate move?

Hyungmin sighed and nodded.

“…I’ll give them a warning.”

***

“Waaaaa!!!”

The Emirates Stadium was filled with the cheers of the home fans for the first time in today’s game.

Although he failed to score, Arsenal’s young ace, who succeeded in threatening Burnley’s goal, raised one hand to thank the crowd and lightly jogged towards the defense.

The movement of the Arsenal players receding like a tide is definitely lighter than in the first half.

“Tch.”

Hyungmin clicked his tongue.

Bukayo Saka, who had been suffering from minor injuries since the preseason and had not been able to get back into form, was showing off his recovered form against Burnley of all teams.

Of course, he has not fully recovered the form he had when he was evaluated as a top-level attacker in the Premier League and compared to Burnley’s Karim Adeyemi.

The shot just now would have led to a goal despite Burnley goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi’s desperate defense last season.

However, as Arsenal’s attack completely revived, the other players also seemed to have come to their senses and were showing organic movement.

Arsenal, who lost Reiss Nelson, reverted to the 4-2-3-1 formation that they had mainly used for the past two seasons.

With Gabriel Jesus maintaining his position as a central striker at the forefront, Amine Gouiri, who formed a two-top with him, moved down to the attacking midfielder position, and Emil Smith Rowe, who was the left midfielder, moved forward to take the left attacker position.

The midfield was still composed of Martin Ødegaard and Thomas Partey.

By gathering Arsenal players more densely in the center, they restricted the movement of Nicolas Seiwald and Patrick De Paula, who had devastated the midfield during the first half, and suppressed the tendency of players to move forward.

It becomes difficult to move forward easily when there is a teammate right in front of you.

It’s like building obstacles for yourself, but it was Bukayo Saka who solved that frustration, starting as a right attacker with the start of the second half.

Dribbling, shooting, crossing.

He is fast, agile, and has excellent activity and fighting spirit in all the techniques that a winger should have.

The Burnley players were constantly backing down due to the outstanding performance of the young attacker, as if he had completely overcome the early part of the season when he was suffering from minor injuries.

“Move forward! Move forward and press! Attack more than defend! Attack more than defend!”

Hyungmin shouted from the technical area, encouraging the Burnley players, but the momentum had already been broken once.

And the home fans, who had been quiet during the miserable game in the first half, felt that a comeback was possible and were sending enthusiastic support.

“Hello! Hello! We are the Arsenal boys!”

“And if you are a Tottenham fan, surrender or you die!”

“We all follow the Arsenal!”

“Damn it, we’re not even Tottenham.”

Taejin, who walked out to the technical area and stood next to Hyungmin, muttered as if he was annoyed.

Of course, he is well aware of the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham, and he also knows that football fans’ chants are sung regardless of the opponent.

Hyungmin, who knows that it is an expression of annoyance at the situation on the field where the atmosphere has completely shifted even though they are leading 2-0 rather than a complaint about the chant, shook his head.

“We need to change something.”

“Should we make a substitution?”

Hyungmin glanced at the bench over his shoulder and wore a troubled expression.

From now until the end of December, there will be two games every week.

10 games in 5 weeks.

The Premier League, where we need to accumulate more points, is important, and the Champions League, where we can secure the opportunity to secure first place in the group, is also important.

Midfielders like Tommaso Pobega need to save their energy for the Champions League game in 4 days, and the attacking line, which has become thinner due to injuries, is even more so.

We need to save one of the attackers to replace Emmanuel Vignato, who has not yet fully adapted to the pace of the Premier League anyway.

“Let’s continue as we are for now.”

“Will it be okay?”

Taejin muttered, looking at the Burnley players who had a slightly dazed expression.

Hyungmin sighed deeply at his friend’s expression.

“We have to hope that Niki quickly comes to his senses and corrects the kids.”

“Well, this is all experience.”

The veteran coach, who had worn the captain’s armband for his club and national team, muttered.

***

“Niki?!”

“What the f***!”

Burnley’s captain and starting midfielder Nicolas Seiwald cursed at the cry of astonishment from behind, but it was already too late.

Arsenal’s attacking midfielder Amine Gouiri, who elegantly succeeded in a Marseille turn [a 360-degree turn used to evade a defender] right in front of him and escaped Burnley’s black hole, quickly and sharply passed to the front line.

“F***! F***! F***!”

The curses continued to pour out, but Nicolas Seiwald, who was desperately running towards the penalty box, was already aware that it was too late.

They were counterattacked while trying to counterattack.

It was Burnley’s specialty, known for its extreme activity and forward pressure, but this time they were completely hit in reverse.

The situation where the ball was taken away while all of the attacking line, most of the midfielders, and even the fullbacks were rushing forward.

Even worse, it was Nicolas Seiwald himself who lost the ball.

It is rare for Nicolas Seiwald to lose the ball so easily, so rare that you can count it on both hands in the past two and a half seasons.

And not being able to recover the ball immediately or break the flow of the game with a foul… is this the first time?

Arsenal’s left attacker Bukayo Saka, who avoided the desperate defense of Burnley’s center backs Anel Ahmedhodžić and Anselmo Garcia MacNulty, faced Burnley’s goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi in a one-on-one situation.

The Italian goalkeeper, who had put on a save show no less than the opposing team’s goalkeeper even in the reversed atmosphere of the second half, quickly came out of the goal in a hurry, narrowing the shooting angle.

One step, no, just one breath further, and the ball would be in Marco Carnesecchi’s arms.

“Ahhh!!!”

Exclamations and sighs erupted simultaneously from the stands.

The ace from Arsenal’s youth academy, facing the goalkeeper who was desperately throwing his body, lightly pushed the ball to the left with the outside of his left foot without any greed.

The place where the ball, which had been pushed along the grass, was headed was in front of Emil Smith Rowe’s feet, who was penetrating into the penalty box on the same line as Bukayo Saka.

An empty goal and the opposing team’s goalkeeper sliding on the grass with a blank expression, looking at him.

And the opposing team’s defense, which did not even recognize his existence because they were chasing after their teammate who was breaking through the front of the penalty box.

Emil Smith Rowe, from Arsenal’s youth academy, who had a perfect opportunity, received the pass from his friend and lightly swung his right foot towards the empty goal, just like he had done hundreds of times in the training ground.

“Uwaaaa!!!”

Just in case, Nicolas Seiwald looked at the assistant referee, but the flag was down and did not move.

Frankly, even if you look at the VAR [Video Assistant Referee], the result is unlikely to be different.

While the home fans at the Emirates Stadium, who scored a consolation goal, jumped up from their seats all at once, waving their fists and shouting, the person who scored the goal ran into the goal with great speed without slowing down at all, picked up the ball, and came out.

Nicolas Seiwald wore a blank expression as he watched the backs of Arsenal’s attacking line heading towards the center circle with gritted teeth.

“What the f***…”

Burnley is still leading 2-1, but despair, as if they had already lost, was growing in his heart.