Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 199

199: Mika Marmol

Paolo Maldini was a legendary left-back and center-back for AC Milan. Despite his relatively modest height of 186 centimeters, his exceptional technique and extraordinary game-reading ability made him one of the greatest defenders of all time.

Physical attributes are unchangeable, but couldn’t technique and vision be improved with effort?

From that day on, Mika Marmol relentlessly practiced his skills on the training ground. He constantly sought advice from coaches and the video analysis team, tirelessly studying game footage.

Karim Adeyemi, a similar age and roommate, rose to become a world-class striker, and Nicolas Seiwald grew into a midfielder dominating the Premier League. However, Mika couldn’t match his teammates’ progress.

Instead, while he struggled to adapt to the Premier League, the coaching staff highly valued the defensive skills of Abdou Diallo, who had been signed as a center-back. Consequently, Abdou Diallo began playing more frequently as a left-back.

Naturally, Jamal Lewis, the regular left-back, found his playing time limited to cup matches and rotations.

Mika Marmol’s playing time dwindled with each passing day.

When he did play, it was only for a few minutes at the end of the second half to kill time, or in matches against weaker teams that held little significance.

It was a moment ripe for despair, but Mika Marmol remembered the manager’s words and didn’t give up.

And this season.

Even as Burnley struggled with numerous injuries, Mika Marmol seized every opportunity he was given.

Balancing the Carabao Cup and the Champions League, and forced to play more games than last season due to injuries, he silently gave his all in every match.

At least, Mika Marmol deserves a small part of the credit for Burnley’s first-place finish in their Champions League group.

Perhaps not 1/11th, but certainly more than 1/22nd.

And today.

Mika Marmol, playing his third game against Liverpool this season, muttered,

“Someday…”

“What was that?!”

Liverpool’s Colombian international striker, Luis Diaz, shouted in Spanish as he bore down on the young Burnley defender.

“¡Yo sere Maldini! (I will be Maldini!)”

“What is he saying?!”

Whether he thought it was the cry of a madman or simply didn’t understand, it didn’t matter.

The Liverpool striker, having received a long pass from Thiago that pierced through the midfield defense, was already at full speed.

In a speed battle between a defender starting with his back to the goal and an attacker facing the goal, the outcome was obvious.

And the moment the ball left the foot of Liverpool’s Spanish international midfielder Thiago, Mika Marmol had finished his calculations in his head.

Mika Marmol desperately slid his right foot forward, aiming for the opposing attacker who was trying to push the ball past him to the right.

Ideally, he would touch the ball.

If he couldn’t touch the ball, his next best option was to trip the attacker outside the penalty box and disrupt their momentum.

He risked a straight red card and ejection, but conceding an equalizer at the end of the first half would make the second half incredibly difficult.

And while Bailey Peacock-Farrell was a good goalkeeper, missing a one-on-one was more the fault of the attacker.

Mika Marmol squeezed out every last bit of effort, considering the odds, the momentum, and the positioning, and stretched out his leg, but the goddess of fortune, or perhaps the goddess of football, ignored his desperate hope.

“Aaaagh!!!”

As the home fans groaned, the Colombian international striker, slightly staggered but managing to stay on his feet, burst into the penalty box with the ball.

Mika Marmol quickly turned and got up, but the situation was already out of his hands.

With Burnley’s defense desperately chasing after him, Luis Diaz lightly dropped his shoulder to the right, feinting past the twitching young Burnley goalkeeper, and danced to the left.

“Ooooooh!!!”

As the cheering away fans leaped to their feet, the young striker, having bypassed the goalkeeper, casually pushed the ball into the empty net with his left foot and raised both hands to the sky, celebrating with the Liverpool players and fans.

Watching his teammates wear bitter or dejected expressions, Mika Marmol clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and repeated his mantra to himself.

“Yo sere Maldini. (I will be Maldini.)”

***

“It wasn’t completely bad.”

“But it wasn’t completely good either.”

Karolina retorted to Hyungmin’s words.

The day after the FA Cup match, February 1st.

The dreaded January was finally over.

Six wins and three losses in nine official matches.

In the Premier League, they had gone on a five-game winning streak, accumulating 54 points from 18 wins and 5 losses in 23 Premier League matches.

They had shaken off Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham and were now in second place.

Considering they were in a seemingly permanent 20th place at the end of September, it was a miraculous turnaround from the depths of despair, but the insurmountable ceiling above them was still a reality.

Liverpool, with 20 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss in the same 23 Premier League matches, had amassed 62 points.

Liverpool, who had inflicted three defeats on Burnley in January alone, across the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, eliminating them from both competitions, were now awaiting their first league match-up of the season, which had been postponed due to their Champions League schedule.

If Burnley lost here, Liverpool would extend their lead to an seemingly insurmountable 11 points, effectively securing the title.

On the other hand, if Burnley won, the seemingly impossible 8-point gap would narrow to a more manageable 5 points.

It wouldn’t be easy to catch up, but it wouldn’t be quite enough to declare a complete victory for the leaders.

Everyone except the Liverpool media and pundits were arguing that Burnley could strike a blow, taking advantage of Liverpool’s divided attention as they chased an unprecedented quadruple [winning four major trophies in a single season] of the Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup, and FA Cup.

However, the young manager and coaching staff of Burnley, who had suffered three defeats to Liverpool in January alone, were even more acutely aware of the gap.

And after the morning’s recovery training, Burnley’s manager and coaching staff gathered in the first-team meeting room for another heated discussion.

“But it’s clear that our performance is better when we play like this. Pressing from the front is good, but dropping the line a bit allows us to create space with pressure around the defensive midfielders.”

“That’s right. If we can get the ball forward faster from the back, it might be better to target the space behind the defense with through balls.”

Hyungmin paused the video summarizing the tactically important moments of the match and looked down at the tactics board, agreeing with Taejin’s point.

There was no more talk of being able to win, or even finding a way to win.

They just needed to play Burnley’s game on the field.

Victory and defeat would follow after that.

In a way, they had become more comfortable after realizing the hopeless gap and releasing the pressure to win or lose.

“And if we drop the line slightly, Adam can join the press or penetrate the space behind more comfortably.”

Adam Hložek was adapting well, but he hadn’t fully adjusted to the speed of the Premier League or Burnley’s pressing system.

However, he would be able to approach the game more comfortably if the pressing style was similar to what he was used to at Sparta Prague.

“But Liverpool might raise their line and try to fight us. We got caught up in that in the second half yesterday.”

Hyungmin frowned at Karolina’s point, then shook his head.

“There’s always a trade-off. Anyway, it was easier to control Liverpool’s attack when we pulled our pressing line back a bit.”

“Well, we didn’t concede three goals yesterday.”

Although slightly self-deprecating, Karolina acknowledged Hyungmin’s point.

Instead of the fierce front pressing that involved pressing even the goalkeeper, they lowered the front line and started pressing from the moment the ball came out of the penalty box.

As a result, the gap between the front and back lines narrowed, allowing the tightly packed Burnley players to control Liverpool’s attack more easily.

In other words, they prevented the usual three goals and only conceded two.

“If Niki and Patrik play in midfield with Sebastian, we won’t be pushed around in midfield like yesterday.”

Hyungmin muttered as he resumed the video.

No matter how much Liverpool rotated their midfielders, a midfield consisting of Tommaso Pobega, Luka Sučić, and Christian Medina was lacking.

However, Burnley’s midfield, led by Nicolas Seiwald and completed by Patrik de Paula and Sebastian Szymański, was confident against any team.

The best midfield combination that hadn’t played in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup due to fitness and rotation.

The coaches sitting around the meeting room table nodded in unison at Hyungmin’s hopeful words.

Taejin, watching the game footage, sighed as it reached the end of the first half.

“Still, this defensive play yesterday was a bit disappointing. Mika made a good decision, but…”

“Honestly, there was no way for the defender to stop it at that point. The midfield was completely breached with one pass.”

Karolina replied indifferently to Taejin’s admiration.

Mika Marmol’s defense was a case where the defender made a good decision but it didn’t work out, and from the head coach’s perspective, there was more dissatisfaction with the midfielders who had allowed the pass through.

A different perspective from Taejin, who oversaw the individual training of the attackers and defenders.

“Still, Mika has been improving quite a bit lately.”

Paulo Morais, who had been listening to the conversation silently, chimed in.

If you asked Burnley’s coaching staff who was the least impressive of the many promising players signed last season, they would quietly whisper ‘Mika Marmol’.

Even Jonathan Landres, who had spearheaded Mika Marmol’s signing, had muttered self-deprecatingly, “You can’t salvage them all.” The young defender who had come from Barcelona B [Barcelona’s reserve team] was struggling with the level of the Premier League.

He wasn’t physically outstanding at 182 centimeters, and his technique and game-reading sense weren’t exceptional either.

The scouting team, intoxicated by the success of Nico Gonzalez and Oscar Mingueza, had made a mistake, and that opinion was quietly gaining traction, but the young prospect overturned that assessment this season.

He silently took on his role in the defense, whether as a center-back or a left-back.

He didn’t have Luca Pellegrini’s dynamic attacking ability, Anel Ahmedhodžić’s excellent game sense, or Anselmo Garcia MacNulty’s brilliant defensive talent, but he was simply solid.

In any case, the Burnley coaching staff, who were interested in discovering and nurturing young talents, became more cheerful when talking about the player who had made the most progress compared to last season.

“Mika has definitely started to improve since I came to Burnley.”

“Is that even possible?”

Hyungmin scoffed at Taejin’s smug expression as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Mika has been working hard on his own.”

“Hey. We helped him a lot from the side, didn’t we? Especially me.”

Everyone chuckled at Taejin’s expression as he sought agreement from the other coaches sitting around the table.

“Whatever the reason, it’s fortunate that Mika is growing well.”

Everyone nodded at Paulo Morais’ words.

“There are many games in the second half of the season, so I think we can give Mika and Nathan quite a few opportunities. It may still be difficult to surpass Anel or Anselmo.”

“Well, they can just grow quickly while those two hold on at the top.”

***

“Waaaaaah~!!!”

Hyungmin ignored the enthusiastic cheers of the home fans and the Liverpool players celebrating in front of them and looked down.

“How is he?”

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any damage to the bones or muscles, but we’ll need to do a thorough examination,” Team Doctor Simon Morris replied to the manager’s worried question.

“I can… go back… on…”

“Let’s talk after you can speak properly,” Fitness Coach Paulo Morais scolded with a worried expression, standing next to Anel Ahmedhodžić, who was grimacing in pain.

Hyungmin nodded beside him.

“Let’s get him to the hospital first.”

Simon Morris and Paulo Morais nodded and disappeared into the tunnel with Anel Ahmedhodžić, who was being carried on a stretcher by the medical staff.

“Who are you going to put in?”

Karolina, who had been watching the conversation with her arms crossed and a worried expression, asked.

Glancing at the bench, Nathan Collins and Mika Marmol, the remaining center-backs, were both warming up.

And turning his head again, he saw Anselmo Garcia MacNulty standing in the middle of the defense with his hands on his hips, sighing.

The young defender of 2003, who had quickly risen to the starting lineup this season.

His face clearly showed frustration at losing his central defense partner and immediately conceding a goal.

“Let’s go with Mika.”

“Are you sure?”

Hyungmin nodded at Karolina’s question.

“Mika defended well against Liverpool’s attack in the last game. We have to hope he does the same today.”

“Okay.”

There was no more time to hold the manager and talk at length.

At Karolina’s gesture, calling out Mika Marmol’s name towards the bench, Nathan Collins hid his disappointed expression and patted Mika Marmol on the shoulder, and Mika Marmol hurriedly threw off his bib and approached the sideline.

As Karolina went to the fourth official’s seat to apply for the substitution, Hyungmin approached the young defender who was preparing to be substituted.

“You know today’s tactics, right?”

“Yes, Manager.”

He looked slightly nervous, but anyone would be nervous if they were being substituted in as a center-back at Anfield [Liverpool’s home stadium] after conceding the first goal to Liverpool.

“Mohamed Salah doesn’t seem to be in good condition today, so try to stick to him.”

“…Salah just scored the first goal, though?”

Hyungmin chuckled at the young player’s incredulous expression.

“Scoring a goal is class, and condition is form.”

“Form is temporary, class is permanent.”

Mika Marmol automatically muttered the famous quote of Liverpool’s legendary manager Bill Shankly.

“That’s right. So try to exploit him when his form is down today.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As the fourth official approached with the substitution board showing the players’ numbers, Hyungmin stepped back slightly and patted the young defender, who was not much shorter than him, on the shoulder.

“And Mika.”

“…Yes?”

The young player, just about to run onto the field, turned to face him.

Hyungmin smiled as he searched for a word in his clumsy Spanish dictionary, with a serious expression of concentration to listen to any last instructions that might come out.

“Ya eres Maldini para mi (You are already Maldini to me).”

“…!”