Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 40

40: Why is Rose Derby Here?

“This is the Rose Derby, but it’s a proxy war.”

Arthur muttered blankly, staring at the match schedule.

Premier League Round 18 against Manchester United on Wednesday, December 22nd.

Premier League Round 19 against Leeds United on Sunday, December 26th.

In fact, looking only at the schedule, there was nothing particularly unusual about Burnley having to face teams with superior power, except for one thing.

Moreover, considering that almost all teams in the Premier League are superior to Burnley in terms of objective power, it was closer to the norm.

But the problem stemmed from the schedule that fate had dealt.

The so-called Rose Derby.

Since the War of the Roses in the 15th century, the regional animosity that existed between Lancashire and Yorkshire in the northwest of England has carried over to modern football, referring to the rivalry between Leeds United and Manchester United, the football teams representing each county.

In the 1970s, when hooliganism was at its peak in British football, it led to several violent incidents, and away fans were only allowed to travel under police protection.

Of course, after Leeds United were relegated to the Championship [the second tier of English football] in the 2003/04 season, it only happened very rarely when they met in cup competitions. During that period, Manchester United fans began to consider Liverpool in Merseyside, located on the opposite side of Lancashire, as their biggest rival.

With Leeds dominating the Championship in the 2019/20 season under the guidance of renowned manager Marcelo Bielsa and succeeding in promotion, the Rose Derby was properly revived.

It would be nice if they just clashed well on their own.

The Rose Derby had nothing to do with Burnley, but as Burnley faced Manchester United and Leeds United in succession on the schedule, the media began to treat it as a proxy war of the Rose Derby.

In particular, Manchester United sacked their legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager at the end of November due to poor performance.

As the Manchester United executives, who had not yet appointed a formal manager, brought in Ralf Rangnick, considered to have designed the Red Bull football system, as interim manager until the end of the season, Manchester United fans became even more sensitive to their performance and comparisons with rivals.

Imagining the hostile atmosphere of Old Trafford, Manchester United’s home stadium, both Hyungmin and Arthur began to feel a headache coming on.

***

Old Trafford, Manchester United’s home stadium.

Boasting a total of 74,879 seats, Old Trafford is the largest home stadium for a single club in the UK, and the second largest in terms of all stadiums, after Wembley Stadium, where national team and major neutral matches are held.

Manchester United’s legendary player Sir Bobby Charlton called Old Trafford the “Theatre of Dreams.”

And legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who built Manchester United into an overwhelming powerhouse in the Premier League, turned Old Trafford into the execution ground for away teams.

However, in the ninth season since Ferguson’s retirement,

Manchester United are welcoming their fifth manager since Ferguson’s retirement, and they have not been able to boast of their previous overwhelming strength or invincibility at Old Trafford.

Even the weak Burnley Football Club won at Old Trafford in January 2020, winning an away game for the first time since 1962.

Of course, just because the 58-year-long winless record in away games was broken, it didn’t mean that away games at Old Trafford became easier for weak teams like Burnley.

“Manchester United is expected to come out with a 4-2-3-1 formation.”

Before the game started,

Hyungmin continued the final tactical briefing for the players, which was now slowly becoming a tradition.

“Manager Rangnick hasn’t fully implemented the Red Bull-style pressing at Manchester United yet. It seems that he has practically given up on his favorite 4-2-2-2 formation at this point in time.”

Hyungmin continued with a detailed explanation, pointing to the players placed on the tactical board one by one.

“The goalkeeper is obviously David de Gea. The defenders, from the left, are Luke Shaw, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, and surprisingly, Victor Lindelöf came out. Judging from the fact that Aaron Wan-Bissaka or other side defenders are not on the game roster at all, it seems that they are excluded due to injuries. Since Victor Lindelöf’s offensive power is weak, it seems that spreading out on the side will probably be concentrated on the left.”

Hyungmin continued.

“The central midfielders are Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay, but Pogba will advance and McTominay will defend. Simple, right? And then there are four in the attack, with Cristiano Ronaldo at the forefront, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga on the left and right. And the attacking midfielder is Bruno Fernandes.”

“Then should we focus on blocking Fernandes?”

It was captain Ben Mee who raised his hand and asked.

As the players listened intently, Hyungmin shook his head.

“No. There’s no point in focusing solely on an attacking midfielder against a team like Manchester United that can develop attacks with various players. Rather…”

Hyungmin tapped the lower part of the central midfield on the tactical board.

“Nicky.”

“…Yes!”

Nicholas Seiwald, who didn’t expect to be called, answered in surprise.

“Make sure to hold McTominay down.”

“McTominay?”

Nicholas Seiwald rarely questioned the manager’s instructions to give up other offensive players and take charge of the opponent’s defensive midfielder.

As other players made puzzled expressions, Hyungmin nodded.

“Obviously, we’re going to lose the ball when we develop an attack. And since Pogba has a strong tendency to advance, he’ll try to go up and receive the ball rather than come down and develop it. Because he’s a player who has a lot of desire for attack.”

Hyungmin pulled the two markers indicating the left and right side attackers next to Cristiano Ronaldo’s marker, which was marked as the front-line attacker.

“In practical terms, Manchester United has no choice but to transform into a formation close to 3-1-3-3 in attack. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga both have a strong offensive tendency and are concentrated in the center, so there are three at the forefront, including Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Hyungmin pulled the marker indicating Pogba, the central midfielder, almost to the same line as Bruno Fernandes, the attacking midfielder, on the tactical board, and pulled Luke Shaw, the left defender, back to the same line as them.

“In the second line, there are three more people: Luke Shaw, who came up from defense, Bruno Fernandes, and Pogba. Moreover, all three of these people are so aggressive that they go up to the front line. No, should I say that they have little awareness of defense except for Luke Shaw?”

Only one mark remained in the central midfield, marking Scott McTominay.

“Anyway, there’s only one left in the third line. So, probabilistically, there is a high possibility that the attack will be developed through McTominay at least once, and if we block McTominay there, the stream of passes will be cut off. Brownie, Jacob, you can also check McTominay with Nicky.”

As Nicholas Seiwald nodded with an understanding expression, Hyungmin smiled faintly, hiding the dryness in his mouth, and looked around the locker room.

“Okay, let’s go and show them a great game!”

5 minutes into the first half.

Manchester United’s left attacker, Marcus Rashford, advanced while passing the ball back and forth with Luke Shaw, Manchester United’s left defender, who had come up to support him.

The moment Marcus Rashford, who had the ball, was about to start breaking through towards Burnley’s goal near the corner flag,

Rashford’s back foot got caught on the foot extended by Burnley’s right defender, Matt Lowton, and he fell.

A trivial situation in which an indirect free kick is given near Burnley’s penalty box along with a verbal warning from the referee.

The distance is only a little closer than a normal corner kick, but the actual angle is not particularly better.

Manchester United’s players didn’t seem to think it was a special opportunity, leaving a sufficient number of players behind to prepare for a counterattack, and only tall players who were confident in set pieces flocked into Burnley’s penalty box.

“It’s coming!”

The ball kicked by Manchester United’s attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes with his right foot gently swirled and rose towards Burnley’s goal box.

Burnley’s central defender duo, James Tarkowski and Nathan Collins, were clinging to Cristiano Ronaldo, who was judged to be the most threatening in the set-piece situation, and pressing him 2-on-1.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo, who had shared the title of the world’s best football player for the past 10 years, and now deserves the title of veteran, did not hide his majesty and revealed it.

He shook off both of Burnley’s two central defenders who were sticking to him and scored a header with his trademark high jump.

As the shocked Burnley defenders looked on with bewildered expressions, the scorer who ran to the corner flag roared along with his trademark goal celebration.

“Goal, it’s a goal~! Manchester United’s number 7, that name is~!”

“Cristiano Ronaldo~!!!”

In response to this, the home fans responded with cheers to the stadium announcer’s cry.

Watching the Manchester United players who flocked to the corner flag and celebrated, Hyungmin clicked his tongue, but quickly hid his expression and applauded and encouraged his players, who were making regretful expressions.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! Just do it as planned!”

Arthur approached Hyungmin’s side, looking at the players who seemed to be slightly suppressed by the shouts of about 70,000 home fans at Old Trafford.

“Will it be okay?”

Hyungmin shrugged at Arthur’s worried words.

There weren’t many cards given to him in the first place, and since he had made the best choice, he could only expect the players to perform well.

Of course, his stomach, which had been completely emptied all night, complained that his reason and emotions were talking about opposing things.

The score was already 0-1 in the 5th minute of the first half.

The Manchester United players, who had scored the first goal, began to rush in to solidify their victory, and the Burnley players were forced to concentrate only on defense, trapped in their own territory by Manchester United’s fierce attack, which had the enthusiastic support of the home fans on their backs.

Several more corner kick situations were given, but fortunately, Burnley’s players succeeded in clearing them first, avoiding conceding any further goals.

However, Burnley was unable to properly deploy the front-line pressure they had been proud of, and was forced to defend unilaterally, trapped in their own territory.

Then came the 12th minute of the first half.

Finally, the moment that Hyungmin and the Burnley players had endured and waited for while enduring Manchester United’s fierce attack arrived.