Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 44

44. Why is Rose Derby Here?

“I don’t think Nicky can play in the second half.”

Hyungmin frowned at the quiet words of Simon Morris, the team doctor.

“Is it an injury?”

“It’s not an injury, but he’s getting muscle cramps. As you know, the game intervals have been too close, and our structure puts a lot of strain on the defensive midfielders. It’s reached a dangerous level. He’ll collapse if he plays a little more.”
The absence of defensive midfielder Nicholas Seywald, who excels at pressing opponents to win the ball in defensive situations, protecting the ball, and connecting it to the attack again, was a painful blow.

However, with less than half of the entire season completed, it would be a critical hit for Burnley, whose squad was already thin, if irreplaceable player Seywald suffered a long-term injury.

Hyungmin sighed and accepted the team doctor’s unspoken request.

“Okay. He can’t get injured, so please tell Nicky that he’ll be substituted immediately.”

After finishing the conversation with the team doctor, Hyungmin headed to Jack Cork, who was sitting on one side of the locker room.

He had deliberately put the already transferred vice-captain on the bench to have him come on as a substitute at the end of the game and say goodbye to the home fans…

As the situation was, he had no choice but to use the available cards.

“Jack, today is your last game… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just heard from Simon. Nicholas will have a hard time playing until the second half. Jacob’s defense would be unstable if he went in there.”

Hyungmin nodded as he watched the veteran refasten his protective gear and tape over his socks.

“I’m going to give the team a quick instruction, so just listen to that and go out and warm up.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry, Jack.”

Burnley’s veteran midfielder, Jack Cork, looked up at Burnley’s young manager, who was full of apologies, and smiled.

“Don’t worry. Jack Cork is a Burnley Football Club player until January 1, 2022. And I think I’d feel better if I won my last home game.”

“Haa… Thank you.”

As the players took their places, Hyungmin went to the tactical board and quickly began to explain.

“Okay, we’re going to adjust our approach a bit in the second half. First of all, I’m going to reduce the intensive pressure on their midfielder, Kalvin Phillips. The goal was to disrupt their build-up, but instead, their defenders are bypassing Phillips and proceeding directly, which is only creating bigger gaps on our side. I’m sorry, that was my mistake.”

As the players focused more on the manager’s honest apology, Hyungmin moved the positions of the players on the tactical board to narrow the gaps.

“Instead, we need to pass the ball faster in the second half. We can’t get dragged into a running contest with Leeds. They’ve been building up their stamina for several seasons, and we’ve only been focusing on stamina training for three months.”

Hyungmin moved the magnet that marked the ball around the tactical board, demonstrating the movement of the ball while the players remained relatively fixed in place.

“The ball is faster than people, so the ball has to move, not the people. The key is to make them run more and us run less by circulating the ball as quickly as possible. We have to wear them down while minimizing our own stamina consumption. Stand closer together and keep moving into positions where you can receive passes. We’re using our stamina for positioning, not sprinting.”
The players understood the manager’s instructions, but the Burnley squad still looked worried as they looked at their young manager.

“But wouldn’t it be a bit much to try and play tiki-taka [a style of play characterized by short passing and movement] with our team?”

Veteran striker Chris Wood pointed out on behalf of the squad, but Hyungmin shook his head.

“We may not be able to play a passing game like Man City, but I think there’s a higher probability of exhausting their stamina with a passing game than winning a series of running contests with those guys.”

“I guess so.”

As the players nodded in agreement with the manager’s explanation, Hyungmin continued.

“Remember, time is on our side. We’re one goal behind right now, but as time goes on, they’ll get more tired, so there will be a chance to score an equalizer.”

As Hyungmin’s tactical changes came to an end, captain Ben Mee, who had been listening intently, stood up and shouted.

“Good. We just need to trust the manager and follow his instructions. Let’s show them what we’re made of in the second half!”

The players stood up together and shouted.

“Forever and ever! Who are we?”

“We are Burnley!”

***

Helena let out a sigh of relief as she sent the last email.

She had hoped that work would decrease because it was the end of the year and the Christmas season.

Employees working at European football clubs were busy preparing for the winter transfer market, which opens on January 1.

In addition, due to the nature of English football, which doesn’t stop games even during the Christmas season, there was a tendency for work to increase.

Of course, from a marketing perspective, it was much better to play games while people were enjoying the holidays, but the club’s employees and players were also people, so it was a shame that they couldn’t spend time with their families during the holiday season that everyone else was enjoying.

Of course, Helena, who was focusing on work away from her family in a foreign land, had nothing to do with that.

From the CEO’s point of view, she reviewed the current status of the club’s general operations and marketing written by Mike Garlick and John Banaszkiewicz.

From the CFO’s point of view, she set up forecasts by reflecting the numbers from marketing, club merchandise sales, and game revenue on the salaries and bonuses of players and employees that were being spent each month.

Today’s work was barely finished by neatly organizing all of this content and sending it as an official report to the major shareholder, Cartwright Fund.

As Helena forcefully closed her laptop and mentally said goodbye to work for the day, she suddenly heard a familiar word from the TV next to her.

“…Burnley’s tactics can be seen as almost completely exposed. As the players’ motivation following the change of manager has waned, Burnley has returned to being an ordinary team.”

In the end, Burnley lost to Leeds on Boxing Day [December 26th] and drew with Southampton on the 28th, failing to win at least one of the two games as they had hoped.

In particular, the draw against Southampton was painful, as they had previously defeated them 5-2 in the first half of the season, a victory that had initially impressed Hyungmin’s “jungle football” style on the media, making the current disappointment even greater.

Of course, the media saw this as a good opportunity and were now busy tearing apart the young manager they had previously praised.

“Certainly, their record over the past 10 games is 3 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses. They were also eliminated from the Carabao Cup [EFL Cup] in the quarterfinals, losing to Norwich, who were considered inferior. It is clear that the initial momentum has significantly waned.”

“It seems that Kim’s tactical capabilities are showing their limits at the Premier League level.”

On Helena’s office TV, a late-night sports soccer talk show was being broadcast.

Former players and managers were discussing various topics.

She had turned it on because she was bored while working and disliked the silence, but while she was focused on her work and ignoring it, it seemed that her Burnley had been chosen as the topic to be dissected today.

Helena was about to turn off the TV, inwardly scoffing at them as dogs barking without knowing anything, when she heard something that caught her attention.

“…It’s not common sense.”

“What’s not common sense?”

At the host’s question, an elderly panelist who was a former player and manager smiled and shook his head.

“The criticism of the manager is not common sense.”

The other panelists and the host looked at the old man’s comment with curious expressions.

“Burnley was a team that was considered the number one candidate for relegation before the start of the season. The existing owner went bankrupt, and the ownership was forcibly changed. Sean Dyche, who had led the team for eight seasons, resigned along with all of his staff.”

“So?”

At the host’s urging, the old man continued to explain.

“But without proper player reinforcements, they climbed up to second place in October. Karim Adeyemi? Hannibal Mejbri? Nicholas Seywald? They are all excellent players, but they are all on loan. And they brought in young players who are not even 20 years old without a technical director or a scouting team.”
The old man on the screen pointed to Burnley on the Premier League standings table that appeared on the background screen.

“It doesn’t matter whether Burnley’s current performance is all Kim’s achievement or whether the players have worked hard. The important thing is that a weak team that was ranked number one for relegation before the season is now in 6th place after playing 20 games. Look at the teams below Burnley: Leicester, Wolverhampton, Chelsea, West Ham, Everton. Burnley is a much smaller club than all of them. Basically, it’s not that a team that should be in the top 4 has fallen to 6th place, but that a team that should be in 20th place is doing well in 6th place.”
The old man looked around at the panelists and finished his point.

“Perhaps Burnley’s board of directors set the goal of avoiding relegation this season. They have earned 36 points so far and are in 6th place. There are 18 games left in the league, so unless a natural disaster occurs, Burnley will safely avoid relegation, and all that remains for them is how high they can finish the season.”

While the other panelists, who had been happily criticizing Burnley, were embarrassed by the old man’s rebuke, Helena smiled and turned off the TV, feeling much better.

The Banfield Training Center in Burnley was deserted because most of the players and staff were given a short Christmas vacation.

As Helena turned off the lights in her office and was about to leave the darkened club office, she noticed another office with the lights still on.

Helena, who usually demonstrated her workaholic tendencies by arriving at work the earliest and leaving the latest among the club’s employees, became curious about who was leaving later than her and approached the room.

The place where the light was leaking out through the slightly open door was the office of Burnley’s young manager, who had been heavily criticized on TV until just now.

“…Kim?”

“Oh, Helena? You haven’t left yet.”

Helena immediately understood the situation when she saw Hyungmin’s slightly awkward smile and the newly opened bottle of whiskey on the table in front of the sofa.

“…Kim.”

“Ah, it’s really nothing. I just couldn’t sleep…”

*No, not being able to sleep is also a problem, but…*

Helena decided to address the more important issue first.