Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 5

5. The End and the Beginning

[Aaaht! McNeil! McNeil is digging in again on the left!]

The commentator’s shout was echoed by the analyst.

[To the right! They need to connect to the right!]

[McNeil crosses! Taking advantage of Everton’s defense being drawn to the left, Jay Rodriguez heads the ball from the right, completely unmarked!]

[Ah, Everton’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford makes a great save! He should have put that away!]

As the analyst lamented the missed opportunity, the commentator continued his play-by-play.

[Jay Rodriguez seems to know it too, raising his hand to apologize to his teammates.]

[Burnley’s interim manager is out of the dugout, clapping and encouraging the players. Burnley players are also pressing forward again instead of dropping deep.]

[I never imagined Burnley would play like this. Instead of falling back and locking down defensively, they’re pressing all the way forward.]

As the commentator shook his head in amazement, the analyst attempted to provide some context.

[I heard the interim manager coached the youth team at RB Salzburg. Maybe Sean Dyche brought him in with the idea of incorporating Red Bull’s pressing style into Burnley’s tactics.]

[In any case, unlike usual, Burnley players are rushing to actively disrupt Everton’s build-up from the back!]

The analyst, the fans, and even the opposing team’s players, who were used to Burnley’s defensive style of play – retreating, defending firmly, and launching long balls forward upon regaining possession – were shocked by Burnley’s sudden change in approach.

Burnley’s attack and midfield paid no attention to the opposing team’s mental state, pushing deep into Everton’s territory and pressing intensely to disrupt their ball movement.

Burnley’s left and right wingers, Dwight McNeil and Jay Rodriguez, respectively pressured Everton’s right and left fullbacks, Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne, preventing them from easily receiving the ball.

And as Hyungmin instructed, Burnley’s central striker, Chris Wood, ignored Everton’s two central defenders, Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina, who were pointlessly passing the ball back and forth. Instead, Wood effectively blocked the passing lanes to the midfield.

As Everton tried to build up play by passing from side to side in their own half, they were pushed further and further back by Burnley’s three forwards’ aggressive pressing. They failed to advance the ball forward, only increasing their meaningless possession through passes among the defenders.

When Everton’s frustrated midfielders dropped deeper from the center to receive the ball, Burnley’s midfielders diligently followed them.

Then, naturally, the gap between Everton’s attack and defense widened, and the pressure that Everton players were trying to avoid was intensified due to the densely packed players from both teams in Everton’s territory.

“To me!”

Eventually, Everton’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, unable to withstand the pressure any longer, received a pass from central defender Yerry Mina and launched a long ball upfield.

“James!”

“Mind your own business!”

In response to captain Ben Mee’s shout to coordinate the defensive line, Burnley’s central defender James Tarkowski, positioned to win the aerial ball, jumped into the air while retorting good-naturedly.

With numerical and height advantages, Burnley’s defense, led by captain Ben Mee, effectively prevented the opposing striker, Calvert-Lewin, from reaching the ball’s landing point.

Meanwhile, defender James Tarkowski, who comfortably controlled the ball, lightly passed it to Burnley’s right back, Matt Lowton, with his right foot, once again triggering a Burnley attack.

“I never thought this would be possible…”

In the 31st minute of the first half, Burnley’s veteran midfielder Jack Cork muttered in disbelief as he watched the game unfold from the center of the pitch, just as the interim manager had predicted, recalling the previous afternoon.

“Okay, basically, it’s a high press, but we can’t actually steal the ball every time. However, the forwards should block the passing lanes and pressure the player with the ball so they can’t build up comfortably from the back with short passes.”

Hyungmin moved the ball-shaped magnet on the tactical board from the opponent’s defense to Burnley’s defense.

“Then the opponent will kick the ball long, and our defense will receive it – either Ben, James, or Jack – and then connect it to the left or right again.”

“Pressing from the front requires us to push the defensive line quite far forward, doesn’t it?”

It was the final tactical briefing on the afternoon before the opening game.

As the first team players listened attentively to the interim manager’s instructions, right back Matt Lowton raised a valid concern, and the defenders and midfielders nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. We raise the defensive line and use the offside trap. Now that we have VAR [Video Assistant Referee], we can assume that we’ll almost never concede a goal due to the referee’s mistake if we maintain our line well.”

“Will it be okay?”

“It’s okay. Ben will direct the line adjustments, and if Ben has to leave his position for any reason, James will adjust the line.”

Hyungmin instructed the captain, central defender Ben Mee, and fellow central defender James Tarkowski, to maintain the offside line and adjust the positions of the other defenders.

“Then what about the attack?”

As the defense was being organized, midfielder Josh Brownhill inquired about the attacking strategy.

“On the surface, we’ll concentrate our strength on the left. Dwight will go up as the left winger, and Charlie will link up with him as the left back, making linear movements up and down the sideline. Brownie, join in on the left too, drawing the Everton defense to that side.”

“…Brownie?”

As Josh Brownhill muttered with an absurd look on his face, clearly amused that his surname, inherited from his ancestors, was suddenly being used as a nickname, Hyungmin tapped the tactical board on the wall.

“Focus! Focus! In the meantime, Chris, just loiter around in front, acting as bait and drawing out one or two defenders. You can link up the attack, or if you get a chance, you can penetrate again.”

“…Loiter around?”

This time, veteran striker Chris Wood frowned slightly, as if he was dumbfounded by the instruction, but Hyungmin continued without paying attention.

“But the key thing you all need to remember is to draw Everton to the left and then raid the empty space that appears on the right like burglars. Jay starts as the right winger but cuts into the center that Chris vacated, and Matt, who is playing as the right back, will penetrate the space Jay left to secure the width again. Finally, Westwood, who was in the center, will rush in with a time difference to clean up!”

“Burglars?”

“Clean up?”

Jay Rodriguez, Matt Lowton, and Ashley Westwood, who had suddenly been cast as violent criminals in this tactical analogy, exchanged bewildered glances for a moment, but the Burnley players simply tilted their heads and did not object to the tactics.

It was just one game anyway, and the bizarre training sessions that had taken place over the past week had piqued their curiosity.

***

“Alright, everyone! The key to this tactic is short passes and movement. Remember! Short passes and movement!”

On the first day of training conducted by the interim manager at Burnley Football Club’s Barnfield Training Centre, the interim manager, who appeared with a pile of cones and balls, shouted to the players gathered for training.

“What you need for movement is stamina! But it’s hard to build stamina in a short period of time, so we’ll work on that later. First, short passes! We’ll start with short passes! Originally, we should go with two touches, but our friends aren’t used to it yet, so I’ll allow up to three touches for now. Remember! Three touches in total, including receiving the ball and passing it!”

“Come on, we’re all pros. We can handle short passes…”

As vice-captain Jack Cork timidly objected, conscious of Arthur glaring at him from the side, Hyungmin put down the cones and balls he was holding and shouted, spreading his arms wide.

“Ah, you misunderstood me! I’m not saying you should make a lot of short passes!”

“…Then?”

“I’m saying long passes are forbidden! From now on, if you send a pass longer than 5 meters in the training ground, except in designated situations, you’ll be fined!”

“…Huh?!”

Despite the players’ puzzled expressions, Burnley’s first team squad embarked on a new and unusual training schedule every day for the past five days.

First, when they arrived at the training ground in the morning, the players took turns forming groups of three and constantly moved and changed positions within spaces of various sizes marked with cones and tape, passing short passes back and forth.

And Kim mercilessly fined them if they touched the ball more than three times or if the pass was judged to be longer than 5 meters.

After spending the entire morning passing short passes back and forth within the constraints of various spaces that narrowed and widened, they had lunch together in the cafeteria, and then, from the afternoon, they repeated short sprints to the point of throwing up.

The process of sprinting at full speed for 10 seconds, resting for 1 minute, and then sprinting at full speed again was repeated, and even the seasoned professional athletes could slowly feel the contents of their lunch rising back up their throats.

When they looked resentfully at the interim manager leading the training, gasping for breath, Kim shouted at them with a bright face.

“You almost never sprint at full speed for more than 10 seconds during a game! So you run in 10-second intervals and recover your stamina by resting in between! Okay, let’s go one more time! You can do it!”