Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 6

6. The End and the Beginning

The field players, desperately trying to suppress their nausea, were staring with envy at those excused from physical training. However, Burnley’s goalkeepers were equally bewildered by the new training regimen.

In traditional British football, goalkeeper training mainly focused on diving to defend shots or punching away high crosses. Using their legs was mostly limited to long kick training for goal kicks.

Nick Pope, the England national team goalkeeper and Burnley’s starting goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, the Wales national team goalkeeper and Burnley’s second goalkeeper, and Will Norris, Burnley’s third goalkeeper, all born and raised in that British football environment, struggled to maintain their composure and properly pass and dribble while exerting strength in their trembling legs during the new training.

“Hey, you guys can’t even do the basics. Don’t go around calling yourselves football players!”

‘But we’re goalkeepers! The only position in football allowed to use their hands!’ they thought.

Their inner voices cried out mournfully, but all three goalkeepers silently shut their mouths and focused on the training, dribbling the ball through cones placed at intervals on the grass.

Of course, all three were seething inside at the sarcastic remarks of the head coach (temporary) Arthur Brimlow. However, after seeing the main players move in perfect order, turning pale and listening intently to Arthur’s every word, even though they barely paid attention to the temporary manager’s words from the first day, they had almost given up on the idea of resistance.

In fact, on the first day of training, Nick Pope, trusting in his status as an England international, casually spoke to Arthur about the amount of training.

“Um, coach. Actually, since we’re goalkeepers, rather than this footwork training, we’d prefer something more…”

“More what?”

As Nick Pope tried to continue, he felt a strange sensation from the old man’s piercing gaze.

No, this strange feeling wasn’t just from the gaze, but from the anxiety coming from vice-captain Jack Cork, who was desperately shaking his head and making an X shape with his arms over the old coach’s shoulder, and veteran Jay Rodriguez, who was making a throat-cutting gesture with his thumb.

Realizing that something seriously wrong could happen, Nick Pope quickly decided to retract his statement.

“More… I mean, I want to do more!”

Hyeongmin, who overheard Nick Pope’s words as he passed by, clapped and encouraged him.

“That’s right! These days, it’s meaningless for a goalkeeper to only be good with their hands. They need to be good with their feet too! You’re supposed to be football players, after all. It’s no fun if you can only do what a basketball player can do, right?”

‘No, I think I’d be okay without that kind of fun?’ Nick Pope thought.

Nick Pope quietly dismissed his objections to the temporary manager’s words, glanced at Arthur, who was glaring and instructing the goalkeepers next to him, and chose to quietly focus on training.

‘Well, it’s just one game anyway,’ he reasoned.

***

However, despite the players’ resentment and doubt, the results of the training were undeniable.

After five days of non-stop training, Burnley’s first team now automatically started passing short and moving whenever they got the ball, without any special instructions, just as Hyeongmin intended.

In the 65th minute of the second half, the score was still 0-0, but Everton, who had only managed six shots while Burnley unleashed a whopping 15, began to shrink back.

Burnley’s players, with their morale boosted, were gradually gaining the upper hand in challenges and starting to dictate the game.

“Brownhill!”

Burnley’s defensive midfielder, Jack Cork, intercepted a pass that Everton’s central defender, Yerry Mina, had clumsily sent into midfield, and called out to his teammate in charge of orchestrating the attack from the center.

Despite grimacing at the disliked nickname, Burnley’s central midfielder, Josh Brownhill, ran over and received the ball with a short pass.

“One-two!”

Brownhill shouted, feigning as if he was going to pass the ball back to Jack Cork, who was advancing into the opponent’s territory past him.

Then, completely ignoring the Everton players who were preemptively rushing at him and Jack Cork to block the pass, Brownhill sent a long pass to winger Jay Rodriguez, who was making a run down the right flank.

A surprise long-range pass from the Burnley midfielder, who, along with central defender James Tarkowski, was one of the only players usually allowed to make long passes, except for crosses.

The Everton midfielders, who had narrowed the distance to pressure Jack Cork and Brownhill, all stumbled and stopped.

While a battle was taking place in midfield, Everton’s defense was focusing all its attention on winger Dwight McNeil and full-back Charlie Taylor, who were making runs on their left flank.

However, with the midfielders tied up in front, the defense was instantly thrown into chaos by the opposing team’s winger, who was penetrating their right flank unnoticed, and the pass that was delivered to him.

“Support! Quickly!”

Everton’s left-back, Lucas Digne, who suddenly found himself in a one-on-one situation, desperately called for support as he stuck to Jay Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, Everton’s central defender, Ben Godfrey, was marking Burnley’s central striker, Chris Wood, and following him around.

However, surprised by the attack unfolding on his right, he looked around and realized that he had been pulled out of the Everton goal area without even realizing it by Chris Wood, who was playing the role of bait, timing his run to coincide with Jay Rodriguez’s attack.

Realizing that his teammate was isolated due to his positional shift, Ben Godfrey abandoned Chris Wood and hurriedly rushed in to support the vulnerable right flank.

On the other hand, Everton’s right-back, Seamus Coleman, and central defender, Yerry Mina, were unable to move, as they were busy checking Burnley’s Dwight McNeil and Charlie Taylor combo, who were constantly trying to penetrate from the left.

With Everton’s midfielders and defenders all tied up or unable to intervene, Chris Wood, freed from Ben Godfrey, leisurely penetrated the very center of Everton’s defense, which had been stretched wide to the left and right.

Jay Rodriguez, who started as Burnley’s right winger, had the ball at his feet and glanced over the shoulder of Lucas Digne, who was trying to defend him, at Chris Wood, who was freely penetrating into the center of the penalty box.

In football, a defender without the ball is almost always at a disadvantage compared to an attacker with the ball who can choose his next move first.

Jay Rodriguez smiled at Lucas Digne, who was facing him nervously, and signaled as if he was going to move to the left by slightly lowering his left shoulder.

It was a light feint, and it would have been enough for Lucas Digne to take a breath or two to regain his balance, which had been shaken by the opponent’s movement.

It would have been a breath or two before Everton’s central defender, Ben Godfrey, who was running in to support from behind, arrived.

But if he couldn’t put in a short cross with that much time, he wouldn’t be qualified to play in the best league in the world, the English Premier League, and no matter what anyone said, Jay Rodriguez was a veteran who was more than qualified.

Chris Wood, Burnley’s tall striker, launched his massive frame into the air towards the ball that Jay Rodriguez had softly floated between the goal area and the penalty spot.

The Everton defense, completely outwitted, stopped moving and watched with despairing expressions as Everton’s last bastion, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, desperately threw himself.

Bang!

But instead of the sound of the ball being hit, Chris Wood ruthlessly headed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal with a sound closer to a cannon blast.

“Goal! It’s a goal! In the 66th minute of the second half, number 9 for the Clarets [Burnley’s nickname], it’s Chris Wood!!!”

Amidst the cheers of the home fans, mixed with the cheers of the announcer who was excited inside the stadium, and the Burnley players who ran over and piled on Chris Wood, Hyeongmin and Arthur were hugging each other on the Burnley bench, leaving behind the crestfallen expressions of the Everton players.

“We did it! We did it! We succeeded!”

“Ahahaha! We succeeded! To think that such a simple tactic would work! Hahaha!!!”

Hyeongmin, who was hugging Arthur in joy, suddenly turned serious and pulled off the arms of the old head coach (temporary) who was embracing him.

“What did you say? Stupid?!”

“Hahaha!!! It is stupid! To think that we could shake Rafa Benitez’s Everton with such a simple full-court press and left-right tactics, that’s stupid! Hahahaha! But it worked! It worked!!!”

“Tch! I’m not talking to you, you old geezer!”

“Woohoo!!! Simple is the best! It’s the first goal!”

Arthur, who was not bothered by Hyeongmin, shouted to the Burnley players who were returning to their positions, shaking his shoulders with excitement.

“Hey, you guys! Keep your heads straight and protect the lead!”

“Ah, old man, please go back to your seat!”

The Burnley players chuckled at the squabble taking place in the technical area, but the looks they exchanged were serious.

‘This game, there’s a chance!’ they thought.

After the game resumed, Arthur approached Hyeongmin, who was standing in the technical area for a long time, watching the away team’s bench, and asked.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

“Something’s strange.”

“What’s strange?”

Arthur, who had looked at the opposing team’s bench but found nothing unusual, asked back.

“It’s too quiet. Even though they conceded a goal, the manager and staff are too quiet.”

“Could it be that they’re surprised to concede a goal against a weaker team in an away game?”

Hyeongmin shook his head as if he wasn’t convinced by Arthur’s words.

“I don’t think so. Manager Rafa Benitez is a renowned coach who has won the Spanish Primera Liga [Spanish First Division] and the Champions League. He’s a veteran coach with a lot of experience leading big clubs like Valencia, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Chelsea… Surprised by a blow from a weak team? Wouldn’t he give stronger instructions to the players or prepare for substitutions instead?”

“Or maybe he trusts the players. That they’ll turn the game around even if he doesn’t say anything.”

“Maybe.”

Hyeongmin replied in an unpersuaded voice.

And the game, which proceeded amidst the enthusiastic support of the home fans, ended with the away team’s bench maintaining an eerie silence until the very end.