Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 75

75: A Blooming Spring

“Great job! Really great job!”

Hyungmin praised the players gathered in the locker room in a loud voice.

Burnley’s players couldn’t help but smile at the usually gentle manager’s enthusiastic praise. Hyungmin specifically pointed out one of them.

“Especially Hannibal!”

“…?”

Hyungmin clapped and praised the promising player, whose face clearly showed confusion and a desperate desire not to be substituted, but resignation if it happened.

“You did well in the first half!”

“Ah…hehe…”

“Especially when you threw yourself to block Ruben Dias from clearing the ball in the penalty box! Although it didn’t lead to a goal, it was a valuable moment that could have created more opportunities in the penalty box. Well done!”

“Ah… thank you.”

Next to Hannibal Mejbri, who was expressing his gratitude with a flushed face, Nicolas Seiwald casually put his arm over his shoulder.

“You rascal. Feeling good because the manager praised you?”

“I feel like I’m flying. Why, are you jealous? Hehehe.”

“Hehehe.”

While the two young players were exchanging jokes, Hyungmin tapped the tactical board, drawing the players’ attention.

“Okay, you did very well in the first half. Manchester City eventually resorted to passing the ball around to lock down the game, admitting in the first half that they had no other way to respond to our counterattacks. You can all be proud.”

Hyungmin looked around at the players who were listening intently to his instructions, their faces flushed with excitement.

“Pep Guardiola probably thinks we’ll change our tactics again in the second half. If we solidify our defense and go head-to-head with their tiki-taka [a style of play characterized by short passing and movement], like we did at the end of the first half, the tiki-taka side, which has more opportunities to attack, has a higher probability of scoring.”

“Then how do we respond?”

James Tarkowski, the temporary captain, asked, and Hyungmin grinned.

“So, we’re going out with the same lineup in the second half as in the first half! But we need to score within the first 15 minutes. The longer the game goes on, the more advantageous it is for Manchester City, who can possess the ball for longer and showcase more diverse options from the bench.”

Hyungmin affirmed to the players who were looking at him with trusting eyes.

“It won’t be easy, but if we attack quickly and counterattack at the start of the second half, we’ll have a chance to score the first goal before Manchester City, who have changed their tactics, can adapt to the new tactics. And if we score the first goal there, they’ll have no choice but to be more aggressive. You know what to do from there, right?”

“High press, quick counterattack!”

Burnley’s players, who had almost completely internalized the young manager’s tactics, chanted in unison.

“Hehehe. Pep Guardiola tends to overthink things in the later stages of cup competitions. Let’s take advantage of that today.”

As the saying goes, too much deliberation leads to a bad move.

Pep Guardiola realized his mistake as soon as the second half started, but it was already too late.

In the second half of the season, Burnley’s manager Kim often made tactical changes through player substitutions at the start of the second half when the game was lagging in the first half.

Against Manchester City, who they weren’t exactly dominating, the biggest change Burnley could make was to bring in a technical player like Nico Gonzalez in midfield to increase ball possession and create attacking opportunities.

Then, from Burnley’s perspective, ball possession would increase, but conversely, the speed of counterattacks would decrease compared to when Jacob Ramsey or Hannibal Mejbri were on the field.

And the slower Burnley’s counterattack speed, the less burden on Manchester City’s defense, so they could increase their technique and creativity even if their speed decreased a bit.

If Manchester City and Burnley were to engage in a tiki-taka battle based on ball possession, the outcome was obvious.

Having completed these calculations, Pep Guardiola, anticipating that the second half would turn into a battle of ball possession, decided to strengthen their advantage in the passing battle by replacing Serge Gnabry, a right winger with a style of quickly penetrating space, with Jack Grealish, who had much higher technical completion but was slightly slower.

However, when the second half started, Burnley pushed forward as they had in the first half, going all-in on speed.

In the first half, Serge Gnabry, who was playing as a right winger, could return and contribute to the defense at a considerable speed.

However, Jack Grealish, who was instructed to occupy the space behind Charlie Taylor, Burnley’s left back, when he went up, was slower than Serge Gnabry.

And Jack Grealish’s defensive ability wasn’t good enough to stop Burnley’s attack by pressing from the front.

Watching Burnley’s players, who were enthusiastically unfolding the same development as the major crisis situation in the first half on the left, while the speed at which the left winger joined the defense slowed down, Pep Guardiola rubbed his forehead.

“Charlie!”

“I know, I know!”

This time, there was no need to bother passing the ball around to draw in Manchester City’s players.

Manchester City’s defense had been thoroughly tormented by the attacks of Burnley’s left winger Dwight McNeil and left back Charlie Taylor on the right side of their defensive zone in the first half.

It was only luck that they had managed to end the pinball situation in the penalty box at the end of the first half without conceding a goal.

Therefore, Manchester City’s players were determined to prevent the same learned attack situation from Burnley from happening again.

In addition to the existing right central midfielder Bernardo Silva and right back Sergino Dest, defensive midfielder Fernandinho formed a triangle while narrowing the gap, joining in to block the right side.

And as right winger Jack Grealish hurried down to join the defense, the left side of the defense unknowingly became loose.

“Brownie!”

Just like before, Burnley’s left back Charlie Taylor passed to central midfielder Josh Brownhill.

And just like before, Burnley’s central striker Wout Weghorst came down from the penalty box, but this time, Manchester City’s defensive midfielder Fernandinho approached to press Josh Brownhill, while Manchester City’s center back John Stones followed him to the edge of the penalty box.

“Wout!”

Burnley’s central midfielder Josh Brownhill passed the ball to Wout Weghorst’s feet, who was waiting with his back to the goal inside the penalty arc.

And as if he had been waiting for this moment, John Stones, a central defender competing for a starting position on the England national team, rushed in to prevent Wout Weghorst from turning around.

“Hannibal!”

Naturally, Wout Weghorst, rather than holding onto the ball for a long time or turning around, passed to Hannibal Mejbri, who was running towards Manchester City’s penalty box to penetrate from central midfield.

The moment Manchester City’s left central midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and left back Joao Cancelo narrowed the gap to press Hannibal Mejbri to block his breakthrough.

“Huh?!”

Hannibal Mejbri received the pass that flew smoothly to his feet and immediately threaded a pass straight ahead.

A low, fast pass that exquisitely penetrated the middle of the triangle formed by Ilkay Gundogan, Joao Cancelo, and Manchester City’s center back Ruben Dias, who remained in the penalty box.

It was Karim Adeyemi, Burnley’s right winger, who had been running in and receiving the pass, completely tied down by Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo throughout the first half.

“Help…!”

Manchester City’s goalkeeper Zack Steffen closed his mouth, shortened his stride, and quickly moved to close the distance to the ball.

Burnley’s Karim Adeyemi was already preparing to shoot, while Ruben Dias, one of Manchester City’s center backs, was just turning around, and the other center back, John Stones, was being held back by Burnley’s central striker Wout Weghorst.

This was simply a 1-on-1 between the goalkeeper and the attacker.

Forcibly ignoring the frustration and despair that welled up inside him, Zack Steffen, the goalkeeper from the United States national team, spread his arms wide and threw himself, narrowing the shooting angle as much as possible.

However, Karim Adeyemi had no intention of following in the footsteps of his friend, who had attempted a shot in the same situation and hit the goalpost.

“Ahhh!!!”

As Manchester City’s fans filled Wembley Stadium with sighs, Burnley’s young prospect simply dribbled once more, casually avoiding the opposing team’s goalkeeper who was trying to block him by crossing the penalty box diagonally.

Manchester City’s center back Ruben Dias was sliding in from behind in desperation, but if he were to get caught by such a back tackle in the penalty box, it would undoubtedly be a penalty kick.

Even after evading Ruben Dias, Karim Adeyemi glanced at the face of the frustrated goalkeeper Zack Steffen next to him and confidently pushed the ball into the empty goal.

“Uwaaa!!!”

As over 45,000 Burnley fans in the stands roared in frenzy, Karim Adeyemi, after confirming the ball had crossed the goal line, ran towards the stands.

The young attacker from RB Salzburg, now Burnley’s pride, was pushed all the way to the fence separating the field and the stands, shouting and spreading his arms wide to the thousands of Burnley fans who were waving shirts and scarves and shedding tears.

Yes, this is Karim Adeyemi’s…

Suddenly, he staggered from the weight jumping onto his back from behind.

“Yes! My pass was the best!”

Karim Adeyemi was filled with annoyance at the cry of elation bursting out from above his head.

“Hey! I finished it well!”

“My pass was the best!!!”

Hannibal Mejbri, lightly ignoring Karim Adeyemi, who was struggling underneath and pouring out ridiculous protests, enjoyed the cheers of the fans with a flushed face.

“Damn it, get off! This is my moment!”

“No!”

Karim Adeyemi protested and Hannibal Mejbri ignored him.

Soon after, both of them were unable to argue over such trivial matters as they were crushed by the huge bodies of 9 Burnley players who were covering them.

Especially Wout Weghorst.

When the 197cm giant jumped on top of the pile of Burnley players, the two youngest players at the bottom felt their lives were in danger.

However, the ordeal of Manchester City’s players, filled with annoyance, fatigue, and gradually growing worry and fear, was not yet over.