Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 77

77: May of Madness

There was a time when I thought so optimistically.

Hyungmin, frustrated, thought.

The despairing Burnley players and the Brighton players, gleefully celebrating their third goal with the home fans, caught his eye.

“There’s a saying in the East that describes this situation perfectly: ‘Eight or nine times out of ten, things don’t go your way.'”

It’s a must-win game, but we’ve conceded three goals again today, something that’s only happened three times all season. Hahaha.

“This guy’s lost it.”

Arthur clicked his tongue, watching Hyungmin, who seemed to be losing his grip.

Staggering in the technical area, Hyungmin returned to the bench, half out of his mind, and slumped into his seat.

The Burnley players were encouraging each other and preparing to restart the game, but they already looked exhausted.

“This is a problem. They’re all tired already.”

“Well, it’s been a long race,” Hyungmin replied gloomily to Arthur’s assessment.

“It’s okay! We’re Manchester City’s natural enemy! We just need to catch Manchester City at the end!”

“Do you think catching Manchester City is easy?! Manager Pep Guardiola will be grinding his teeth! And even if we catch Manchester City, we have to win both games against Aston Villa to win the cup and go to the European competition!”

Hyungmin continued to lament, not even considering giving up his ambition.

“…Is it possible?”

When Hyungmin asked blankly, Arthur shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’ve come this far just believing in Burnley’s young genius manager.”

Hyungmin snapped irritably at Arthur’s nonchalant reply.

“Ah, please stop shrugging your shoulders like that!”

“Why are you mad at me?!”

***

But after the miserable game against Brighton, returning to the Barnfield Training Centre and watching the Chelsea vs. Watford game with the coaching staff with a resigned attitude, Hyungmin grabbed Arthur and danced.

“Uwaaa! Watford did it! As expected of Watford! Hot pepper kings [a possible reference to Watford’s fighting spirit or a local nickname]!”

“Well, if we had just beaten Watford last month without having to rely on this, we’d be a lot less worried, wouldn’t we?”

Arthur asked in disbelief, but Hyungmin didn’t seem to hear him, spinning around in his office and doing a shoulder dance.

It wasn’t the first time the young manager had put on a show with the old assistant coach, so Paulo Morais buried his tired body and happy heart in the sofa, unconsciously letting out a breath he had been holding in.

“Uhahaha! What’s past is past! The important thing is that Watford tripped up Chelsea!”

I don’t know how they did it, but thanks to Watford, who had already been confirmed for relegation, holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw, Chelsea only managed to add one point.

Now it’s a showdown between Chelsea with 60 points and two games left, and Burnley with 60 points and three games left.

“Should I call Watford’s Quique Setién and thank him?”

“Wouldn’t he be angry that you’re making fun of him? His relegation was confirmed today, you know?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

“Hey, don’t call! You can’t call!”

Ignoring Arthur’s urgent request, Hyungmin hummed a song he had written on the spot, dancing and leaving his office.

A song of unclear origin flowed out from Hyungmin’s receding figure in the hallway, along with a wild dance.

“Watford-nim! Watford-nim! Watford King! King Watford! Watford King Wang Jjang [Korean slang for ‘the best’]!”

Helena, who had come out of her office due to the noise echoing in the hallway, approached Arthur, who was staring at the young manager’s retreating figure in disbelief, after following him to the office door.

“Arthur? What on earth is this terrible singing? Don’t tell me that’s Hyungmin?!”

“I think we should look for a new manager next season.”

“No, why?!”

Arthur said to Helena, who exclaimed briefly.

“The manager couldn’t handle the mental pressure and went crazy.”

“Kim went crazy? This is a big problem!”

Mike Garlick, who had also come out of his office due to the noise from outside, approached them and shouted in a worried voice after only hearing the latter part of the conversation.

***

Chelsea now have two games left in the Premier League, and Burnley have three.

Both teams have 60 points, but Chelsea are in 6th place with a far superior goal difference.

If you assume that Chelsea will lose to Manchester City and win against Leeds, as Hyungmin imagined, they will get a total of 3 points. All Burnley has to do is beat Aston Villa and somehow get 1 point against Liverpool and Manchester City.

Of course, any sensible person would think that it is too much to hope that they can draw even once against the two teams that are fiercely competing for first place in the Premier League until the very end.

If you think a little more negatively from here, no one inside Burnley voiced such criticism, thanks to the fragile mental state of the manager, who was vomiting even stomach acid while clinging to the pure white toilet in the bathroom due to excessive stress.

Of course, as the saying goes, ‘words become reality,’ they themselves were repeatedly hoping and not letting go of the thread of expectations.

Anyway, in preparation for the upcoming FA Cup final, Hyungmin fielded a starting lineup of practically a ‘one-and-a-half’ team against Liverpool [meaning a mix of starters and reserves].

The goal of today’s game is to defend firmly and earn 1 point through a draw with the support of the fans at their home stadium, Turf Moor.

The young manager’s thinking has become a little more flexible after managing in the Premier League for almost a season.

On the other hand, Liverpool, who must win this game to gain 3 points and maintain their first place with a 1-point lead in the championship race with Manchester City, mobilized their best players.

Even so, Hyungmin was dumbfounded to see that they couldn’t even get a single shot on target due to Liverpool’s relentless pressure throughout the first half.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a situation like this.”

Arthur, who checked the data together, poured cold water on him.

Hyungmin glared slightly at Arthur, who was relaxed, while looking at the tablet containing the data organized by the analysis team.

“Damn… Arthur, can’t you go somewhere else?”

“Where am I going? I’m the assistant coach.”

“Ugh…”

Arthur stopped Hyungmin, who was angry and looking back and forth between the tablet, the bench, and the stadium.

“No. We clearly promised. We agreed to just let this game go for the sake of the FA Cup.”

“But…”

“No. Dwight is only for the last 10 minutes. We promised not to put him in unless we have to. Josh and Niki are the same.”

Hyungmin pleaded at Arthur’s refusal.

“Ugh… please…”

“No.”

“Just this once!”

“Where is this ‘just this once’! The season is almost over!”

“Agh!”

From the director’s box, it looked like the manager and assistant coach were having a serious conversation about the game.

However, Helena, who has worked next to them for nearly a year, could clearly see that Hyungmin, who was unhappy with something, was nagging Arthur.

The level of the conversation is probably like a child asking for candy and a mother saying no.

*I’m* so proud of myself for leading the club this far by trusting those people.

Helena sighed softly so that the Liverpool director sitting next to her wouldn’t hear, and tried to concentrate on the game.

To be honest, she still doesn’t understand what the tactics are, but she also didn’t like the team’s game, which was clearly being pushed back, just like the manager who was nagging the assistant coach in the technical area.

“Huh?! Could it be!”

Just as the game, which had been defended by stubbornly defending, was passing the 80th minute, in a game that had turned into a one-sided beating, where Liverpool shot and Burnley blocked, a situation where the person hitting was starting to feel pain in their hands.

As the Liverpool players who had been substituted in were making faces that they were tired of Burnley’s goal that wouldn’t open, Hyungmin, who had been trying to appease himself and decided to be satisfied with a draw, jumped up from the bench.

The Liverpool shot that had been attempted just now went out, and Burnley’s goalkeeper Nick Pope kicked the ball long towards the halfway line.

Even if Burnley’s players somehow received it, the pattern of the game so far was that they would be surrounded by Liverpool’s fierce pressure, lose the ball, and the attack would be re-launched.

Therefore, most of Burnley’s players were not moving from the defensive zone at all, and Burnley’s Jay Rodriguez, who had moved to the center forward position as the substitution progressed, and Liverpool’s left defender Andrew Robertson ran towards the point where the ball would fall.

“Ugh!”

With shouts of bewilderment from the stands, both teams’ benches, and the players themselves, Andrew Robertson slipped.

Was it because his leg strength was gone after sending crosses into Burnley’s penalty box in a forward position for 80 minutes?

Or was it because his stamina was exhausted at the end of the season?

Or did the Turf Moor groundskeeper fail to manage only that section?

The reason was unknown, but Jay Rodriguez, who was running towards the ball together, received the ball without being disturbed for the first time in the entire game.

Basically, Liverpool specializes in trapping the opposing team in their own territory with high defensive lines and forward pressure.

What makes this possible is the dedicated defense of the attackers and midfielders, and the tremendous physical ability and game-reading sense of world-class defender Virgil van Dijk.

However, with one axis of the defense collapsing, the defense was easily pierced as Burnley’s right winger Jay Rodriguez pushed the ball far forward and attempted to break through.

In a situation focused on attack, Liverpool’s players reacted a beat later than usual to the sudden counterattack.

Currently, Burnley’s left and right wingers are Dwight McNeil and Karim Adeyemi, who were substituted in just before the game to maintain their sharpness, having been saved for the FA Cup final.

They have just been put into the game and their stamina is completely full, and they are the two fastest players in Burnley.

As the two young attackers sprinted forward at full speed, the Liverpool players all started sprinting back to their own territory, but it was already too late.

“Virgil!”

Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson requested support from center back Virgil van Dijk, and at the same time, he left the penalty box and ran towards Burnley’s center forward Jay Rodriguez, who was breaking through Liverpool’s territory diagonally from the right.

As a team accustomed to forward pressure and high lines, Liverpool’s goalkeeper also has more than basic passing ability and can defend with his feet at the level of a decent defender.

The plan was for the goalkeeper to stick to Jay Rodriguez outside the penalty box like a defender and buy time for center back Virgil van Dijk to guard the goal and the rest of the players to come in.

“Karim!”

However, as soon as Burnley’s veteran striker confirmed that Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson was leaving the penalty box, he called out the name of Burnley’s young striker and sent a low cross to the center of the penalty box.

Again, Jay Rodriguez’s crossing ability is not very good.

But it’s not as bad as Karim Adeyemi, who is banned from taking any of Burnley’s set pieces.

Karim Adeyemi, who had anticipated the trajectory of the ball that would pass about 2 meters in front of him, glanced at Liverpool’s center back Virgil van Dijk, who was already sticking to his back and trying to overtake him, and slightly reduced his speed.

“Uh-oh!”

It’s hard to call it obstruction; it’s just that the player running in front slowed down a bit.

To be honest, because he was chasing at full speed from behind, he knew that the distance had suddenly narrowed and the speed had slowed down, but if you looked at it from the side, it would be impossible to confirm unless you measured it with a speed gun.

While Virgil van Dijk, whose feet were tangled as his path was suddenly blocked, was panicking, Burnley’s left winger Dwight McNeil, who was sprinting into the penalty box at full speed, desperately stretched out his left foot and threw his whole body towards the ball that was about to go out of play.

“Oooo!!!”

As the spectators who had already risen from their seats exclaimed and lamented, the ball, which barely caught the end of Dwight McNeil’s foot, slightly changed its trajectory and turned its direction into the goal.

“Uwaaa!!!”

“Uwa! It’s a goal! It’s a goal!”

Beyond Arthur, who ran out into the technical area and grabbed Hyungmin and cheered, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who had failed to score despite pouring on a fierce attack for 80 minutes, was seen expressing his anger with his whole body.

It was the moment when Liverpool, who had barely climbed to first place in the fierce championship race that had been going on throughout the season, was stunned in the Burnley game, which was considered a must-win game to secure the championship.

“Uwaaa!!!”

Hyungmin, who had suddenly seized victory in a game that had aimed for a draw, clenched his fists in both hands and cheered.