Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 78

78: A May of Madness

“No one likes us”

“We don’t care”

“We are Burnley”

“Super Burnley”

“We are Burnley”

“From the Moor”

I still don’t know how they managed it, but Burnley, a town of 70,000, has once again succeeded in filling half of Wembley Stadium’s 90,000 seats with their fans today.

As the team’s anthem faintly echoed through the thick walls and vibrating ceiling, Hyungmin looked around the locker room.

Some players were trying to look calm, but most had obvious looks of tension on their faces.

Even players who belong to strong teams don’t get the chance to reach the finals every time, so for players who belong to a team like Burnley, not typically a powerhouse, this would be their first time reaching the finals of such a major tournament.

I guess my expression is somewhere between those calm and tense faces.

Hyungmin touched his face without realizing it and chuckled.

“Are you nervous?”

“…Yes.”

“…I’m not?”

“…Hehehe.”

When someone answered Hyungmin’s question and someone else quickly retorted, a low chuckle spread among the players.

“I’m nervous too.”

“Pfft…”

The players chuckled at the manager’s honest confession as he looked around the locker room.

“Actually, I never imagined we’d come this far. I thought I’d only manage the opening game and then be told to get lost.”

“…Puhahaha!!!”

The players’ laughter grew louder.

The youngest manager in the Premier League this season.

It wasn’t the kind of thing you’d expect to hear from the manager who had shattered the predictions of the media, critics, and even the players themselves, grabbing the relegation-threatened small town club of Burnley by the scruff of the neck and dragging them to European competition qualification and the FA Cup final.

But whether they had been with him since the opening game of this season,

Or whether they had joined mid-season,

All the players who had spent a fairytale season with the young maestro, who had written a story that would take up at least two or three lines in Premier League history, waited with shining eyes for the words to come from the manager’s mouth.

“I’m not going to say that a cup final is a chance that doesn’t come often, or that it’s just another game like any other.”

The players nodded.

“It’s true that it’s a rare opportunity. Every game is precious, but it’s definitely not just another game like any other. It’s a special game. But it’s also a game that we can come back to if we work hard.”

Hyungmin looked around at the players and continued.

“As special as it is, please give it your all on the field, so that there are no regrets.”

“…Yeah!”

“…Alright!”

“…Let’s do it!”

Hyungmin nodded as he watched the tension flow away as they encouraged each other, replaced by fighting spirit and determination.

“Just show them what we’re made of on the field. It’s enough if you can show everything you’ve shown to get here. You yourselves have brought us this far, so you can take that last step yourselves!”

As Hyungmin nodded to himself after encouraging the players, Ben Mee, who was wearing the captain’s armband and waiting to start, stood up.

The veteran defender smiled at the players looking at him.

“For ever and ever! Who are we?”

“We Are Burnley!!!”

***

There is a common opinion that tournament finals are usually boring.

First of all, the nature of a tournament means that just getting to the final consumes a lot of stamina.

In the case of cup competitions that run in parallel with the regular league, the final is held near the end of the season, so the players are mostly exhausted.

In addition, the final is usually a single match, so a mistake in the early stages can lead directly to defeat.

Therefore, a typical final starts with a very cautious probing phase, and the first half of this FA Cup final was no exception.

Aston Villa and Burnley exchanged only three shots each while maintaining a tight game throughout the first half.

Against Burnley’s vaunted 4-3-3 formation [a common football formation with four defenders, three midfielders, and three forwards], Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard countered with the 4-2-3-1 formation he had instilled in Aston Villa this season.

A fairly solid, centrally focused tactic in which both wingers converge in the center and wing attacks are dependent on both fullbacks.

In particular, Brazilian attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho, who was loaned from Barcelona in the last winter transfer market, started as a left winger.

However, as Coutinho moved inside to stand alongside Emiliano Buendía, who started as a central attacking midfielder, and Leon Bailey, who started as a right winger, moved up next to central striker Danny Ings at the front, the formation actually shifted to something closer to a 4-2-2-2.

As such, a fierce battle took place between Aston Villa’s four midfielders and Burnley’s three midfielders throughout the first half, delighting the fans watching.

However, even Aston Villa’s thick midfield, laid out in two layers, began to collapse as soon as the reins of Burnley’s vaunted midfield destroyer were unleashed at the start of the second half.

46th minute of the second half.

“Ooooo!!!”

As the crowd filling Wembley Stadium gasped and groaned, Burnley’s young defensive midfielder, Nicolas Seiwald, stole the ball from Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn at the start of the second half.

McGinn clearly had plenty of options to pass up and down at first, but from the moment he received the ball, the pressure came in as if he wouldn’t let him breathe, and his options were extremely limited, and eventually the ball was taken away.

Burnley’s subsequent attack was a familiar pattern that they knew was coming but couldn’t stop.

From Nicolas Seiwald to Josh Brownhill.

The midfielder, who controlled Burnley’s attack with the ball at his feet, glanced forward.

Already on the left, Dwight McNeil, on the right, Karim Adeyemi, and in the center, Hannibal Mejbri, were all penetrating into the penalty box, disrupting Aston Villa’s defense.

In the very center of the penalty box, Burnley’s central striker Wout Weghorst stood firm, holding and shaking Aston Villa’s central defensive duo, Tyrone Mings and Calum Chambers.

Both defenders, who had learned throughout the first half that if either of them left their position, they would immediately allow a header from that Dutch monster, couldn’t move an inch.

Douglas Luiz, Aston Villa’s central midfielder, gave up joining the defense and quickly approached Burnley’s central midfielder Josh Brownhill to disrupt Burnley’s attack.

However, Nicolas Seiwald, who had already stood up to protect Josh Brownhill’s attack, pushed the Brazilian midfielder away with one arm as if his challenge was merciless, and bounced him off his shoulder.

In Aston Villa’s penalty box, left back Lucas Digne and right back Matty Cash ran out and stuck to Burnley’s right winger Karim Adeyemi and left winger Dwight McNeil, respectively.

However, Burnley’s central midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, who was penetrating into the penalty box, was still free.

“Block the center! That lion’s mane!” [Referring to Hannibal Mejbri’s distinctive hairstyle]

Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen shouted, but Aston Villa’s defense was already in pieces.

Over his shoulder, Aston Villa’s right back Matty Cash, who had glanced at Burnley’s central midfielder Josh Brownhill about to pass, gritted his teeth at the sound of the ball being struck, gave up on Burnley’s right winger Karim Adeyemi, whom he had been checking, and followed central midfielder Hannibal Mejbri.

It was a short moment, like a flash, but the young Polish defender correctly predicted that the pass would be connected to Hannibal Mejbri, who was freer than Dwight McNeil or Karim Adeyemi, who were being checked by the defenders.

The problem was that the prediction was correct, but the target had changed.

“Uh oh?!”

As the Aston Villa defender stuck to him, Hannibal Mejbri made a crossing movement with Karim Adeyemi in an X shape before the ball even arrived, pulling Matty Cash out to the right instead.

And Karim Adeyemi, who was freed from Matty Cash’s check, crossed in the opposite direction with Hannibal Mejbri and received the pass sent by Josh Brownhill as he charged into the center.

Thanks to the unselfish movement of the Manchester United prospect, Aston Villa’s defense, which was already scattered, was completely destroyed.

“Block him! Block him!”

“Tyrone!”

“Go quickly!”

Amidst the chaotic instructions and shouts between the goalkeeper and the defense, Karim Adeyemi had a perfectly free opportunity with the ball in the penalty box.

Eventually, all four of Aston Villa’s defenders gave up on the opponents they were checking and ran towards him, with Dwight McNeil on the left, Hannibal Mejbri on the right, and Wout Weghorst in front.

Considering a direct shot, the young attacker from RB Salzburg [a football club based in Salzburg, Austria], who was given as many as four options, chuckled.

Jacob Ramsey, an Aston Villa loanee sitting in the box seats above Wembley Stadium, held his breath with the crowd, unable to decide whether to be happy for his current team’s opportunity or worried about his original team’s crisis.

Karim Adeyemi chose the most appropriate option for Burnley’s opening goal in the cup final for the first time in 60 years since 1962.

“Dwight!”

The ball struck by Karim Adeyemi’s left foot pierced low and fast through the space between Aston Villa’s central defenders Tyrone Mings and Calum Chambers.

And the young ace from Burnley’s youth academy, who had been quietly waiting on the offside line, ran forward without hesitation and unleashed a powerful left-footed volley towards the flying ball.

The moment the ball cleanly hit his foot, half of the crowd filling Wembley Stadium jumped to their feet.

“Uaaaaaaaa!!!”

Against the backdrop of the crowd already cheering for victory, the ball flew quickly and shook the upper net of the goal, signaling Burnley’s opening goal.

“Uaaaaaaaa! We did it!”

Dwight McNeil, who scored the goal, ran madly towards the corner flag and roared at the crowd with his arms outstretched.

“Uhahahahaha!!!”

Following Burnley’s young ace, Burnley’s players sprinted to the corner flag and hugged him tightly.

“Yes! That’s how you do it! We did it!”

“Uaaaaaaaa!”

“Victory! We’re going to win!!!”

And Burnley continued their run towards victory.