Chapter 232 – The Iron King (1)
232
“A draw against Arsenal! Is it the aftermath of the scandal or the beginning of sluggishness』
『Failed to extend the record of 5 consecutive goals and consecutive attack points since his debut!』
『Destroyed Newcastle, draw with Arsenal after a lethargic performance』
『’Eight-colored birds’ director Botman, the end of improvisation?』
The press, which was noisy over the draw against Arsenal,
『Newcastle unleash a furious attack against Charlton Athletic FC!』
『Newcastle, who made a 10:0 baseball score in the League Cup, Hong Min-jun scored 6 goals!』
He quickly changed his attitude after winning a huge victory over Ligue 1 side Charlton Athletic.
However, Newcastle coach Lauren Bortmann’s expression was not good when he saw the articles of praise spread out on his desk.
“… That’s annoying.”
The English Football League Cup (EFL), commonly referred to as the League Cup, is one of the two cup competitions in England along with the FA Cup, and unlike the FA Cup, it is a competition that is treated as a gag by Premier League teams.
Compared to the FA Cup, which gives 4 million pounds (about 6.4 billion won) in prize money when winning, the EFL’s prize money, which is only 150,000 pounds (about 240 million won), was nothing more than a pittance for the Premier League teams, and above all, the winning team Also, the FA Cup is the Europa League, while the EFL is only the Conference League.
Even if you take the prize money that doesn’t even reach the weekly wage of a high-income earner, the conference league ticket is a ticket to participate in club competitions anyway, so it can be a merit for teams in the middle and lower ranks, but it’s the same as an undesirable tournament for teams aiming for the Europa or higher.
Even if the number of games is small, you have to win 6 games to win.
An unwelcome schedule is added to the already harsh Premier League teams, so in fact, it has become a competition mainly played by promising players or substitutes.
However, it is difficult for teams that want to lift the trophy even if it is something to give up easily even in this savage tournament.
Isn’t there a big difference between finishing the season empty-handed and finishing with even one championship trophy?
No matter how harshly evaluated the competition is, the EFL Cup is an English cup competition that gives the right to advance to club competitions.
From Newcastle’s point of view, which declared ‘building a dynasty’, even the winning trophy of this bizarre tournament was precious.
In order to be recognized as truly prestigious from the outside, it is much more helpful to win something than to shout about the dynasty with words alone.
That’s why the Newcastle board set their goals for this season to be 4th place in the league and winning the EFL Cup, and from the perspective of coach Lauren Botman, it was important to at least try to achieve the goal no matter how busy the schedule was.
The problem is that the result is the operation of the best 11.
I only changed my starting lineup against the League 1 team, but it doesn’t matter if I win 10:0 or 20:0.
Lauren Bortman’s gaze turned to the report with this month’s schedule.
09.02. Sun: Round 5 against Liverpool
〈09.03 ~ 09.10 : A Match Day 〉
09.12.Wed: Champions League group stage 1st leg
09.17.Mon: Round 6 against Arsenal
09.20.Thu: EFL Cup round of 32 match against Charlton
09.22. Sat: Round 7 against Tottenham
09.27.Thu : Champions League group stage 2nd leg
6 games in 1 month.
If you look at it from the outside, it’s like one game every five days. Far from being harsh, this can be seen as a reasonable number of games, but excluding the A-match schedule in the middle, you have to actually play 6 games in 3 weeks.
Didn’t the player selected for the A match play the game?
He also plays for the national team, and when the game is held far away, he has to endure long-distance travel.
Among the murderous schedule that had already started, the only game that could give the starters a break was the cup round of 32, and even this had to be done with the starters.
Smart.
“Director, this is the medical team report you requested.”
“Leave it.”
Lauren Botman, who was flipping through the schedule and squad list, accepted the report handed to her by her coach.
I did, but anyway.
“My head hurts.”
I felt it in the first round of the last Champions League group stage, but already there were players who were having difficulty managing their condition.
Young players in their early and mid-20s, who form the mainstay of Newcastle’s current first team, are not accustomed to such a hectic schedule.
Except for this season, he has never participated in club competitions, and last season, when first-team members started playing in earnest, he dropped out of the domestic cup competition early and focused only on the league. Was able to
Above all, the 38-year-old young coach Lauren Botman himself was not accustomed to the endless series of matches.
It wasn’t a short career from starting his coaching career as a youth coach to youth manager, second team manager and first team manager, but the murderous schedule of the Premier League, which parallels club competitions, leagues, and two cup competitions, is the first time even he has experienced it. .
It was even more of a headache because he couldn’t easily give up the EFL Cup, where he could make use of backup members, as he did not have a strong influence in the club.
“The goalkeeper will be fine. He can’t rotate to the goal, sorry for the second keeper.”
Lay out the tactics board and place the goalkeeper magnet with back number 1 on it.
“On the defensive line… The center back remains the same… James’ health regeneration has slowed down. The left one needs to be changed. The center is Baum Johann, where… As expected, resilience has declined with age. You can replace it in about 60 minutes.”
It’s time to swipe through the medical reports while attaching a magnet to the tactical board.
“Hong Min-jun, Hong Min-jun… Hmm.”
I know he’s definitely not a player with great stamina, but the medical report says otherwise.
“I continued to play as a starter, and even traveled the longest distance to Asia in A matches, but I am in strangely good shape. Do you have good resilience? No, the white blood cell count is normal. Lactic acid, ammonia, CK, LDH, and IgG levels are also nothing special.”
The fact that Hong Min-joon, the current core of Newcastle, is in good condition is good news that brings a sigh of relief, but it was important to figure out if this was a temporary fluke phenomenon.
“Come to think of it, injuries were rare. Where… There were hardly any residual injuries.”
When I checked the injury history, it was very clean. Even while playing more than 60 games with the club and national team in Frankfurt last year before joining Newcastle.
“Now that I see this guy, he’s the King of Steel.”
But right now tomorrow is the game.
There was a game against Charlton just yesterday, but with only one day off and the next game scheduled right away, no matter how good the condition looks, the condition cannot be normal.
At least he was replaced around the 75th minute of the second half, but there was no way he could physically fully recover.
More than anything-
“The match against Tottenham on the 22nd. And the 27th is the second leg of the Champions League.”
Aren’t we waiting for the match against Sevilla in the second round of the Champions League group stage?
“Should I choose between the League and the Champions League?”
You can’t play both games.
It’s possible, but that’s why it’s the real evangelism.
I pushed myself to run in order to get the best possible results, but if I get injured or my form goes down due to overuse, that is a bigger problem.
The important thing is that we are not even halfway through the long season, which can be called a marathon.
Lauren Botman, who was tapping the magnet with the number 7 on it, decided to give the player a choice.
You can decide for yourself, but the original conflict arises from trivial things. I don’t think that’s the case with the player he knows, Minjun Hong, but he could be dissatisfied because he didn’t play in a game for no reason, so he should let him choose.
“Did you call?”
When Hong Min-jun entered and when he did not enter, he was thinking about what kind of composition would be good, so a player came right away.
Although only light recovery training was scheduled for yesterday’s game, it seemed that the sweaty appearance was not just recovery training.
“No, why are you sweating so much… ?”
“I did some weights.”
“… What?”
Are you crazy about this?
* * *
As soon as the recovery training is over, he gets out of the crowd of players who are scattered and is hitting weights alone, and the coach calls.
“Hey Hong! Glad you haven’t gone yet. What here… Did you really weigh it?”
“You’re building upper body muscles these days.”
“Hey! If you do this your way… You should discuss it with your physical coach! If you do extra training… “
“It’s okay. I trained in consultation with a personal trainer.”
“Ugh, I don’t know. Don’t be scolded by Johnson later, friend. If that muscle mass gets angry, I can’t stop it either. Go ahead, the director will call you.”
I was stunned for a moment as I remembered the bulging muscles of Jones’ physical coach.
Well… That bald coach, don’t you think he’ll scold you?
Waving at the coach who shook his head, I went to the coach’s office and the coach, who was thinking about something, was shocked.
“You are the player who played yesterday! Extra training, are you going to ruin your body?”
“It’s okay. I know very well how precious my body is. I am training in consultation with a personal trainer.”
If it were in Korea, there would have been a sudden outrage, but in the Premier League, where there are so many star players, there are cases where players hire their own coaches to train, so the coach just shakes his head.
“Looks like you have some stamina left. So, make your choice. Are you going to play the next game against Tottenham or the next game against Sevilla?”
“…… ?”
“You’ve been playing as a starter ever since. Besides, I played 75 minutes against Charlton yesterday. It’s time to sit on the bench once in a while. But.”
“I’ll just play both.”
“… What?”
“Everyone runs. I was adjusting my stamina according to my schedule.”
“…….”
I smiled at the director who looked like a madman.
All right What is the reason you didn’t push yourself to score a goal against Arsenal?
“I will start every game unless I am injured.”
“It collapses from being overworked like that!! Do you know if there is one or two players like that? No. Greed in moderation—”
“Director.”
“Don’t try to convince me. It’s not okay to not—”
“It’s like an ordinary player. I am not an ordinary player.”
“Common… Okay. Well, you—”
“I am a special player. Only One!”
“…….”
I don’t know why you keep looking at me like a crazy person when I’m only telling the facts.