Chapter 1 Three Days Later

Three days later, Suárez, accompanied by his wife, boarded a plane to Chicago, USA, to undergo surgery with a renowned doctor.

If all went well, he could return to Liverpool in a month at the latest.

Suárez's departure from Liverpool meant that Martin O'Neill could finally settle on a consistent tactic for the team, which had been constantly changing.

Perhaps Suárez's injury was actually a good thing for the team.

Because with Suárez in the team, there was some conflict between him and Götze. If Suárez played, Götze would lose his position, and if Götze played, Suárez would have to be on the bench.

In fact, Suárez hadn't been a guaranteed starter this season, and he had been coming off the bench more often.

As Liverpool's most expensive signing this season, Götze couldn't stay on the bench forever. So, when Götze found his form and adapted to Liverpool's football style and living environment, it was only natural for him to take a starting position.

Fortunately, Liverpool was competing on multiple fronts, with a dense schedule and plenty of games, so Götze didn't have to play every game as a starter. He wasn't a freak like Chen Hero; he still needed to rest. Therefore, the two could take turns playing.

But when they took turns playing, the team's tactics also kept changing.

When Götze started, Martin O'Neill used a 4-2-3-1 formation and tactics. At this time, Suárez sat on the bench, Chen Hero was the only striker, up front, Götze played as an attacking midfielder, and Bale and Sanchez played as wingers and attacking midfielders on the left and right flanks. The central midfielders were Gerrard and Inler.

If Suárez played, then Götze was out, and Liverpool switched to a 4-4-2, which was the lineup and tactics that Liverpool had used for a whole season last year, so they were more familiar with it.

In addition, there were some slight personnel adjustments. For example, Adam Johnson could often rotate in, replacing Bale or Sanchez. Anyway, he could play on both the left and right flanks, which greatly increased his chances of playing.

In addition, Charlie Adam and Lucas could also come in at any time in the central midfield position. So Inler could also get a chance to rest, and Gerrard even more so. If that didn't work, Suárez could also coexist with Götze, with Götze replacing Gerrard in the 4-4-2.

In short, there were many possibilities, but they all boiled down to these two tactics.

Now that Suárez was out for the entire season, Martin O'Neill could settle down and focus on one tactic: the 4-2-3-1.

The advantage of the 4-2-3-1 was that the team had stronger control in midfield, and putting three players who could break through, pass, and shoot behind Chen Hero on the attacking line increased the chances of many late runs into the box for shots, which would cause a lot of trouble for the opponent's defense.

The disadvantage was that there was only Chen Hero in the penalty area, and he could easily be surrounded by several opposing players. Of course, there were ways to break this, which was to have the three attacking midfielders and Gerrard make frequent late runs for long shots.

In fact, if it weren't for Suárez, Martin O'Neill had planned to use this tactic all along, because he felt that this tactic was more threatening than the 4-4-2.

Therefore, when Suárez was injured, he felt annoyed, but later, when he calmed down, he thought it might be a good thing. He could openly let the team play 4-2-3-1 without worrying about Suárez, who was on the bench, feeling dissatisfied.

As for what to do after Suárez recovered from his injury, well, that could wait until he recovered…

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Suárez's injury was a good thing for Martin O'Neill from a tactical point of view.

But for the whole team, it wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Suárez was very popular in the locker room, and his injury had a huge impact on many players. In particular, the fact that he suddenly fell without any physical contact had a certain impact on the minds of many players.

This could be seen from the fact that they failed to beat Portsmouth, a team that wasn't very strong, in that game.

Martin O'Neill was worried that this would dampen the team's morale—it couldn't be said that Martin O'Neill was making a fuss about nothing. At this time, one really couldn't be careless at all, and one had to take precautions. If it really affected the team's morale, even if it was only a little bit, it might be fatal!

You know, after the game against Portsmouth, Liverpool narrowly beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the next league game.

It was almost another draw, and Liverpool hadn't had two consecutive draws this season.

So it wasn't that Martin O'Neill was being overly worried; such a situation had really occurred.

O'Neill decided to eliminate the impact of Suárez's serious injury on the whole team.

He decided to use the Christmas dinner party.

The Christmas dinner party was a regular event for many teams every year, not only for the Premier League teams, but also for La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga… these teams, as long as they were in countries that regarded Christmas as a legal holiday, professional football clubs would hold this event.

For Premier League teams, this was an opportunity to relax. Because the Premier League didn't have a winter break, and naturally there was no Christmas holiday, so this dinner party might be their only "holiday" during this period, and it was a rare opportunity for them to rest and relax in their busy schedules.

O'Neill planned to start with the dinner party. To this end, he announced that the theme of this year's Liverpool Christmas dinner party was… a costume party.

He wanted to use a joyful atmosphere to dilute the cloud of sorrow that Suárez's serious injury had cast over the team.

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"The theme of this year's Christmas dinner party is a costume party. We will award two awards: the Most Creative Award and the Most Dedicated Award. I hope everyone will give full play to your imagination!" Assistant coach Sammy Lee announced to the players who had finished training in the locker room.

For those who liked to be funny, a costume party was simply tailor-made for them.

As soon as Sammy Lee left, everyone began to discuss what they should dress up as.

The members of the Eating, Drinking, and Merrymaking Gang surrounded Chen Hero, wanting to hear if he had any good ideas.

Chen Hero spread his hands: "I just found out about it, how can I have any good ideas? Besides, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you! I'm going for those two awards!"

"Tch! Stingy!" Everyone dispersed, each thinking of their own ideas.

After Chen Hero returned home, he told Cabral about the invitation to the costume party.

Cabral asked him, "What are you planning to dress up as?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. But I'm definitely going to be the most creative one! I'm going to dress up as something that no one else is dressing up as!" Chen Hero said confidently.

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There wasn't much time left for the players to prepare for the costume party. After all, this wasn't a very important matter. The key was just for everyone to have fun and relax.

On the afternoon of the 27th, after training, the team let the players go home to prepare, and then go directly to the hotel.

At the entrance of the hotel where the dance was being held, many fans and media had already gathered. They were all there to watch the players walk the red carpet.

This year's red carpet was different from previous years. The players had to walk with makeup on.

Many people were curious about what kind of costumes the stars, who were usually infinitely glamorous on the court, would wear.

Whether they were reporters or ordinary fans, everyone held cameras and mobile phones, and surrounded the red carpet, ready to admire the funny side of the Liverpool stars. This was also considered an entertainment activity for everyone before Christmas. There was even a local Liverpool TV station that brought cameras to film the players walking the red carpet and broadcast it live to everyone… It was thanks to Liverpool's good results this year that everyone was in such a relaxed mood.

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Everyone who came to the dance was carefully dressed. Some people played American superheroes, some played Japanese cartoon characters, and some played inexplicable things, such as aliens.

Škrtel walked into the venue dressed as the Hulk. His appearance disappointed those who hoped Chen Hero would play the Hulk. They felt that only Chen Hero was worthy of the image of the Hulk.

I wonder if these Liverpool players had communicated in advance, because if they ran into each other, it would be so embarrassing…

In fact, they really hadn't communicated, because there were two players dressed as Spider-Man, and as many as five as Batman.

When Charlie Adam and Lucas, both dressed as Batman, appeared on the red carpet almost at the same time, they were both stunned by each other, and then everyone around them burst into laughter. The two had no choice but to walk the red carpet hand in hand…

Gareth Bale was dressed as the Flash, which was quite in line with his characteristics.

Gerrard played it safe, as… Superman.

So far, this costume party was still considered normal. Although everyone's costumes were more biased towards American superheroes, who made American superheroes so popular through Hollywood movies?

But when the members of Liverpool's Eating, Drinking, and Merrymaking Gang began to appear, this normal costume party gradually went in an unknown direction…

Thornton was dressed as a football—he just dyed the clothes on his body into white hexagonal blocks. There was nothing special about that. Okay, if the audience thought this was still a normal costume, then next, the climax came!

Between Thornton's body leaning forward, just as he was about to fall to the ground, he supported himself with his hands, and then kicked hard with his legs!

He rolled forward on the red carpet!

Now, he really was a football!

The reporters and fans at the scene were stunned!

The Liverpool players on both sides of the red carpet were also stunned, and then they realized—Thornton was going to snatch those two awards!

Too shameless!

Chen Hero, who was watching the TV broadcast in the car, also exclaimed, "Damn it! Thornton, you bastard!"

But no one could stop Thornton from stealing the show from everyone else before him. The fans applauded him wildly, whistled at him, waved to him, and shouted his name. Even on the court, he might not have been so popular at this moment…

After getting up, Thornton waved to everyone triumphantly.

Obviously, he was very satisfied with the effect his appearance had caused!