Chapter 1 Chen Hero

On the way home, Chen Hero was still thinking about his conversation with Martin O'Neill. This was the first time he had spoken with the head coach alone.

He had somewhat changed his opinion of Martin O'Neill, thinking that this new head coach was actually quite good. At the very least, he was sensible and believed in his ability, although he still underestimated it a bit...

Chen Hero's principles for judging whether he liked or disliked someone were really simple.

As long as someone was good to him, he wouldn't dislike them, and he would be good to them in return. Even if this flattery was only on the surface. But people's hearts are hidden, who can know what someone else is thinking? You can't treat everyone who gets close to you and builds a good relationship with you as someone with ulterior motives and malicious intentions, right? If you did that, how would you ever make friends? Living with the mindset of always being wary of others would be too tiring. That wasn't the kind of life Chen Hero was after. His attitude was "swift justice," and that included both revenge and gratitude.

Some people said that Chen Hero's treatment of Suarez back then was stupid, but how could Chen Hero have known what Suarez was thinking? Suarez had disguised himself very well at the beginning, never letting Chen Hero feel that he was hostile towards him. Moreover, Suarez's attitude was constantly changing, and going from enemy to friend couldn't be accomplished overnight. If others were good to him, he would be good to them in return. In the end, he moved Suarez, leading Suarez to genuinely treat Chen Hero well, and the two became good friends. Wasn't that a great and happy ending?

If someone really had ulterior motives and was deliberately trying to get close to Chen Hero with malicious intentions, Chen Hero wasn't stupid. If he found out, then that person would definitely... die miserably.

Just like how he dealt with Richards, the poor guy ultimately lost the lawsuit. However, considering he was a Premier League player, he wasn't sentenced to prison, but instead had to perform two hundred and fifty hours of community service. The other media outlets that participated in this affair, spread rumors, and incited trouble were also found guilty and ordered to pay Chen Hero's emotional distress damages, as well as publish apology statements in prominent positions for half a month.

Chen Hero fully fulfilled his previous promise to beat a dog when it's down.

Why was his relationship with Dalglish good? Because Dalglish supported him. When he wanted to take leave to go to Italy, Dalglish didn't use team rules to stop him. When he was besieged by the media, Dalglish spoke up for him. After he maliciously retaliated against Richards, Dalglish even told him how to minimize the consequences—if you have such a head coach, how can you not have a good relationship with him? If you don't, then it must be your own problem.

Now that Martin O'Neill had talked to Chen Hero once, Chen Hero felt Martin O'Neill's kindness, appreciation, and support for him. Naturally, he couldn't hate the other person in his heart and put him on the opposite side.

Although he couldn't say he liked him as much as Dalglish, he didn't hate him either. That itself was a remarkable improvement.

You should know that this was the result Martin O'Neill was pursuing in the first place. If O'Neill could see into Chen Hero's heart, he would probably already be laughing to himself.

But if he wanted to truly gain Chen Hero's support, Martin O'Neill had to do more.

Actually, it was very simple to have a good relationship with Chen Hero. Treat him like a friend, and if he needed help, you helped him. Even if the help you provided was insignificant, he would remember your kindness and constantly help you in return...

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The next day, Martin O'Neill noticed that Chen Hero's attitude had changed. At the very least, he wasn't as businesslike as before, and he didn't give him that blank expression, which seemed like a silent protest.

Now, there were changes in his facial expressions, and he would even smile when he greeted him.

Martin O'Neill was satisfied with this. It made his work much easier.

Preparations for the new season were in full swing. This season, Liverpool had the Europa League, which meant they were fighting on multiple fronts and would inevitably be distracted. This was his plan—in European competitions, they had to at least make it to the knockout stage. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing for a prestigious club like Liverpool to be eliminated in the group stage and sent home. Once they reached the knockout stage, they would decide how far to go based on their opponents and the team's condition.

The main focus was still on the domestic league. The Europa League was just a side dish, not worth going all out for. The league was the foundation. Martin O'Neill absolutely wouldn't think that his boss, Chen Xing, would be happy if he went to great lengths to help the team win the Europa League trophy, but lost the Champions League qualification.

For a prestigious team like Liverpool, failing to participate in the Champions League was a failure, and even winning ten consecutive Europa League titles would be meaningless.

Reviving the glory of a prestigious club couldn't be achieved by showing off in the second-tier Europa League... Of course, if there was an easy opportunity to show off, such as if the team was performing well in the league and had also reached the Europa League final, then Martin O'Neill wouldn't mind showing off a bit.

However, all of this depended on Liverpool's performance in the league. Finishing in the top four was the bottom line. The Europa League was just a bonus.

A head coach always had to set a grand goal and path before preparing for a season. Only after setting these things could he know what he should do during the preparation period.

In addition to the grand goal, there were also many small goals. For example, what effect did he want the team to achieve in the first month of the preseason, what state did he want them to be in in the second month, and what kind of performance did he want them to have in the first month of the league...

These things were very tedious. Otherwise, why would head coaches be so painstaking and mentally taxing? They all aged prematurely and suffered from senility in their old age.

Martin O'Neill's general direction for Liverpool was to focus on the domestic league, with the bottom line being fourth place in the league, and the Europa League as a secondary focus.

However, until January, the team would need to expend a lot of energy on both fronts—he didn't plan to go all out for the League Cup like Dalglish did.

He didn't have a League Cup obsession.

Since they needed to expend a lot of energy on both fronts, they needed to reserve enough physical energy for this half of the season.

Therefore, the team's training volume before the season was very high.

Players like Chen Hero, who had good physical fitness, were naturally not afraid, while those with poor physical fitness were exhausted and miserable. Moreover, since he was the new head coach, no one wanted to leave a bad impression on him, so they had to grit their teeth and persevere, no matter how bitter or tiring it was.

For a time, after the head coach was changed, the atmosphere in the team was actually somewhat positive and upward, quite vibrant.

Of course, this was a new head coach after all, and everyone wanted to leave a good impression on him. As time went on, who knew what would happen. This was one of the reasons why many teams experienced a "change of coach like changing a knife." (referring to an immediate positive effect)

Wasn't that how it was when Dalglish was appointed in a crisis and helped Liverpool successfully avoid relegation in half a season? That summer, when the club signed Dalglish, the media and fans were still cheering, saying that Liverpool was finally going to create another legend in the hands of a legend.

As a result, after only half a season, Dalglish's level was completely exposed, and everyone's hearts sank to freezing point.

Now that Martin O'Neill had just taken office, many people were already speculating about when he would be sacked—it wasn't that they didn't believe in O'Neill's level, it was that they didn't believe in Liverpool's players.

The only people worth trusting were Gerrard and Chen Hero, but Gerrard was already becoming injury-prone, and even when he returned, he was very careful. Moreover, Martin O'Neill specifically stipulated that players were not allowed to tackle Gerrard's feet during training, for fear of injury during training, which would really make them cry.

This period of time was very important for Gerrard. If he had frequent injuries, it would not only destroy the Liverpool captain's body, but also destroy his spirit. If a player, already at the end of his career, was still frequently injured, what if he became disheartened and retired early?

Such a possibility naturally had to be prevented.

Chen Hero was the most reassuring guy—if you put aside his temper.

He also scored frequently in the warm-up matches, showing his good form.

Moreover, he adapted to the team's ground passing style very quickly.

In the warm-up matches, he didn't score a single header, all of his goals were shots with his feet. Occasionally, there were some headers, but they weren't shots, but rather headers outside the penalty area—at the end of last season, he didn't even have a single header, because he had vowed to never use a single header in the battle with Van Persie for the top scorer award. Naturally, he completely forbade the use of his head.

Now that he had won against Van Persie, there was no need to be so cruel to himself. It was completely abnormal not to use a single header. Even the doctor didn't tell Chen Hero not to use headers at all, he just said to use them as little as possible, and reduce them to a normal level. Chen Hero had indeed been too reliant on headers before, and many of his header techniques were completely head-on collisions, so the chances of injury were indeed very high.

Now, let's just restore it to a normal level first, mainly using his feet, with his head as a supplement.

The sign that Chen Hero was in good shape was that he could score goals, no one cared whether he scored with his head or his feet.

Now that Chen Hero was scoring a lot of goals, it meant that he was in good shape.

Martin O'Neill was half relieved.

Next, he would see the condition of the other players.

Such as Inler, Sanchez, Klasnic, and others who had just joined the team, as well as those who had stayed in the team.

Their condition and performance were more important. The facts of last season had already proven that relying on Chen Hero alone, Liverpool still had no future. Three helping hands make a hero, but even a hero... needs the support of his teammates.