Martin O'Neill felt that his resolute support for Chen Hero had played a role. Chen Hero and he were closer.

At least when he criticized Chen Hero and other players the day after the game, Chen Hero's attitude was very good—humbly accepting!

Before training that day, Martin O'Neill really put on a stern face and lectured everyone again. He didn't praise the players' spirit and fighting will just because the team had won the game.

"We won this game, yes, we got three points, and we even rose to the top of the league because of it. But what does this prove? It only proves that you were lucky!" On the training ground, Martin O'Neill stood solemnly in the middle of the players, who stood in a circle around him with their hands behind their backs, heads bowed, listening to the coach's criticism.

"If it weren't for Hero's second goal, I wouldn't dare say whether we could have won the game. Although we won, I want you all to know that this is a lesson! Good luck doesn't always favor us! If you are always so arrogant and underestimate your opponents, I don't think we will go far! I don't want to see you put the team in trouble again for such stupid reasons!"

He had actually said these words in the locker room after the game, but at that time, Chen Hero's red card was very controversial, and he had to go to the press conference to support Chen Hero, so he didn't have time to say it.

Now that he had said it, he observed the players' reactions and found that the effect was good.

The team didn't get carried away by their eventual victory.

Especially Chen Hero, as the biggest contributor to the team's victory, he didn't take credit for himself or show any disdain. He bowed his head and accepted the criticism and education honestly, along with the other players.

Martin O'Neill thought to himself, could this be related to his support for Chen Hero yesterday?

Hmm…

He found that dealing with Chen Hero was really like dealing with a child. When he made a mistake, you absolutely couldn't criticize him in front of everyone, you even had to support him and not make him lose face. Then you could communicate with him however you wanted in private. Because Martin O'Neill had several private conversations with Chen Hero, which proved that Chen Hero was not an unreasonable, self-righteous, or self-centered person.

Martin O'Neill felt that after figuring out Chen Hero's temper, it wasn't difficult to get along with Chen Hero and make full use of him…

In short, you had to give him enough face, and then he would give you face.

O'Neill felt that he had found a clue, and he was more confident about his coaching prospects at Liverpool.

He was also more confident about the upcoming away game against Anderlecht in Belgium.

※※※

After finishing the Merseyside derby with Everton, the Liverpool team took a short break and then flew to Belgium as a group.

To participate in the third game of the Europa League group stage, their opponent was Anderlecht.

This game was very important for Liverpool. If they could beat Anderlecht away, their chances of qualifying would be bright.

Currently, Anderlecht is ranked second in the group, with one win and one draw after two games, accumulating four points. Sporting Lisbon has one draw and one loss, accumulating one point, ranking third in the group. At the bottom is Grelka, with two losses in two games, zero points. Liverpool has two wins in two games, accumulating six points.

However, for Chen Hero, qualifying for the group stage was not his goal at all.

The group stage was for him to rack up goals!

The Eat, Drink, and Play Squad was in action, and the goal of this game was to get Chen Hero to score as many goals as possible.

If Martin O'Neill knew what these players were really thinking, he would realize that he didn't need to be more confident at all…

Even if he didn't criticize the players, it wouldn't affect the outcome of this game…

Anderlecht is not an unknown team. They are the most successful team in Belgian football. Since the end of World War II, Anderlecht has gradually become the greatest team in Belgian history. After winning the league title for the first time in 1947, they became unstoppable. In the sixty years since then, they have won nearly half of the league titles—thirty-one titles. They have also won the Belgian League Cup eight times, and the Belgian Super Cup eight times.

In the 1970s, Anderlecht focused on the European arena. Between 1976 and 1983, they won five European competition trophies, including two Cup Winners' Cups, two European Super Cups, and one UEFA Cup.

They are the most successful team in Belgium.

The greatest player in Belgian football history, Enzo Scifo, also debuted at Anderlecht.

In addition, the offside trap tactic, which is now very commonly used, was originally invented by Anderlecht.

This is definitely not an unknown team, but a famous and wealthy club. However, as football becomes more and more commercialized, the gap between teams in small countries' leagues and teams in top leagues is widening, and Anderlecht can only play the role of a local bully…

Faced with such an opponent, Martin O'Neill didn't dare to be careless, but Chen Hero didn't think about whether he could win the game at all. His mind was full of goals, goals, and more goals!

※※※

Chen Hero was full of motivation because Messi didn't score in yesterday's Champions League game. His goal count was still three.

This gave Chen Hero a chance to surpass him.

He was going to go on a killing spree in this game!

Although Anderlecht once invented the offside trap tactic, it was a special product of a special period. At that time, the offside rule was that as long as an attacking player appeared behind the defensive line and between the goalkeeper at the moment of the pass, it was considered offside, regardless of whether these people participated in the attack.

So when watching games at that time, fans would often see the defending players quickly and uniformly press forward as soon as the opposing player intended to pass the ball, leaving the attacking players behind. At this time, as long as the ball was passed over, the referee would blow the whistle to indicate that the attacking side was offside.

This trick could kill many opponents' attacking opportunities.

Later, this trick was learned by Sacchi of AC Milan, and AC Milan carried it forward.

It's just that such a game would look quite comical now… because the defense became a simple overall forward press by the defensive line, leaving the opponent behind, instead of man-marking, one-on-one, tactical, and technical contests…

So later, FIFA also felt that this offside trap tactic was too rampant, which had completely damaged the development of football and made the game meaningless and uninteresting. They revised the offside rule, stipulating that as long as those attacking players left behind did not participate in the attack and did not interfere with the defending players, it would not be considered offside.

In this way, those offside trap tactics became impossible to implement, and teams that tried to create offsides would die miserably.

The offside trap tactic invented by Anderlecht completely disappeared in the historical development of football.

Nowadays, there is still the offside trap tactic, but it is more complicated than before, and the requirements for grasping the timing are stricter. Of course, the possibility of failure is also very high… The risk is greater, and it has become a typical double-edged sword. Not many teams use it anymore.

The current Anderlecht no longer uses the offside trap tactic—now, facing strong teams, the best defensive strategy for weak teams is not to create offsides, but to park a bus in front of the goal and then engage in melee-style defense against important players.

Chen Hero and Liverpool were treated like this.

Anderlecht knew how powerful Liverpool was and knew Chen Hero's terror even more clearly. They didn't blindly rush out and counterattack Liverpool just because they were playing at home.

Anderlecht's goal was to qualify for the group stage, not to win a big victory over Liverpool at home. If they could force a draw with Liverpool at home and get one point, that would be a victory. Because their direct competitor was not Liverpool, but Sporting Lisbon. Sporting Lisbon was challenging Grelka away in this round, and it shouldn't be a big problem for them to win.

If Anderlecht lost to Liverpool at home, they would be tied on points with Sporting Lisbon.

On the contrary, what if Anderlecht drew with Liverpool at home? They would have one more point than Sporting Lisbon and still have an advantage.

So Anderlecht's goal in this game was to force a draw with their opponent.

But how could Chen Hero give them such an opportunity?

Being forced to a draw by Anderlecht would mean that he wouldn't score many goals, right? If you said that you could score a lot of goals in a draw, and that meant Anderlecht could also score a lot of goals, I'm afraid not many people would believe it, right?

Although Anderlecht was playing at home, under the tactical guidance of defending with all their might and striving for a draw, it would be very impressive if they could score two goals.

※※※

Anderlecht was determined to force a draw with Liverpool at their home stadium. To this end, they didn't hesitate to give up attacking and chose to defend to the death.

But they only held on for twenty-one minutes…

In the twenty-second minute, Chen Hero fought for a point in the penalty area, received a pass from Suarez, and used his right foot to put the ball into the goal, opening the scoring for the team!

At the same time, this was also his fourth goal in the Europa League this season, and he continued to lead the scorer list.

This goal didn't make Anderlecht give up the idea of continuing to defend to the death. After all, only being one goal behind was not a big deal. As long as they didn't concede any more goals in the first half, and after adjusting during the half-time break, Anderlecht still had a chance to tie the score.

And the hope was not small.

But three minutes later, Liverpool made a comeback, and Chen Hero made a comeback!

After Chen Hero received the ball with his back to the goal outside the penalty area, he suddenly turned around!

Then he took a turn and shot directly from outside the penalty area!

The ball went straight into the top corner, and Liverpool took a 2-0 lead on the road!

Two goals behind, Anderlecht couldn't hold on anymore… It wasn't just that being two goals behind put them in a difficult situation, what was even more terrifying was that through these two goals, they found that defending to the death was useless against Chen Hero…

Should they continue to defend to the death and hope that they would be lucky enough not to concede any more goals?

Or should they change their tactics and switch to attacking, also hoping that they would be lucky enough to pull back a point and reduce the score difference to one goal?

After thinking, Anderlecht's coach made a decision—defensive counterattack!

They wouldn't just defend to the death, they had to counterattack as well.

This decision was quite rational, indicating that he had not lost his composure and had not lost his mind. If he had let the team press forward and attack wildly, they would probably have died even more miserably. But if they defended to the death, it would damage the players' enthusiasm.

So the defensive counterattack was the most stable plan.

But such calmness and rationality were meaningless in front of Chen Hero, who was irrational and crazy in his pursuit of goals!

Before the end of the first half, Liverpool got a free kick opportunity. Chen Hero took the free kick and blasted the ball into the goal for the third time with a beautiful powerful free kick!

"Hero—!!!"

The commentator roared, lengthening his voice.

"Liverpool is three goals ahead of the home team Anderlecht in the first half! The scorer is Chen Hero again! He staged a hat trick!"

"Unbelievable! Hero can easily stage a hat trick even when facing Anderlecht, who is second in the group and not weak! The nickname 'Bug' given to him by the British media is well-deserved! For Anderlecht, Chen Hero is an unsolvable 'Bug'!"

"The Europa League has only played three games, and Hero has already scored six goals! The Chen Hero who scored thirteen goals in seven Champions League games before is finally back! This is his first time participating in a European competition after a season, although it is only the Europa League, which is one level lower, Hero's performance is as sharp as ever! He has proven to us his terrifying scoring ability! Is the whole of Europe ready to tremble under his feet!"

※※※

Whether Europe was trembling or not, Anderlecht had at least started to tremble.

After a fifteen-minute half-time break, it could be seen that Anderlecht's coach did not make any targeted and effective adjustments during the half-time break. He just let the team press forward to attack in the second half—it can't be said that his approach was wrong, after all, they were already three goals behind, and it was almost impossible to keep a draw. So instead of this, it was better to grab a few more goals. Maybe Liverpool would relax after leading by three goals in the first half? They wouldn't continue to score in the second half, then the home team would not only be able to score goals, but also recover a little bit of the loss in goal difference.

But such an approach seemed meaningless in the face of Liverpool's still strong offensive in the second half.

In the end, Anderlecht did score a goal. They pulled one back in the second half, which was a bit of face-saving.

Chen Hero didn't score in the second half. His teammates Suarez and Agger each scored a goal, helping Liverpool win a 5-1 victory over Anderlecht on the road.

After three games, Liverpool has three wins in three games, with nine points, and has basically established the advantage of qualifying for the group stage. If there is any suspense, maybe it is the suspense of whether it is the first or second in the group, but this suspense is actually very small… It doesn't make much sense.

Chen Hero staged a hat trick in the game and scored a total of six goals in the Europa League, continuing to dominate the top spot in the Europa League scorer list.

As said before, Chen Hero is a Champions League-level shooter, and it is actually condescending to play in the Europa League, so the gap between him and other people in the scorer list is very obvious.

It's not the same level at all…

※※※

ps, advertising time——

《Tianxia Diyi Shenbu》Book number: 2263417

Senluo Angel's new book, welcome to read.

Happy direction!

Worshiping Little Dragon Girl as a teacher? What about Yang Guo?

Li Mo curled his lips and replied: Go play!

Teasing Bai Niangzi? What about Xu Xian?

Li Mo gave a sanitary eye and replied: Masturbate!

－－－－－－

There are famous teachers, there are good students.

But there is also a perverted apprentice who dares to tease his female master.

Transmigrating to become a 'temporary worker' catcher, it doesn't matter!

The hero relies on his sword to travel the world, Li Mo relies on his sword to catch the hero!