Chapter 8 Another Away Game

It had only been a few days since they returned from Slovenia, and it was already the eighth round of the league, another away game. The league schedule was too packed, so Martin O'Neill had to continue rotating players.

Considering Chen Hero's inexplicably low mood these past few days, although he had recovered now, no one knew what was going on. So, to be safe, Chen Hero was once again placed on the bench.

Chen Hero didn't object. He had already scored ten goals in the Premier League, and he wasn't worried about not winning the Golden Boot this season.

The reason he had desperately tried to score goals from the very first round of the league was that he had anticipated the team's multi-front campaign this season. He thought the coach might use rotation, and if he missed out on many goals due to rotation, it would be too much of a loss. So, he started by racking up the goals, so that even if he played fewer games, it wouldn't affect his final goal tally.

Now it seemed he had guessed correctly.

Chen Hero was substituted on in the seventieth minute of the match. When he came on, Liverpool was trailing Stoke City 0-1 away from home.

Chen Hero's task was clear: to help the team equalize, and if possible, win the game.

But this time, Chen Hero was unable to play the hero role of saving the team.

In the eighty-seventh minute, he had a powerful long shot. The Stoke City goalkeeper had already given up, but the ball ended up hitting the post.

"Ah! It seems today God doesn't want Hero to score, nor does he want Liverpool to take away a point!"

In the end, Liverpool lost 0-1 to Stoke City away from home, creating a minor upset.

Liverpool's unbeaten record since the start of the league's seven rounds was finally broken, which relieved teams like Manchester United and Manchester City—they were genuinely worried that Liverpool would suddenly rise strongly.

Now, Liverpool had returned to normal...

Because of this defeat, Liverpool also fell from the top of the league, overtaken by Manchester City.

The season had only just begun with eight rounds, and Liverpool and Manchester City were the best-performing teams, while Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and other teams were performing worse. However, the performance and ranking at this time didn't mean anything. There were many stories of teams that performed well at the beginning of the season but gradually fell behind.

Chen Hero also talked about the loss after the game: "Losing the game is certainly not a happy thing, but I don't think it's a big deal. This is just our first defeat of the new season. Rotation? There's no problem at all. Even if we lose the game, I support rotation. For the team to go further, rotation is something we must do."

As for the team not being very adapted to rotation, Chen Hero shrugged and spread his hands: "You have to ask the coach about this. I can't say anything valuable about this kind of thing."

Even though he didn't score in this round of the league, Chen Hero still occupied the top spot in the league's scorer list with ten goals.

That's why Chen Hero answered so calmly.

Some people speculated that if Chen Hero was in the position of a lagging player, maybe he would have already cursed...

They didn't know that Chen Hero really wanted to play the game. After watching the opponent score, he became restless, itchy, and couldn't wait to run to Martin O'Neill and ask to play in front of the entire audience.

But he still held back.

Because if he didn't insist on rotation at this time, Liverpool would definitely not reach the final of the Europa League, and then his grand plan would fall through.

To surpass Messi, he could only endure it.

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The media couldn't find the reason why Chen Hero's mood suddenly dropped and then suddenly improved. After the rumors about his breakup with Cabral spread for a few days, they found that Chen Hero had flown to Italy to find Cabral again.

The Italian media took pictures of the two of them shopping on the streets of Milan, and all the rumors were dispelled.

So, the sudden ups and downs in Chen Hero's mood became an unsolved mystery.

Chen Hero didn't plan to explain anything to the media. If they wanted to fabricate stories, let them, anyway, the relationship between himself and Cabral would not be really affected by the media's nonsense. If they really made up too outrageous stories, he could take up legal weapons and sue them in court.

In the ninth round of the league, Liverpool would welcome Tottenham Hotspur at home.

This was a strong enemy and not easy to deal with.

After this game, the international match day would come, and the Liverpool's international players would have to fly to all parts of the world to serve their countries.

Chen Hero couldn't be idle either. He had to shoot a television commercial for Red Bull.

For Liverpool, this was definitely not a rest, but a more serious physical drain. Every time at this time, team coach Martin O'Neill would be worried, fearing that his players would get injured during the international match day.

Although FIFA had mandated all national teams to purchase insurance for their international players from August 2012, once the international players were injured in the national team games, the clubs where the players belonged could receive corresponding compensation. FIFA had specially approved a special fund of 100 million US dollars for this purpose. Previously, clubs and national teams had repeatedly clashed over the use and injury of international players. FIFA formulated this rule to help both sides ease the conflict.

But for clubs, they would rather not have the money and hope to get a healthy and intact player...

Because the loss that some core players' absence due to injury brings to the club is not enough to be compensated by FIFA's special fund...

Besides, some losses are simply priceless. If Liverpool lost a few absolute combinations due to losses, and ultimately lost the league championship, the good momentum of rising was suppressed, the morale was lost, and the tone was vented, how much is this loss worth?

No amount of money could replace it!

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On October 7th, Liverpool welcomed Tottenham Hotspur at home.

This time, because there were no League Cups or Europa League games afterwards, Martin O'Neill could send out the full main lineup.

Chen Hero started again.

At their home stadium, Liverpool would definitely not allow themselves to lose again.

Losing one game was just an accident, but losing two games in a row would be a big problem and could become a dangerous signal.

Therefore, Martin O'Neill paid special attention to this game.

The focus of this game was undoubtedly Chen Hero.

Before the game, Redknapp talked about Chen Hero.

"He is Liverpool's most threatening player and also our most headache. He is very good... You want to ask us how to deal with him? Sorry, I won't tell you."

Tottenham's star player Gareth Bale also said about Chen Hero: "He is one of the best centers I have ever seen, but this does not prevent us from defeating the team he is in."

The reporters asked him with ill intentions: "Compared with Adebayor, who do you think is better?"

Bale was not fooled: "Both are very good."

Chen Hero was naturally also the key target of the reporters' "siege."

Since Bale took the initiative to show his goodwill to him, he couldn't be too impolite, could he? Besides, he had no deep hatred with Tottenham and Bale. They were just ordinary competitors. They were hostile in the game, but everything was normal after the game.

So, he also enthusiastically praised Bale, but his praise was uncomfortable for Tottenham fans to hear.

Because Chen Hero said this.

"Bale is also a very good player. I have seen him play. He is great and passionate. I think he must be the kind of player Liverpool needs, and it must be great to partner with him!"

He seemed to be too enthusiastic...

※※※

However, it cannot be ruled out that Chen Hero really appreciates Bale, so he would say such things.

Chen Hero himself was unintentional, but the speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested...

Tottenham fans were very upset when they heard Chen Hero's words—what do you mean? Are you openly poaching players!

Don't you know how important Bale is to Tottenham?

Don't think you can do whatever you want with a few stinky money! Damn it, our Tottenham is not a pauper either!

Tottenham immediately issued a voice warning Chen Hero and Liverpool from the fans.

At the same time, Chen Hero's words also aroused a strong interest from Liverpool's Niang.

Yes, Bale is also a very good winger. It seems that Liverpool can consider introducing him next season. Look at the centers he has partnered with when he was in Tottenham, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch, and Adebayor, all benefited a lot from him.

If he can cooperate with Chen Hero, I believe Chen Hero's number of goals can be raised to a higher level.

The reason why he hasn't paid attention to him before is due to various reasons. On the one hand, Tottenham's asking price for him is too high, claiming that he is not for sale, which means that you can't take him away with 20 or 30 million at all. On the other hand, Liverpool's own appeal is not enough. You must know that Inter Milan, Barcelona, and Real Madrid have all reported news that they are interested in him. Compared with them, what is Liverpool?

But now it's different. Those wealthy teams that are interested in him are gradually losing their interest. At least in the past two years, there has been less and less news about wealthy teams being interested in Bale.

This season, Tottenham doesn't even have the qualification to participate in the Champions League, and can only play in the Europa League like Liverpool.

Losing the important stage of the Champions League, Bale's popularity has naturally declined.

If Liverpool really wants to buy Bale, the competition they face will be much smaller than in the previous two years.

In addition, as long as Liverpool can perform well this season, it will reproduce the glory of the wealthy, which should still be very attractive to Tottenham players. You must know that in English football, Liverpool is a behemoth like Manchester United, and all they lack is an opportunity to announce their return.

Being able to participate in the Europa League this season is a good declaration of return for Liverpool.

As long as Liverpool can regain its voice, it should not be too difficult to attract Bale.

Niang thought more and more, and felt that this matter was very operable. Of course, he couldn't wait until the end of the season to do this kind of thing. Player transfers must be planned ahead. He felt that he could consider promoting this matter now...