Chapter 10 October

In October, there was neither the League Cup nor the FA Cup in English football, so Chen Hero's two-match ban was firmly enforced in the league. He would miss the eighth round against Wigan Athletic at Anfield and the ninth round away against Chelsea due to the suspension.

Fortunately, the English FA's suspension didn't apply to the Champions League. Otherwise, Chen Hero would definitely be severely reprimanded by Martin O'Neill...

After the match against Manchester City, there was a week without league or Champions League matches; it was the international break. Chinese fans had become accustomed to this situation—Chen Hero performed so well in the league, but they couldn't see him in the national team's matches.

Moreover, everyone knew that the decision to keep Chen Hero out of the national team didn't seem to be just the Football Association's doing, but also involved the opinion of the General Administration of Sport.

Most people fell silent now. Because if that was the case, then it would be really difficult for Chen Hero to join the national team.

Everyone had gotten used to accepting this reality. Anyway, they were proud that Chen Hero was performing well for his club. Only some people still regretted that Chen Hero couldn't represent the national team, and they insisted that if the national team had Chen Hero, winning the Asian Cup would be no problem, and qualifying for the World Cup would be no problem either.

Chen Hero didn't have to participate in the national team's matches, and he stayed in Liverpool to rest, which made Martin O'Neill particularly happy. He thought that the Chinese Football Association was simply the most adorable organization in the world!

After the national team matches, everyone gradually returned, and this time no one was injured. Martin O'Neill breathed a sigh of relief.

Every international break, Martin O'Neill had to repeat this process—worrying before and during the matches, and only being able to breathe a sigh of relief afterward. If someone was injured, then he would have to continue worrying afterward...

Wasn't that why head coaches were under so much psychological pressure? Even national team matches, which seemed to have nothing to do with them, could make them extremely nervous. Maybe even when the players went on vacation, the head coach had to keep an eye on them, fearing that they would get injured during the vacation—there were precedents for such things; some players could get injured even while watching TV at home, let alone going on vacation.

How could their pressure be small when they were constantly worried like this?

Fortunately, the Liverpool that returned was a complete Liverpool, not a broken one.

Martin O'Neill could breathe a sigh of relief and continue preparing for the domestic league and the Champions League.

※※※

In the eighth round of the league, Liverpool played Wigan Athletic at home. The opponent wasn't strong, and even without Chen Hero, Liverpool still beat them 3-2 at home.

Because if Liverpool lost without Chen Hero, then Martin O'Neill's level would be too poor, and the other players in the Liverpool team would be too poor. They had to know that Liverpool wasn't just Chen Hero's Liverpool.

As a century-old powerhouse, Liverpool naturally had their strengths.

Although, judging from the score, Liverpool only won by a "narrow margin"...

Without Chen Hero all of a sudden, the Liverpool team was still a little unaccustomed to it.

But no matter what, it was good to win.

After winning the match against Wigan Athletic, the Liverpool team's focus shifted to the Champions League.

※※※

Before Liverpool's away match against Valencia, despite being away, everyone was optimistic about Liverpool, and the Liverpool players also seemed confident.

Valencia, on the other hand, was particularly low-key, even though Valencia had also won their first two group matches, with the same points as Liverpool. But everyone felt that Valencia would consider it a win if they lost by less at their home ground.

Everyone had enough reason to think so, because there was a very terrifying statistic supporting their view.

That was...

Whether it was the League Cup or the European Super Cup, whether it was the league or the Champions League, Liverpool had been winning all the way!

They hadn't lost a single match, or even been forced to a draw!

This was a remarkable achievement. As October was coming to an end, Liverpool was the only team in Europe that had achieved this record.

In the two Champions League group matches, Liverpool had won all of them. In the European Super Cup, Liverpool had defeated the powerful Real Madrid in a penalty shootout. In the league, they had won all eight matches, topping the table with twenty-four points, five points ahead of second-placed Manchester United.

Liverpool had also won their only League Cup match so far, advancing to the fourth round.

No matter what the competition, Liverpool had won everything, which was a terrifying achievement.

Many media outlets had already begun to shout sensational slogans like "The Red Army that swept across Europe is back!"

Many Liverpool fans were also very proud of this, as if the great Liverpool had already been revived.

But it was this invincible Liverpool that was defeated by Valencia away from home...

Yes, their first defeat of the new season came so unexpectedly and unconsciously.

When the final whistle sounded, the Liverpool players covered their faces with their hands, and many couldn't believe this reality.

They lost 1-3 to Valencia away from home.

It could be said that they lost without any ability to fight back.

Chen Hero scored a goal for the team at the beginning, and Liverpool was leading at that time. This was the rhythm that Liverpool liked and was most familiar with.

Everyone thought that the match would enter Liverpool's rhythm, and then they would take a victory away from home without any suspense, winning three out of three matches, and continuing their winning streak since the start of the season.

Who would have thought that Valencia would suddenly launch a wave of attacks after that, and Liverpool was obviously unprepared for this. After conceding an equalizer in the first half, they still thought that they would return to their familiar rhythm in the second half.

But they miscalculated. In the second half, Valencia's two quick goals in the first ten minutes directly overturned Liverpool. 3-1, Liverpool went directly from leading by one goal to trailing by two goals.

After that, no matter how Liverpool attacked, they just couldn't score. Suarez and Chen Hero both hit the goalposts twice.

Luck didn't seem to be on their side either...

Even Martin O'Neill couldn't do anything. He used up all three substitutions early, but it was to no avail. No one stood up to be a hero. Even Chen Hero was silent.

In the end, Liverpool could only accept this result helplessly.

※※※

The so-called good things come in pairs, but bad things sometimes also like to come in pairs, as if whether it is good things or bad things, they are always particularly lonely and like to invite friends and companions wherever they go.

Just after losing the match against Valencia in the middle of the week, Liverpool lost 0-1 to Chelsea away from home in the league.

They suffered two consecutive defeats in the new season, and also suffered their first defeat in the league this season.

However, compared to losing to Valencia away from home, losing to Chelsea away from home was still understandable. After all, Chen Hero was still suspended for this match. And it was also an away game, facing a Chelsea team that was not weak.

Even with Chen Hero, it wouldn't be unbelievable for Liverpool to lose to Chelsea away from home, so this result was normal.

But the problem was that this was the second consecutive defeat after losing to Valencia.

That was extraordinary.

Many people began to change their views after the team lost to Valencia. Now that Liverpool had lost to Chelsea, it seemed to prove that Liverpool's brief revival had come to an end.

Everyone criticized Liverpool's performance, and this time, Chen Hero was shot while lying down. Because after analyzing it, they found that the root cause of the team's two consecutive failures was on him...

"Even without Hero, Liverpool shouldn't have suffered two consecutive defeats. What does this show? It shows that Liverpool has become addicted to Hero, and it's incurable!"

"Liverpool without Hero lost to Chelsea. Overnight, Liverpool seemed to have forgotten how to win, the only difference being that they were missing Chen Hero. This is incomprehensible—how could a giant like Liverpool undergo such a big change just because one player was absent?"

"I agree with the statement that Liverpool has become 'Hero-dependent', but I don't think this is a bad thing. If Hero can steadily provide combat power for the team, then rely on him. Which successful team doesn't have someone in their lineup that they must rely on? The core players of Real Madrid, Alonso and Ronaldo, these two people cannot be absent from the matches. Barcelona is Messi, and Barcelona without Messi is definitely a completely different team from Barcelona with Messi. So it's not a bad thing for Liverpool to rely on Chen Hero. But the key problem is... Whether it's Messi or Xabi Alonso, or Ronaldo, the number of times these three people are absent from matches is very few. If Mourinho didn't insist on letting Alonso rest, he could play all the matches. Ronaldo and Messi don't even need to be mentioned... But what about our Hero? He will always be absent from matches for some stupid reason. For example, a red card, or accumulating suspensions for yellow cards for taking off his shirt to celebrate... Why was Dalglish fired by the club? Just because of an unnecessary malicious retaliation, he was banned for six matches, and the team's performance plummeted... The root cause is still Chen Hero's problem. Dalglish was just a scapegoat for Chen Hero. So it's okay to rely on Hero, but Hero's temper is definitely a problem if he doesn't change it... His temper is like a bomb that doesn't know when it will explode. It's probably not wise to put all your hopes on such an unpredictable bomb..."

There were many criticisms of Chen Hero, but this one seemed to be the most popular, and the most people agreed with it. Because it achieved "seeming fairness", neither opposing those who insisted that "Hero should be the core", nor opposing those who "Liverpool cannot rely on Chen Hero".

He was "opposing Hero under the banner of maintaining the core". He believed that Liverpool should indeed have a core that they could rely on, but it didn't seem to be Chen Hero, this powder keg...

Because it looked very fair, it was quite marketable. Because everyone would suddenly think "that's right", instead of thinking "what is this talking about".

This was very deceptive.

Unconsciously, everyone accepted all of his views.

So everyone felt that Chen Hero's temper seemed to be a big problem, that he should change it, that he must change it, and that if he didn't change it, Liverpool would be ruined by him sooner or later!