Chapter 159 A Strategic Deterrent Force

The high-profile match between Liverpool and Arsenal, which was supposed to be a clash of titans, unexpectedly turned into a one-sided affair.

Arsenal struggled for a bit, with Van Persie scoring a goal, but after that, they had no strength to resist.

However, Liverpool was also smart enough to slow down the pace of the game.

With the victory already secured, there was no need to continue the frantic attack. Such an energy-draining approach was undesirable.

Because it would consume a lot of energy unnecessarily, which was unwise.

Rational distribution of energy is a compulsory course for professional players and an essential quality for professional teams.

Players who start running as hard as they can as soon as they enter the field are basically inexperienced youngsters. They will soon suffer from excessive energy consumption, leading to poor performance.

Mastering the rhythm of the game based on the rational distribution of energy is a more advanced skill, and not all players and teams can learn to use it.

Rhythm is very important. In a game, if you want to win, and win easily, you have to let the game go according to your own rhythm. If the game falls into the opponent's rhythm, you will have a hard time playing.

When to attack fiercely, when to retreat, when to be aggressive, and when to be a little more conservative. These are all issues of rhythm control.

If Liverpool does not change its rhythm now and continues to attack Arsenal fiercely, it will really be a flash in the pan. After this game, they will probably be exhausted.

They still have to conserve energy for the next game.

Martin O'Neill also made adjustments. He began to substitute players on the field.

Adam Johnson replaced Sanchez, and Charlie Adam replaced Inler.

Finally, in the tenth minute, he replaced Carragher with Coates.

This allowed three players to get plenty of rest.

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Chen Hero remained on the field, not to score more goals. Now that Liverpool has slowed down the pace, there are far fewer attacks, and even fewer threatening attacks.

He stayed on the field to help the team defend—as long as he is on the field, the opponent will not be able to go all out.

This is a strategic deterrent force.

In the end, Arsenal was unable to score a goal. In fact, Arsenal also realized that a head-on confrontation with this Liverpool was not a good idea, so they chose to avoid it. Since the opponent is fierce, can't we afford to hide?

Don't fight Liverpool to the death, keep your strength for other games. This season's Premier League is not over yet.

In the end, Liverpool defeated Arsenal, who came to challenge, with a score of 3:1 at their home stadium.

Chen Hero had one assist and one goal and was named the best player of the game.

This goal allowed him to tie Aston Villa player Tom Waring's league goal record of forty-nine goals in a single season in 1930-31.

Now, ahead of him is only Everton's legendary striker Dixie Dean, who set a record of sixty goals in a single season in 1927-28.

And with five rounds left in the league, it is estimated that he has no hope this season...

Now everyone has stopped talking about his consecutive goal record, because everyone is numb—no matter how awesome something is, if it becomes commonplace, if you can see it every weekend, it will lose its charm. Things are valued when they are scarce. Who cares if there are too many?

He has scored in twenty-four consecutive league rounds. It's not to say that this matter itself is not good, not amazing, or anything else. It's just that now everyone knows that she will continue to score, so if they have to marvel every time he breaks a record, then soon everyone will find that they have nothing to say. Yelena Isinbayeva also broke her own record centimeter by centimeter, but she wouldn't break it once a week, right? Everyone can still rack their brains, reorganize their language, to praise her, or even directly take out the article that praised her a year ago to hand in.

This trick won't work on Chen Hero. He is creating new records every week. If you cheer too loudly now, how will you break through yourself next? I'm afraid you'll have to shout until your throat is hoarse.

Everyone is now holding their breath and waiting, waiting for Chen Hero to stop, and at this time everything will be finalized, and everyone will cheer, praise, and flatter, as much as possible.

There are even betting companies offering odds on this matter, and there is a group of people in the world who specialize in betting on how many rounds Chen Hero will end his consecutive goal streak...

Chen Hero sometimes feels that these betting companies are really boring, even this kind of thing can be used for gambling.

It is Chen Hero's forty-nine league goals that are worth discussing enthusiastically.

Forty-nine goals, since the establishment of the Premier League, many outstanding world-class strikers have fought here, but none of them have been able to score so many goals in this competition.

Although Dixie Dean scored sixty goals in the top league at the time, the English First Division, that was in the 1927-28 season, when the development of football was still very immature, and the offside rule alone had undergone many changes.

Initially, football was a chaotic and disorderly sport. For a team, what they had to do in the game was to break through the opponent's goal as much as possible. Every player on the field acted as an attacker, and the team had no organization. So at that time, football was a sport in which a large group of people chased after a ball and scrambled to shoot. In 1863, the English Football Association introduced the offside rule, stipulating that "any player in front of the player kicking the ball is offside, and the offside player must not touch the ball." As a result, there were some small changes in the football formation. An attacking player was pulled back to be used as a center back to help the slightly lonely goalkeeper. This offside rule made football a dribbling sport, and it became difficult to score goals.

Based on this, the offside rule was amended in 1868 to "there must be at least three opposing players between the attacking player and the goal line when the ball (is passed by a teammate)." Since then, the roles and responsibilities of players have been more clearly defined. The 1-1-8 formation has evolved to the 2-2-6 formation after the 1-2-7 formation. The Queen's Park Rangers adopted this formation in 1870. Finally, this formation developed into a pyramidal 2-3-5 formation, which Uruguay used to win the 1930 World Cup. This formation continues to maintain the vitality of the attack, using two wingers to deliver shells to the three forwards in the middle. However, restricted by the offside rule at the time, it was still not easy to score goals under this formation.

So, in 1925, the offside rule was modified again. The previous three players were changed to two players. This greatly increased the number of goals in the game.

Dixie Dean scored sixty goals in the 1927-28 season, and it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with this rule change. The defense at that time was far less strict and varied than it is now.

This is also why the number of goals in football is decreasing.

Modern football has brought defense to the extreme, and it is not so easy to score goals. Those world-class shooters can score five or six goals in an international competition to be considered the best scorer.

Under such circumstances, it is really remarkable that Chen Hero can still score forty-nine goals in a season.

Of course, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than fifty goals in a season in La Liga. However, everyone agrees that the defense level of La Liga is very poor. Ronaldo's ability to score fifty goals has a lot to do with the kindergarten-level defense of La Liga.

And the Premier League pays more attention to physical confrontation, and it is not so easy to score goals.

Not to mention that before he came to the Premier League, he had already conquered the Italian Serie A, which is known as the strongest defensive league.

"Being born in the same era as Hero, I don't know if it is our luck or misfortune. The fans are happy, but the players may not think so... Now all we can do is sit and watch how many goals he can score before the end of the league. Dixie Dean's single-season goal record may not be broken, but in this era... such a result is enough for him to stand out from the crowd! In fact, being the second in history is also very good, Hero..."

But Chen Hero doesn't think so.

He doesn't want to be the second in history. If possible, he still wants to be the first in history! Only the first can be famous forever!

Besides, can the second place be considered a great hero?

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After Liverpool defeated Arsenal at home, they still led Manchester United by three points, which shows that Manchester United also won.

Everyone's attention was on Liverpool, but they ignored the fact that Manchester United's performance was also very good. Being able to chase from ten points behind to only three points behind shows that when Liverpool was dozing off, Manchester United had not relaxed.

It seems that the Premier League championship battle this season will be staged in the thirty-sixth round.

But before that, Liverpool has to solve their semi-final opponent first.

With no rest time at all, there is another Champions League semi-final in the middle of the week. This is their third consecutive week of playing two games a week.

This is also what Ferguson is happy about.

Manchester United has been eliminated and they can fully prepare for the decisive battle with Liverpool.

And Liverpool has to be distracted to play the Champions League semi-final. Their opponent is Bayern Munich, a German powerhouse known for its tenacity.

It is still the unfavorable home and away arrangement of first home and then away.

Ferguson believes this will exhaust Liverpool's last bit of strength.

When the thirty-sixth round of the league arrives, they will welcome an exhausted Liverpool team at Old Trafford. This team may not even have the strength to fight back and can only be ravaged by Manchester United.

At that time, the right time, the right place, and the right people will all be on their side. Ferguson can't think of any possibility of losing this decisive battle!

But before that, you have to cheer for Liverpool and hope that they can defeat Bayern Munich, preferably exhaust all their energy, use all their skills, pay all the price, and then eliminate Bayern Munich.

Then at Old Trafford, Manchester United will give Liverpool the final fatal blow and let them die in peace.

Dying in the hands of mortal enemies can be regarded as dying in the right place, right?