Chapter 1 Mazzarri Takes Over

Mazzarri's first game as the head coach of Napoli came just two days after he took over. It was such short notice that he couldn't possibly rebuild the team's tactics according to his own ideas. So he used Reja's tactics, copying them wholesale, without changing a thing.

He even told the players to play the way they had practiced before.

This disappointed Chen Hero, who had initially had high expectations of him. If everything was going to be the same as before, what was the point of replacing Reja with you? It would have been better to let Reja stay; at least I wouldn’t have had people blocking my door for days…

As the saying goes, "A new broom sweeps clean." The arrival of a new head coach seemed to bring good luck. Without making any adjustments, and with the starting lineup unchanged, Napoli defeated Siena 2-0 at home.

In reality, it was simply because everyone wanted to perform well and leave a good impression on the new head coach, hoping to secure a favorable position in his mind.

Chen Hero was particularly diligent. He scored a goal in the match, again utilizing a corner kick tactic. Some Italian media had already given him the nickname "Mr. Corner Kick," and it was unclear whether this was meant as sarcasm or a unique form of praise…

The other goal was scored by Maggio.

Lavezzi started the game and played for seventy-five minutes, but he didn't score a goal, despite his best efforts.

After this match, the team stopped its downward slide, but Mazzarri didn't make any adjustments.

On December 13th, in the sixteenth round of the league, Napoli played Lecce at home and won 3-0.

Chen Hero scored in two consecutive rounds. This time, his goal wasn't from a set piece; it was a long shot from outside the penalty area. He seemed to be taking turns showing the new head coach his scoring weapons. Last round, he showed off his header; this round, it was his long shot.

Meanwhile, his rival for a spot on the front line, Lavezzi, continued to show no signs of life.

Lavezzi was also anxious. He also wanted to leave a good impression on the new head coach with his performance, but luck wasn't on his side…

During the match, he had a fantastic dribble and shot, but the ball hit the post and bounced out of bounds.

On December 18th, Napoli played their last UEFA Cup group stage match. Because they had only accumulated one point, Napoli had basically said goodbye to the UEFA Cup in advance. So in this match, Mazzarri didn't waste his main players' energy. He put out a lineup of substitutes, giving playing time to players who didn't usually get much time on the field.

This Napoli team played tenaciously, but since they had no hope of advancing, they still lost 0-1 at home to Metalist Kharkiv. They ended their UEFA Cup journey with one draw and three losses.

The European journey that people had high hopes for had ended almost as soon as it began.

Although it had been decided long ago, many fans were still saddened when they really said goodbye to Europe.

This time, there were no shouts or boos in Stadio San Paolo. All the disturbances that had enveloped Stadio San Paolo had disappeared, leaving only sadness.

It wasn't just the Napoli fans who were sad; the Napoli players were also sad.

Many players even cried.

Mazzarri could only go around comforting them one by one.

"Don't be sad, don't be sad. We'll be back next year!"

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On December 21st, the last league match before the Serie A winter break. Napoli traveled to challenge the "Red Bulls," Torino.

In this match, Mazzarri still didn't make any adjustments to the team's starting lineup or tactics. He just led the team into battle.

He used Reja's tactics and lineup for three consecutive matches, leaving everyone confused. Not only did the media find it strange, but the players were also puzzled. Did Mazzarri find that Reja's tactics were the most suitable for the current Napoli after studying them? If that was the case, what was the difference between him coming and Reja staying?

Or was his ability to handle dressing room relationships better than Reja's?

But so far, he hadn't taken any action regarding the conflict between Chen Hero and the Argentine gang…

Amidst this confusion, Napoli traveled to the away game and lost to Torino with a score of 0-1. They ended the first half of the 2008-2009 season with a defeat.

The outside world didn't know what Mazzarri was doing, but Mazzarri's colleagues, the coaches on his coaching staff at Napoli, knew what the new head coach was doing.

He was repeatedly studying the recordings of these matches and comparing them with the player information he had. Sometimes he would discuss Reja's tactics with them, and then ask some questions. In addition, Arshavin's information and match recordings, who would be joining the team during the winter break, were also on his desk.

Arshavin's characteristics were somewhat similar to Lavezzi's. His position and role on the field, as well as his playing style, were almost the same.

After he came, what would happen to Lavezzi?

In fact, from the beginning, Mazzarri didn't think Lavezzi was Chen Hero's rival, because their positions were different. Reja made Lavezzi a starter because he didn't have a good center forward. Zalayeta was unreliable, and Paolo Sosa was old and had limited ability.

Logically speaking, Chen Hero's arrival should have solved this problem for Reja, but Reja had already formed a mindset. He felt that the tactics had already been honed, and the risk of modifying them was too great. He still let Lavezzi be the main striker. But Lavezzi's shooting level was very average. His characteristics lay in his excellent dribbling and sharp breakthroughs using speed, as well as crosses from the wing.

Mazzarri believed that Lavezzi's real rival should be Arshavin, who was about to join the team in the second half of the season. His arrival would inevitably squeeze Lavezzi's living space.

So at first, he was very strange as to why Lavezzi was at odds with Chen Hero. Later, he learned that Chen Hero's attitude towards Maradona had angered Lavezzi, and the two had personal grievances.

There was no way around that…

Chen Hero's performance in these few league matches made Mazzarri relatively satisfied. Although the overall tactics weren't built around him, he was still able to score six goals, which was already very good. Last season, Zalayeta played twenty-two times in his position and only scored four goals. Lavezzi played thirty-five times and only scored eleven goals. From this point of view, this forward was really like he said—particularly able to fight and particularly able to score.

He suddenly felt sorry for Reja. Why didn't he know how to use such good cards in his hand?

Mazzarri watched four matches, three league matches and one UEFA Cup group stage match. A brand new tactic had basically taken shape in his mind.

Next was to use the winter break training to integrate the team.

The reason why he would suddenly change tactics was because this tactic wasn't very different from Reja's tactics in a sense. It could be said that it followed Reja's tactical thinking, but it made key adjustments in some places. So there was no need to worry about the players not being able to adapt. They were still relatively familiar with it. It could even be said that his tactic was a variant of Reja's tactic.

In the second half of the season, Mazzarri planned to have Napoli play 343, giving full play to the scoring ability of Chen Hero, the "particularly able to fight and particularly able to score" high center forward.

This also solved the problem of Arshavin and Lavezzi coexisting.

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For Chen Hero, the 2008-2009 Serie A season was a very difficult and chaotic half-season for him.

On the one hand, he had to work hard to adapt to the Italian living environment, the diet, living habits, language, and the terrible traffic conditions in Naples. On the other hand, he also had to work hard to adapt to the tactical characteristics of Italian football, allowing himself to run more in the game so that his opponents couldn't easily mark him to death. In addition, he had to fight almost the entire Naples media, most of the Italian media, the stubborn head coach, and his teammates.

Constant fighting, fighting, and fighting again…

Under such circumstances, he still completed six league goals and one UEFA Cup goal.

In such a terrible and chaotic half-season, Chen Hero suddenly found himself leveled up in December!

He ran to check the task description and was prompted that he had completed two tasks: "Consecutive Golden Boots" and "Mission Impossible."

He won the 2008 Russian Premier League Golden Boot Award!

He really won the Russian Premier League Golden Boot in just eleven league games!

After seeing the prompts that these two tasks were completed, Chen Hero laughed out loud in front of the computer.

Arshavin also called him and talked about this matter with great enthusiasm, vividly describing the situation in Russia.

In the summer of 2008, Chen Hero transferred to Napoli, and his rival for the top scorer spot in the league, Pavlyuchenko, also transferred from Spartak Moscow to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. So although Pavlyuchenko's scoring form was also good in the first half of the season, he also lost the opportunity to compete for the Golden Boot Award. Next, the entire Russian Premier League watched as CSKA Moscow's Brazilian center forward, Vágner Love, began to explode, chasing Chen Hero, who was high above.

One of the major themes of the second half of the Russian Premier League season was that the media were guessing whether Vágner Love could break Chen Hero's goal record and become the top scorer.

"You've become a benchmark for top scorers, haha!" Arshavin laughed when he said this.

Chen Hero also laughed. It felt really good. He was high above, looking down on all beings struggling to climb up like ants. He had a delusion of becoming a god.

Later, except for the media in St. Petersburg, almost the entire Russian media encouraged this Brazilian, completely forgetting all the ridicule and discrimination they had shown towards this black man before.

The entire CSKA Moscow team was also helping Vágner Love surpass Chen Hero. For CSKA Moscow, the name Chen Hero was a pain they would never forget. If they could have their own teammate destroy Chen Hero's dream of winning consecutive Golden Boots, it would undoubtedly be a powerful counterattack.

So everyone watched Vágner Love's goal count continue to rise, gradually approaching Chen Hero's benchmark.

Finally, he stopped at the twentieth goal. In the last round of the league, Vágner Love tried his best, and CSKA Moscow also tried their best, but no goal was scored.

When the final whistle of the match sounded, the commentator Yuri Petrov shouted: "He really did it! He really did it! He won the league's top scorer in eleven league games! Twenty-one goals! Twenty-one goals! He scored twenty-one goals in eleven league games, and he completed something that no one had dared to imagine before! It's unbelievable!!"

The "he" in Petrov's mouth was Chen Hero.

Although Chen Hero encountered trouble in Italy, he was still a legend in Russia. After the season ended, the St. Petersburg media praised Chen Hero as the "Northern Legend" belonging to St. Petersburg.

The 2008 season of the Russian Premier League came to an end, and Chen Hero's legend in Russia also came to a complete end.

Next, let's see if he can write a legend of his own in Italy…

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ps, Chen Hero's epic mission in Russia has finally been completed. Next, please wait and see. Chen Hero will challenge the hell-level mission in Italy!