Chapter 1 When Chen Hero Scored

When Chen Hero hammered the football into Szczesny's goal, a huge cheer erupted at Anfield.

Arsenal's players, on the other hand, were stunned.

Those players who had been desperately chasing back couldn't help but stop, mouths agape, like fish about to drown, staring blankly at the frustrated goalkeeper Szczesny, and Chen Hero, who was celebrating the goal with open arms.

Wenger stood in front of the coach's bench on the sidelines, frowning slightly, not showing too much excitement.

This goal conceded was entirely within his expectations.

Judging from Arsenal's performance since the start of the game, he knew that Liverpool would score sooner or later, and it wouldn't be long. Because Arsenal was deliberately opening the door to allow Liverpool to counterattack…

For him, this game was originally meant to be given up, so he was not surprised or heartbroken to concede a goal. Even if he lost the game in the end, he would find it quite satisfactory.

This game was to teach those players a lesson, to let them know that Liverpool's reserve team was not easy to deal with.

So after conceding the goal, he made no expression and made no adjustments. He strictly adhered to his promise, letting these players play their own game, dealing with Liverpool in ways they thought were useful.

※※※

After Chen Hero scored, it became easier for Liverpool to play. They retreated to defend with all their players, relying on Chen Hero and Carlton Cole for counterattacks.

Cole trained with the first team for a few days, but didn't get a chance to play in the first team, and continued to return to the reserve team for training and games. But at least he had seen big scenes and had grown in awareness. Now he was considered one of the best in the reserve team.

His experience also gave other reserve team players hope. They knew that if they performed well with Chen Hero in the League Cup and FA Cup while in the reserve team, they would naturally be noticed by those who cared. At that time, whether they went to the first team or transferred, it would be much more convenient than before, and there would be more choices.

For a time, everyone followed Carlton Cole's example, working hard in training, hoping to make a splash in the League Cup and FA Cup.

You must know that making contributions and becoming famous was the dream of all young players, and it was also their ultimate goal in playing football.

Now that there was an opportunity to succeed and make a fortune, how could they easily miss it?

Therefore, anyone, any team, who dared to hinder their success was tantamount to cutting off their livelihood, which was absolutely intolerable. Such people must be trampled under their feet, with millions of feet stepping on them, so that they would never be able to turn over!

So, even if the opponent was a team like Arsenal, as long as they dared to ruin their promotion path, they would be their mortal enemy!

After taking the lead, they became more and more confident, and played more and more smoothly.

Although it was still a defensive counterattack, because they were full of confidence in defense, their movements were accurate and in place, without any delay, no fouls, and therefore no dangers.

In addition, they were full of momentum. For some balls where both sides had equal opportunities, they would use momentum to overwhelm the opponent, thereby gaining control of the ball. There were even some balls where their chances were not good, and Arsenal had a 60-40 advantage, but they were able to use their momentum to win the ball back.

This gave Arsenal a headache and made them more and more frightened.

They felt that the boss was right, this team, despite being a reserve team, was really difficult to deal with…

Now they were starting to feel some regret, but it was obviously too late to regret it now.

※※※

Arsenal found that if they pressed forward to attack, they would be countered by the opponent, so they simply retreated. They wanted to lure Liverpool out. They thought that the players in this reserve team were very young and inexperienced, and might come out as soon as they were lured.

But the players in Liverpool's reserve team were more calm and experienced than they imagined.

Unmoved!

If Arsenal's players didn't come out to attack, they wouldn't go up either, but would slowly deal with them in the midfield.

Anyway, they were in the lead now.

The FA Cup, like the League Cup, uses a single-elimination system. Even if Liverpool only scored this one goal in this game, as long as they didn't concede a goal, they could still advance.

In this kind of game, 1-0 is no different from 10-0.

So they could feel at ease spending time with Arsenal.

Soon, Arsenal's players realized this problem.

Yes, there's no benefit to us defending like this! We're the ones who are behind! Even if we successfully defend against all of Liverpool's attacks in the future, so what? We'll still lose the game in the end!

They started to press forward to attack again.

At this time, Liverpool's counterattack reappeared.

This gave Arsenal a headache. They were caught in a dilemma—if they didn't attack, they would lose the game. If they attacked, they would also lose the game…

Either way, they were dead!

Damn it!

Why is this team so annoying!

Arsenal really wanted to get angry and teach Liverpool's reserve team a lesson.

A reserve team actually dared to act wildly in front of them, they simply didn't want to live!

But every time they had this thought, they would see Chen Hero's figure.

Then all the unhappiness disappeared.

※※※

Chen Hero didn't know what Arsenal's players were thinking, but he wouldn't be polite to them anyway.

Before the end of the first half, he used a direct free kick to secure the victory for the team.

This game had already lost its suspense.

During the halftime break, Wenger looked at the frustrated players, made no adjustments, and said nothing.

And the players understood why he didn't say anything.

Because he said he would let the players use their own methods to solve the game, and he would not give any instructions in this game.

But what could they do?

They were already two goals behind in the first half, and they didn't know what it would be like in the second half…

Thinking of this, everyone felt aggrieved.

We are the dignified Arsenal first team, why can't we even beat a Liverpool reserve team?

These people still hadn't remembered how much they had looked down on the mere Liverpool reserve team before.

They still felt superior to others even now.

※※※

In Arsenal's locker room, the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive and heavy.

In Liverpool's locker room, it was very relaxed.

Before the game, everyone was a little nervous and worried about playing against Arsenal. Chen Hero kept encouraging them, telling them that there was nothing to be afraid of about Arsenal, it wasn't the Arsenal of ten years ago.

Now that they had played for forty-five minutes, everyone found that Chen Hero was right, there was really nothing to be afraid of about this Arsenal.

Now they were very relaxed and confident.

They could even lead Arsenal by two goals, so who else could they be afraid of?

※※※

The halftime break was fleeting for the relaxed Liverpool players, but it was like years for the Arsenal players.

Arsenal's players needed to come up with a countermeasure before the start of the second half, but now they racked their brains and couldn't think of any way to contain Liverpool or Chen Hero.

This was also normal. All the famous coaches in the world combined couldn't think of a way to break Liverpool and Chen Hero, let alone these players? Even if Liverpool was demoted from the first team to the reserve team, these players' brains were not enough.

Unable to think of a solution, this halftime break seemed particularly long, naturally like years.

Until the start of the second half, they still hadn't come up with a solution.

Then they stepped onto the field with gloomy faces.

Wenger kept his promise during the halftime break and really didn't say a word.

But the players really wanted him to stand up and help them, to give everyone a reassurance.

※※※

The second half was simply torture for Arsenal's players.

They couldn't break through Liverpool's goal, but they had to endure Liverpool's counterattacks.

When they wanted to attack, Liverpool's counterattacks would scare them to death.

Especially Chen Hero, he was simply a plague god to Arsenal.

Wherever he went, he brought the threat of death.

After struggling for more than ten minutes, they suffered two counterattacks from Chen Hero, and were almost blown up. Once Chen Hero hit the football on the crossbar, and once it slid wide of the goal.

Arsenal's players resigned themselves to fate—the situation was stronger than people, even if they didn't want to admit defeat like this, there was nothing they could do. If they wanted to score, they had to press out, and if they pressed out, they would concede more goals.

This became a dead cycle, and Arsenal's players couldn't break it.

Having resigned themselves to fate, they naturally stopped struggling.

They retreated to defend, with the ultimate goal of not conceding a goal.

This game was destined to fail, so what they could choose was to lose as little as possible, to lose in a good-looking way. Don't turn it into a rout.

If they were to suffer a crushing defeat to Liverpool's reserve team in the game, even if it was away, it would be an unforgivable……joke.

At this time, many people remembered the words of head coach Wenger.

"But what I want to say now is that you are already underestimating the enemy. You are already unconsciously looking down on your opponents. What about the reserve team? Is our own reserve team weak? I never think that Arsenal's reserve team is a pushover, so Liverpool people will not think that their reserve team is a weakling to be slaughtered. That's right, they have replaced a batch of players, and these are almost all new players, but you must not forget that many of these players are drawn from the under-18 youth team, they have been playing football in the youth team for many years, and their cooperation is impeccable. What they lack is only reserve team experience. Don't underestimate this team. In last season's FA Cup semi-final, Tottenham underestimated them, and what was the result? In last season's FA Cup final, Chelsea also underestimated them, and what was the result?"

Now they, Arsenal, have also underestimated this team, and what is the result?