Lin Hai Ting Tao
Chapter 661 Isn't It Just Head-On Collision? Who's Afraid of Who! (Bonus Chapter for 150 Monthly Tickets!)
Before the match, experts and bookmakers favored a draw between the two sides. In terms of overall strength, Liverpool was superior to Everton, especially with Chen Hero on their side. Chen Hero had scored three goals in the last two games, and his form was clearly recovering.
However, Everton had the advantage of playing at home. A Merseyside derby generally cannot be judged simply by comparing strengths. Even a weaker team, as long as they are playing at home, will have a state bonus. They may show two hundred percent of their ability, perform beyond their usual level, and pull their stronger opponents down. Such things have happened before...
Back then, how strong was Rijkaard's Barcelona? Didn't they still get a draw in the Barcelona derby against Espanyol, and this draw ultimately led to them losing the league title for the entire season?
So, Liverpool may not necessarily be able to beat Everton away from home.
Not only did experts and odds think so, but even Everton fans thought so.
They were at home! How could they lose to their arch-rivals?
As soon as the game started, they launched an attack on the Liverpool players with boos. As long as Liverpool players got the ball, the boos would ring out, while when Everton players got the ball, songs would ring out at Goodison Park, cheering for the home team.
To deal with Liverpool players, they had different methods for different people. When Carragher got the ball, they sang Everton's team song loudly. Because Carragher, as Liverpool's vice-captain, had a family of Everton fans, the Everton fans' approach was obviously to remind Carragher—as an Everton fan, you have to consider our Everton!
And when Chen Hero got the ball, they shouted: "Big fool! Big fool! You are just a seventy million big fool!"
Some fans were also shouting: "Messi! Messi! Messi!" Obviously, everyone knew that Chen Hero and Messi didn't get along, so they used the name of their arch-rival to stimulate Chen Hero. However, they were being inconsiderate, because in many competitions, Messi had been defeated by Chen Hero. Using the name of a defeated opponent to stimulate the victor was probably not effective...
Of course, it wasn't effective. After Chen Hero had just blasted a shot into the sky, there was still a smile on his face, and there was no sign of frustration or annoyance at all. He turned around and gave Lucas, who had passed the ball to him, a thumbs up to thank him for the pass.
The English commentator was also worried that the Everton fans' actions might have an impact on Chen Hero. After all, this was his first Merseyside derby—whether at Zenit Saint Petersburg or Napoli, Chen Hero had never experienced a city derby. So, he was worried that this tense and fiery atmosphere would interfere with Chen Hero, making him feel out of place and unable to perform to his normal level.
But he was obviously overthinking it...
※※※
It must be said that Liverpool's current tactics are very vague. No one knows exactly which set of tactics they want to play. Their strength on the wings is weak, but that doesn't mean they can't even make a cross, so Chen Hero still has the opportunity to respond to crosses from the wings and then head the ball into the goal...
It's just that Chen Hero is not as relaxed when heading the ball as he was in Napoli. As long as he got to the spot, jumped up, and it was usually simple.
Now it's hard to say whether he can find the spot, because he is still not familiar with Liverpool's crossing characteristics. In addition, everyone on earth knows about his reputation for headers, so his headers are heavily defended. Moreover, the Premier League is originally a league that is good at headers. Forwards are good at headers, and central defenders must naturally be good at headers as well.
So, the difficulty of Chen Hero's headers is actually greater than in Italy.
The Italian defenders' individual defensive abilities are not as good as before, but their strong defensive tactics and habit of cooperating can make up for this shortcoming. However, when they really need to face Chen Hero one-on-one in the air, it is already too late...
English defenders are still relatively tough in this regard. Let you cross, cross into the penalty area, and I will compete with you for the header!
Chen Hero hasn't played this kind of head-to-head battle for a while. He used to do this often in the Russian league. He often dared to rush up to head the ball even with two people in front of him. At that time, his body was often covered with bruises from frequent collisions.
At that time, he didn't know anything except headers, so no matter what the situation or situation, he could only jump up and fight in the air, no matter how many opponents there were or what they were like.
Later, in Italy, he learned more offensive weapons, and his strategies and techniques changed. Naturally, he didn't need to rush up and fight the opponent's defenders desperately. Especially after learning off-the-ball movement, he could always run to the right spot, which was often the weak area of the opponent's defense. Sometimes, he didn't even need to jump up with all his strength, and he could gently head the ball into the goal.
But this definitely does not mean that Chen Hero no longer has the ability to fight tough battles!
Chen Hero started his career with head-to-head combat. This is his housekeeping skill, and he doesn't take it out easily. But if someone wants to force him to take it out, then be prepared to enjoy a bloody storm of slaughter!
You think I am weak and easy to bully?
That is the most wrong decision you have ever made in your life!
※※※
Suarez pulled to the wing, and then made a cross!
He didn't actually want to do this, but coach Dalglish asked him to do this before the game. If he didn't make a single cross, he would be seen through. This hostility was too obvious, and it wasn't good. Suarez just wanted to compete with Chen Hero for an offensive core, and he didn't intend to completely fall out with Chen Hero. So, he had to do the superficial work...
Of course, he didn't really want to assist Chen Hero, so this cross was terrible in terms of both the quality of the cross and the timing. Everyone even thought that Suarez shouldn't have crossed, but he did...
At this time, Chen Hero hadn't had time to run in yet, and Suarez's pass was so close to the goal that Chen Hero probably couldn't head the ball at all...
This was also Suarez's little plan—Coach, you want me to cross, and I crossed, but you also saw how good I am at crossing, so...for the sake of the team's results, you should stop letting me cross to him!
Chen Hero didn't expect Suarez to have so many calculations in one cross... He only had the ball and the opportunity to score in his eyes. He wanted to let those Everton fans know that there was no good end to stimulating a bear, absolutely not!
Seeing Suarez cross, he suddenly accelerated and rushed into the penalty area.
He didn't carefully judge where the landing point would be, not precisely to the centimeter, and there was no so-called off-the-ball movement. He only had the ball in his eyes!
Following the ball, he broke into Everton's penalty area in a straight line. Then he jumped high!
The ball had an outward arc, but it was not obvious. Overall, it was still closer to the goalkeeper.
If someone else were to head this ball, they would most likely brush past it.
But Chen Hero has his advantages and methods—he is one meter ninety-five tall, and this height can make up for the lack of distance!
So, Chen Hero didn't run to the predetermined spot and then jump up and head the ball on the spot, but rushed forward directly while running, like an airplane taking off. His head was in front, and his feet were behind, taking off from the runway.
The boos coming from the stands of Goodison Park were like the roar of a supersonic aircraft taking off. Chen Hero pierced the sky like a sharp sword!
The person blocking him was Everton's center back Sylvain Distin. He was one meter ninety-one tall and weighed eighty-five kilograms, and he was also considered a strong center back.
But he was facing Chen Hero, a bear!
Chen Hero slanted over and hit Distin's shoulder with his shoulder, knocking him to the side. At the same time, Chen Hero's head had taken the lead in heading the ball! He hit people and headed the ball almost at the same time. In fact, if a high-speed camera could capture this scene and replay it, everyone would find that Chen Hero had actually headed the ball first, but the time difference was too subtle...
In short, Chen Hero knocked Distin over and also headed the ball...
In the roar, the ball flew into the net. Everton's goalkeeper Howard made a save, but he was helpless because the distance was too close, and Chen Hero's header was too sudden—before, no one thought he could head the ball!
So, the American goalkeeper's actions were late. When the ball flew into the goal and hit the net, he took off...
"gooooooooooooAL!! Beautiful header! Hero! He has once again shown us his heading ability!"
"Hero has scored in consecutive league rounds! This is his third league goal of the new season!"
"Chen Hero, who was bought for 70 million pounds, failed to score for a long time, and after scoring one goal, he quickly fell into a goal drought for two games, but now, including the League Cup, he has scored in three consecutive games! Maybe the omnipotent Hero is recovering? If so, this is really good news for Dalglish!"
※※※
In order to head in this goal, Chen Hero almost lost all his balance, so after heading in the ball, he fell directly to the ground.
But this did not prevent him from looking up to see if the ball had entered the goal.
When he saw that the ball was already in the goal, he jumped up from the ground!
He opened his arms and ran towards Suarez, who had passed the ball to him—he didn't know that Suarez had a prejudice against him, otherwise he would definitely not have done this...
People passed the ball to him, so he naturally had to thank them. This is also why Chen Hero can get along well in two teams, because he is particularly "grateful". Even if he is very famous, he is grateful to those teammates who pass the ball to him.
Amidst the cheers of Liverpool fans and the boos of Everton fans, the two sharp knives on Liverpool's front line hugged each other...
※※※
ps, actually there are still eight votes short of one hundred and fifty votes.
But I'm going out for a walk soon, and I won't be back for an hour. I'm afraid that if the number is reached, I won't be able to update for a long time, and everyone will be anxious, so I just released it in advance...
If you want to see more, please continue to vote!