Chapter 1 Chen Yingxiong's Miscalculation

Chen Yingxiong always believed that he had both fame and strength, so his transfer to Liverpool should have a smooth start.

Especially since the team now had a dedicated winger, Adam Johnson.

Adam Johnson shared the same thought. Heeding Niang’s call, he believed he would definitely get a starting position at Liverpool. Downing didn’t come, but he did. And with a high center forward like Chen Yingxiong, wouldn't they let him play?

So, in training and in daily interactions, Adam Johnson deliberately got closer to Chen Yingxiong.

Chen Yingxiong followed his principles from Napoli, and he was happy to befriend and get close to teammates who could provide him with various assists on the field. So, although they had known each other for the shortest time, their relationship was good.

Both felt that with the other's help, their future and performance in this team should be bright.

But in reality, it wasn't like that.

The English Premier League started in mid-August. In the last warm-up match before that, Adam Johnson got forty minutes of playing time, but Chen Yingxiong was substituted off when he came on. He didn't have a chance to show Chen Yingxiong his cross from the wing. He was like an ordinary winger on the field, dribbling and crossing, but there was no center forward in the middle to get on the end of it. Kuyt was trying hard, but there was a huge gap in strength and talent.

At first, Adam Johnson was a little depressed, but he didn't delve into the issue.

Chen Yingxiong naturally didn't think it was a big deal—it was normal for warm-up matches to have rotations, with one lineup in the first half and another in the second half. Replacing all eleven players at once was nothing. He didn't think too much about the fact that he and Adam Johnson didn't appear on the field at the same time.

Johnson's performance in this warm-up match was average, because his purpose in coming was to cross the ball to Chen Yingxiong, but Chen Yingxiong wasn't on the field. He also lacked sufficient understanding with other players, so naturally, he didn't have those shining moments.

No one thought there was anything wrong with this. After all, Adam Johnson had only been with the team for less than half a month, while Chen Yingxiong had been in the team for more than a month. It wasn't considered very well-coordinated. It was just that with his own outstanding strength, he had the opportunity and ability to score even without coordination.

But everything changed when the real league started.

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August 13th, Liverpool hosted Sunderland at home, and the 2011-2012 season of the English Premier League officially kicked off.

Originally, Liverpool wasn't considered a strong contender for the championship. But after they spent a lot of money to bring in Chen Yingxiong, they suddenly became a popular team. That summer, countless media gathered in Liverpool to follow Liverpool's preparations.

Now that the first game of the new season was about to begin, the media naturally paid even more attention.

Could Chen Yingxiong show his scoring ability in the new season?

Did the arrival of Hero mean that the competition for the Premier League's top scorer would lose its suspense?

Would Chen Yingxiong become a top shooter who would dominate the Premier League for the next ten years?

Would Liverpool take off because of Chen Yingxiong's joining?

These were the questions most discussed by the media, and most media outlets were optimistic about Chen Yingxiong's performance.

If Chen Yingxiong had transferred directly to Liverpool from Zenit St. Petersburg, despite his excellent performance in the UEFA Cup, he might not have gotten this kind of result. After all, the Russian Super League and the UEFA Cup weren't that dazzling in the eyes of reporters. Everyone would inevitably wonder if this person could adapt to the technical and tactical characteristics and style of the Premier League.

But now, few people mentioned this issue. If three consecutive Serie A Golden Boot awards and two consecutive Champions League Golden Boot awards couldn't prove that Chen Yingxiong was an absolutely awesome person, then there must be something wrong with the world.

"...Chen Yingxiong doesn't need to prove anything anymore. At the age of twenty-three, he is already the world's top center forward. Just like no one would ask Messi to prove his ability. In terms of scoring ability, Chen Yingxiong is the best!"

This was a commentary article from the local Liverpool media, the *Liverpool Echo*.

To be honest, Chen Yingxiong agreed with this. He also didn't think he needed to prove to the outside world whether he was worth 70 million—some people once said that this price was a bit high, and might put a lot of pressure on Chen Yingxiong.

But Chen Yingxiong himself didn't feel any pressure at all. He even thought the price was too low. He wished he could create a world-record transfer fee.

A high transfer fee could satisfy Chen Yingxiong's vanity.

As for how to prove that he was worth this price on the field, he wasn't worried at all.

But he thought too highly of it all.

In his first Premier League game of his career, he didn't score.

He started the game and played the full ninety minutes, but he didn't score.

This surprised the media who gathered at the scene.

Chen Yingxiong couldn't be said to be not working hard in the game. He ran actively, running from the center to the wing, and then from the wing back to the center, from the front to the back, and from the back to the front.

But the chances for shots were scarce.

Because in this game, Adam Johnson didn't play. He didn't play for a single minute, and sat on the bench for the entire ninety minutes.

Liverpool fully demonstrated their lack of wing play in this game—basically all attacks were launched from the center. Charlie Adam started, and with Gerrard injured and absent, he took on the task of organizing the attack.

But it was a bit difficult to ask a newcomer who had just come to the team for more than a month to be the core organizer. Charlie Adam didn't understand Liverpool and his teammates well enough.

With a newcomer who had just joined the team this summer as the core organizer, and another newcomer as the core of the attack, it would be a miracle if Liverpool performed well.

In the end, Liverpool were held to a 1:1 draw by Sunderland at their home stadium. Suarez, who had returned to the team after the Copa America, scored the only goal for the team.

Chen Yingxiong couldn't score in every game. In Napoli last season, when he was in such great form, there were times when he didn't score in two consecutive league games. But his hat-trick in the Champions League final was too powerful, leaving a very deep impression on people. Many people thought he should score goals like chopping vegetables. In his Premier League debut, he had to decorate it with a goal to be considered a success.

So when Chen Yingxiong didn't score, everyone felt a little surprised and disappointed.

Adam Johnson didn't play? That wasn't a reason at all! With Chen Yingxiong's ability, he should be able to score even if he was alone! His strong body, his excellent long-range shooting ability, and his ability to seize opportunities in front of the goal—couldn't these bring him even one goal?

No one would believe that Adam Johnson's absence would have such a big impact on Chen Yingxiong.

But the fact was that Chen Yingxiong deliberately got close to Adam Johnson in training, and their relationship quickly warmed up. Their coordination on the field was also a bit tacit. So Adam Johnson's absence surprised Chen Yingxiong. Coupled with Liverpool's tactics, Chen Yingxiong felt awkward—long passes directly from the backfield. Chen Yingxiong was more often making wedding dresses for his teammates, using his header skills as a transit station to assist his teammates. Suarez's goal came from Chen Yingxiong's successful header in the frontcourt, assisted by Lucas.

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Chen Yingxiong didn't take not scoring a goal seriously. It wasn't like he had never experienced not scoring in a game in his career. He had experienced it a lot, so naturally he didn't think there was anything to it.

But Adam Johnson was a little depressed. Because he didn't even get a minute of playing time.

At the post-match press conference, a reporter asked about this: "Kenny, Adam Johnson cost the club 15 million pounds in transfer fees, but he sat on the bench for the entire ninety minutes..."

Dalglish interrupted the questioner: "Yes, he sat on the bench for ninety minutes. But that's because he only joined the team less than a month ago. He only played one warm-up match before the new season. I want to be cautious. I don't want too much attention and pressure to overwhelm him."

This reason was impeccable, because Adam Johnson had indeed just joined the team, and his coordination with his teammates wasn't good enough.

The media had nothing to say.

So Adam Johnson could only continue to be depressed, and work hard in training, hoping to get a chance to play.

Chen Yingxiong was also working hard in training, hoping to score goals.

He found that the difficulty level of the task would change at any time.

Before the start of the new season, he received a task to "score the first Premier League goal." This task was green at the beginning. The system and he himself thought that scoring the first goal was too easy and too simple. Maybe in the first game, he could not only score the first goal, but also score the second and third goals?

Who knew that after one game, he would look at this task again and find that the color of the task had turned yellow... Although the difficulty was not great, it meant that there was difficulty!

Chen Yingxiong was depressed all of a sudden.

He felt that he was looked down upon by the system...

※※※

In the second round of the league against Arsenal, he still didn't score.

In this game, Liverpool defeated Arsenal 2:0 away from home, taking the lead in the first strong match of the season. This was a good thing.

However, Chen Yingxiong still didn't score, which diluted the joy of winning—at least for Chen Yingxiong himself and the Chinese media and fans.

Chen Yingxiong hadn't experienced such a thing for two consecutive rounds last season, but there were reasons for that—Mazzarri rotated the squad, and Chen Yingxiong didn't start the game, so he had too little time.

Now, starting two consecutive games but failing to score a goal was somewhat unexpected.

His performance in the warm-up match was obviously very good, with goals coming one after another. Why did he suddenly misfire in the official league?

Was it a tactical problem or a personnel configuration problem? Was it the coach's problem or Chen Yingxiong's own problem?