Chapter 1 Liverpool's Transformation

The Liverpool players quickly noticed changes in the team's training.

For example, Adam Johnson was now required to practice low, driven crosses after breaking through, instead of high crosses.

The team's offensive tactics had also been altered. They no longer simply took the ball and launched long passes forward, looking for Chen Hero's (Chen Yingxiong's) head, and then having Chen Hero control the ball with his excellent header, waiting for his teammates to catch up. This tactic fully utilized his role as an offensive bridgehead.

But this relied heavily on Chen Hero's heading ability.

Now, after the modification, it had become a layered, progressive advance...

Charlie Adam was asked to shoulder a more important role.

Charlie Adam was stunned when he heard this news. He had originally thought that his good days in the team were coming to an end, watching Chen Hero's free-kick skills improve by leaps and bounds. He never expected the manager to give him more responsibility!

What did this mean? It meant that his role was even more important, that the team couldn't easily do without him, and that he would become the team's organizational core!

He was a little overwhelmed.

But he also felt very motivated.

Although he didn't know why the team's tactics, which had been working so well, were being changed. Was it due to the team's fluctuating performance and the resulting pressure?

He didn't think too much about it. As a player, he just had to follow instructions.

The other Liverpool players also noticed this issue, but their thoughts were similar to Charlie Adam's. While they were puzzled, they all came to the same conclusion—it must be because of the fluctuating results and the fact that their ranking hadn't improved. Manager Dalglish was under immense pressure, and he had to seek change in order to alter this situation.

Liverpool's previous tactics were indeed a bit simple, always relying on long passes and crosses from the flanks, and then letting Chen Hero compete for headers in the penalty area. This made it easy for opponents to see through their strategy. The reason Liverpool was still able to win from time to time was entirely because Chen Hero's heading ability in the penalty area was just too freakish...

But they couldn't always rely on Chen Hero's headers... Everyone had this thought. The boss must have felt that always relying on Chen Hero's headers wasn't a sustainable solution, and that's why he made this decision.

The only thing they couldn't understand was—the season was about to end, and they suddenly wanted to change their tactics. Could the team adapt quickly enough? Wouldn't all this tossing and turning make the team's performance even worse instead of improving it!

But what they couldn't understand even more was yet to come.

"From now on, I want you to try to use high balls to find Hero (Chen Yingxiong) as little as possible, and pass the ball on the ground more often!" Dalglish told the players this rule, causing an uproar.

Everyone felt very strange—the fact that Chen Hero had been advised to use his head as little as possible was currently only known to the club's chief sports medicine doctor Bruckner, club general manager Niang Lu, club chairman Chen Xing, and team manager Dalglish. The others didn't know, so they were surprised by Dalglish's request. Chen Hero's greatest strength was his heading ability. Although always relying on his headers would make it easier for opponents to defend, there was no need to completely deny his headers, right? Wouldn't this be a bit of an overcorrection? They had to know that Chen Hero's headers had played an extremely important role in many tough battles! Wouldn't it be a pity to abandon it like this? What should they do if they encountered an opponent who set up a defensive "iron bucket" again?

Facing a group of confused players, Dalglish didn't explain the reason. He waved his hand: "Don't ask why, this is a tactical requirement!"

The benefits of being a club legend were evident at this time, because Dalglish really enjoyed a very high reputation and authority in the team. So whatever he said, the players would do, and no one dared to question him. Even during the worst period of the team's performance, when the media bombarded him non-stop, and he even stepped down early because of it, there was no opposition to him within the team.

As a Liverpool legend, the king of Anfield, Kenny Dalglish had a very high level of personal charm. It just didn't work on Niang...

Since the boss didn't let them ask, then they wouldn't ask. Anyway... someone would be responsible for losing the game, they just had to do their best.

In this way, Liverpool's great tactical transformation began.

※※※

Chen Hero was still practicing his free kicks after every training session. He now had an even more urgent need for free kicks—since he had vowed not to use headers to compete for this year's top scorer award, then free kicks were a very important scoring method, and he had to get this weapon onto the field as soon as possible.

To this end, he even accelerated the process, occasionally showing off his free-kick skills in training, immediately amazing his teammates.

"God, Hero! You really are the most amazing genius I've ever seen! How long have you been practicing? And you're already at this level! Amazing!"

"I really think we should take you for slicing and research, to see what the hell you're made of..."

"Is this the knuckleball? It's so beautiful!"

"Hero, can you tell me how you do it?"

……

Chen Hero risked being exposed in order to establish such an impression in the minds of his teammates—that he was a genius, a super genius, and that his current free-kick level could be considered among the best in the team. He could come up and take free kicks at any time when there was a free-kick opportunity in the game.

Charlie Adam had to admire Chen Hero's ability after seeing the few free kicks that Chen Hero kicked out. The guy really had talent!

What is a genius? This is a genius! It had been less than a month since he started practicing free kicks, and he was already kicking them so well...

If everyone hadn't seen him frantically practicing free kicks every day, starting with half an hour, and now an hour, they would have really thought that Chen Hero had cheated...

Even so, it had already surprised many people.

※※※

In addition to practicing free kicks, Chen Hero was now also focusing on practicing his footwork in the dungeon.

He hadn't taken a master after learning free kicks from Juninho.

Now he planned to find a master to learn some foot skills to improve his scoring ability.

But who should he look for...

He didn't know.

Moreover, he didn't have much time to grind in the dungeon when Cabrella (Kabuliela) was here.

After all, he had to accompany his girlfriend. When he was in Naples, Cabrella was not his girlfriend, but just a bodyguard, who couldn't control his private affairs, so he could go home and lock himself in the bedroom and start grinding in the dungeon, and Cabrella couldn't ask even if she found it strange.

Now that the relationship between the two people had changed, this kind of thing could no longer be done. If he left his girlfriend aside and then locked himself in the bedroom to frantically grind in the dungeon, Cabrella might run back to Italy the next day—this was clearly a blatant insult!

He had to spend more time with his girlfriend. In this way, the time spent grinding in the dungeon would naturally be reduced.

Fortunately, Chen Hero now had three scoring weapons: off-ball movement, long shots, and free kicks, which he could cope with for the time being. When Cabrella returned to Italy, he could grind in the dungeon without restraint. At that time, he would find a master and worship him, and desperately learn from him. He didn't believe that he wouldn't improve.

I'm a genius, I learn everything quickly, and if I dare to play desperately, who in the world can be better than me!

※※※

The challenge for Dalglish and Liverpool came quickly—Liverpool was going to challenge Queens Park Rangers away.

With ten rounds left in the league, Queens Park Rangers were third from last, in the relegation zone. But they were only one point behind Bolton, who had played one game less. Bolton was suffering from the pain brought to them by the Muamba incident, and their morale was low. This incident could completely affect the team's next game.

So it wasn't that Queens Park Rangers had no chance of staying up.

Now that they were at home, they would naturally go all out to stay up, so for Liverpool, this game was actually very difficult.

And Liverpool happened to be adopting completely unfamiliar and fresh tactics in this game.

Judging from the previous training, the team was simply not ready.

But Dalglish had no choice but to bite the bullet and go on.

Before this game, he held two tactical lessons, which was very rare, and repeatedly told his teammates what they should do in the game. He was worried that the players would follow their habits and return to the old ways after the game started. Chen Hero couldn't use his head, wasn't this killing him?

In fact, it was exactly the same as what Dalglish was worried about—not long after the game started, Charlie Adam made a long pass from the backfield and found Chen Hero.

As a result, although Chen Hero jumped up, he was not able to head the ball—he shrank his neck. Obviously, he jumped up and remembered the oath he made.

This scene made Dalglish jump up and down on the sidelines.

"Charlie—! What are you doing!" He roared at Charlie Adam through gritted teeth.

Adam quickly realized what mistake he had made—this was completely a conditioned reflex. When he had the ball at his feet and looked up to see Chen Hero in front of him, he couldn't help but kick it over...

Hearing the manager's roar, he waved to the sidelines apologetically, indicating that he was wrong.

After Dalglish finished scolding Charlie Adam, he did not return to the coaching bench, but continued to stand on the sidelines, nervously watching the game.

The new tactics and the team were still in the running-in period, and the result of this game could be imagined. It would be very unfavorable to him. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still very nervous. If they lost this game, he and Chen Hero would be under a lot of pressure.

If possible, he still hoped that the team could win.

And... didn't Hero (Chen Yingxiong) say that even without his head, he was confident to defeat Van Persie and win this season's league top scorer award?

Including this game, there were only ten rounds left in the league. Only one goal away, if Hero could score in this game, the road ahead would be much easier...

He was nervous and expectant.