"This is a free kick for Liverpool, and both Hero and Gerrard are standing in front of the ball. Who will take it? Hero practiced free kicks intensely at the end of last season and mastered the skill, even scoring three times from free kicks, including a brace… At that time, he was the team's number one free-kick taker. But Gerrard was injured and not in the team. In fact, Liverpool's number one free-kick taker is Gerrard, and now that Gerrard has recovered from his injury, it's really hard to say who will take this free kick…"

As the commentator was speaking, the two figures on the screen both moved, and in the end, it was indeed Chen Hero who rushed forward and kicked the ball!

He quickly roared, "Hero—!!"

With his roar, the football soared over the wall and plunged into the goal. From the side, the ball's trajectory was unremarkable, the only essence perhaps being that Chen Hero made the football bypass the wall without going directly over the crossbar. So the ball's downward curve was not obvious. But to the goalkeeper, the football was shaking back and forth in the air, and he simply didn't know what to do.

"Beautiful! A brace! A free kick! Hero scores his second goal of the season with a free kick! Hero is in great form this season!" the commentator roared.

And the stands of Anfield Stadium erupted in huge cheers at his roar.

"Hero! Hero!!"

After scoring, Chen Hero did not run to the corner flag to celebrate the goal in front of the camera, nor did he run to the coaching bench to hug the new coach, Martin O'Neill. He turned around and hugged Gerrard.

If Gerrard hadn't given him the opportunity, how could he have scored two goals in the first half?

Of course, he had to thank Gerrard.

Gerrard hadn't expected that he would turn around and hug him after scoring, and was a little surprised at first, but then he also hugged Chen Hero.

Liverpool's two biggest stars hugged each other, seemingly symbolizing their close relationship.

For Liverpool fans and Martin O'Neill, this symbolism was definitely a good thing.

※※※

Leading the opponent by two goals in the first half, and playing at home, Liverpool, even with their poor performance last season, had never lost a game at home when leading by two goals.

So Chen Hero's two goals were almost like double insurance for Liverpool to win the game.

In the second half that followed, Liverpool had no pressure at all and could play as they pleased.

West Ham United's coach, Sam Allardyce, was very disappointed after seeing Chen Hero score from a free kick. He leaned his whole body heavily against the back of his seat.

The plan had failed!

It was too easy for Liverpool to control the situation with a two-goal lead.

It seemed that West Ham United would have to accept the fate of losing their first game of the new season away from home…

Although there was still more than half a game left, and the football was round. The problem was that Liverpool had Chen Hero, this fierce god! And Gerrard was no pushover either.

Gerrard was out for a long time last season, and now he certainly wouldn't watch his team lose at home.

Although he already knew that his team was doomed, Sam Allardyce was still very unwilling.

If Liverpool didn't have Chen Hero, West Ham might not have lost this game…

Yes, he believed that his preparations before the game were very thorough, and his tactics were also very correct, which could be seen from the first twenty minutes of the game. Liverpool was completely restrained by West Ham United's defensive counterattack.

Who would have thought that a star would shine at a critical moment?

Sam Allardyce always believed that the reason why many big teams were so strong, able to win championships, and able to defeat weaker teams, was not because their coaches were so good, but because they had money to buy big-name stars, to buy strong stars. Even if the team's performance in the game was like a pile of dog shit, as long as one of these stars flashed their brilliance, they could determine the outcome of the game.

So the strength of the big teams lay in their money. Look at Manchester City last season, they had no history at all, but suddenly they had money, and they were like nouveau riche, searching the world for players to join them, and after spending a lot of money on the wrong players for several years, they finally found the key to spending money last season, buying stars like Nasri, Silva, and Aguero, who helped Manchester City win many games.

If West Ham United also had a Middle Eastern sugar daddy, he, Allardyce, believed that he was fully capable of turning them into another Manchester City.

But the reality was cruel. West Ham United did not have a rich "sugar daddy." They did their best, but only managed to stop Liverpool for twenty minutes at Anfield, and then they were defeated by Liverpool's star.

How could Allardyce not be angry? He felt that the loss was definitely not his problem, it was not due to a lack of effort, but due to a lack of money.

※※※

In the end, Liverpool defeated the promoted West Ham United 2-0 at their home ground, thanks to Chen Hero's brace.

At the post-match press conference, Allardyce sarcastically mocked Liverpool with resentment: "They have money, we don't have money, this result is very fair, the team without money lost to the team with money. I am proud of the performance of the lads, we were promoted from the Championship, and we hardly added any decent players this summer, but we made it difficult for them at Anfield for a long time…"

Even someone without a nose could smell the strong sour taste in these words.

Some local Liverpool reporters looked unhappy at the time. They felt that Sam Allardyce was a bit too much. If you don't have money to buy people, that's a matter for the West Ham United board of directors. Go and make trouble with them. Why are you running here to vent your anger? Oh, you lost the game, so you said it was because Liverpool was richer than you. If you had won the game, you definitely wouldn't have mentioned money, right?

Originally, winning the opening game of the league was a particularly happy thing for Liverpool reporters, but Allardyce's fuss made it seem like winning the game was a very ordinary thing, not worth celebrating, because Liverpool had money, so Liverpool should win the game, but what about Liverpool's poor performance last season? Wasn't this a slap in the face of the Liverpool people?

Since Allardyce was so outspoken, the Liverpool reporters wanted to deliberately disgust him.

So someone mentioned Chen Hero.

"Chen Hero? Ha!" Who would have thought that Allardyce was waiting for this question, because Chen Hero was solid proof that Liverpool had money! "He is a very, very good player, with amazing talent, outstanding and comprehensive ability. He is completely one of the five best players in the Premier League." He held out five fingers.

"However, Liverpool spent seventy million pounds to buy him! That's really an astronomical price that makes me speechless! If we had seventy million, I think we could also get him…"

Chen Hero was shot while lying down, because in Allardyce's words, Chen Hero was portrayed as a mercenary, someone who would do anything for money, and would work for whoever paid him…

Obviously, Allardyce didn't know the behind-the-scenes story of Chen Hero's transfer to Liverpool.

Martin O'Neill's press conference was after Allardyce's, and he heard Allardyce's evaluation of the victory or defeat from the reporters. O'Neill did not angrily engage in a war of words with Allardyce, he just said very calmly: "In the world of football, upsets happen from time to time, where small teams defeat strong teams. So money is definitely not the decisive factor in the world of football."

Then he skipped over the topic without mentioning it further.

When the reporters saw that Martin O'Neill didn't want to say more, they didn't continue to press him, otherwise they would be embarrassing O'Neill. They could embarrass Allardyce, but they couldn't cause trouble for their own people.

Anyway, they weren't without ways to deal with Allardyce. Martin O'Neill had just taken over as Liverpool's coach and didn't want to offend too many people in the coaching circle, and wanted to be a good person, but that was okay. They had bad guys!

Chen Hero was the bad guy that the media were optimistic about.

The past year of contact had made the media know that Chen Hero was definitely someone who would meet their demands. He always wouldn't let the fans and coaches down, nor would he let the media, who were afraid that the world wouldn't be in chaos, down.

And they had sufficient reasons to shift the fire to Chen Hero.

Because Allardyce himself brought the topic to Chen Hero first. The media could completely pull Chen Hero into the battle under the banner of speaking out for Chen Hero. They would pave the way, and the main force would still have to be Chen Hero.

Anyway, Chen Hero, this blockhead, was not afraid of offending people—when he was in Naples, he even dared to offend his own fans, so what else in this world was he afraid of?

※※※

So Chen Hero was surrounded by reporters after training, and they relayed Allardyce's original words to Chen Hero.

Chen Hero didn't fly into a rage or curse, as the media had expected.

He just smiled.

"He really said that?" he asked the reporters.

The reporters nodded vigorously, as if not using enough force would not prove the truth of what they said.

"You didn't mishear me, did you?"

The reporters shook their heads vigorously again, shaking their heads like rattles.

"Oh." Chen Hero nodded and said oh.

That was it?

A group of reporters looked at each other, somewhat disappointed.

This must not be Chen Hero! Who was wearing Chen Hero's skin to impersonate him?

Just as the reporters were feeling disappointed, Chen Hero spoke again.

"Allardyce said that if they had money, I could go too. I can't agree with that. Even if Allardyce's team gave me one hundred million pounds for nothing, I wouldn't go. So you see, in the world of football, money is really not omnipotent!"

After speaking, Chen Hero spread his hands, with a hippy-smiling expression on his face, this smile was as cheap as it could be…
Chapter 1 The Beginning
作者：我真的只是想打铁
I Just Want to Forge