For the Liverpool players, what they had just seen outside Newcastle's home stadium was a rare sight—everyone has heard of funerals for cats and dogs; that’s not unusual. But a funeral for a stadium…that was a first.

But for the Newcastle players, this event would definitely affect their mood to some extent.

They were all Newcastle players, having stayed in Newcastle for at least half a season. In the past, even they themselves always referred to their stadium as St. James' Park, not some awkward Sports Direct Arena.

Now the name of the stadium had been rudely pried off, and many players who had played for Newcastle for many years couldn't accept the result for a while. This matter had already passed, but the Newcastle fans' funeral rekindled the turmoil of dissatisfaction and sorrow in their hearts.

Newcastle's coach, Pardew, also noticed the subtle changes in the players' emotions. For a coach, understanding what the players were thinking was a required course.

He realized that it wouldn't be good if this emotion interfered with the players' performance. Although Liverpool's recent league form had been poor, they were still a formidable opponent. The players had better perk up, otherwise it would be a huge loss to lose the game at their home stadium.

He walked into the locker room and clapped his hands.

Everyone looked up at him.

"I understand the fans' anger at the removal of the St. James' Park sign. But you have to remember, you are not fans. Once the game starts, what matters is the result on the field. I believe the fans trust the players, they know you will perform with effort. Don't disappoint those fans, they come here to watch the game to see you win, not a group of absent-minded people sleepwalking on the field. Otherwise, they might as well go up themselves and do better. Guys, Newcastle is great not because of what a stadium is called, but because your predecessors accumulated it with victory and defeat in every game. Please keep that in mind."

※※※

When Chen Hero followed his teammates out of the player tunnel, he raised his head, looked around, and sure enough, he saw the new logo composed of red and blue—"Sports Direct Arena"—on the stadium's roof eaves.

"This name is really terrible..." Chen Hero muttered.

He felt quite sad for the Newcastle fans—to have such a tasteless boss, the fans of other teams would surely laugh at them when they called their home stadium.

St. James' Park Stadium, which can accommodate 52,387 people, is the third largest stadium in the Premier League, second only to Old Trafford and Emirates Stadium. When Newcastle was founded in 1892, it was used as their home stadium. Selling stadium naming rights is not new in England. Three Premier League stadiums are named after sponsors: Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, Bolton's Reebok Stadium, and Wigan's DW Stadium. But these three stadiums were all newly built with investment from sponsors after relocation. Even so, this naming method is still controversial due to its lack of humanistic spirit and excessive commercialization. And there is no precedent in the Premier League for someone like Ashley to rename a famous stadium with a history of 120 years... Understanding this, it is not surprising that the Magpies fans would express their dissatisfaction with such an extreme way as burying "St. James' Park."

※※※

After the game started, the Newcastle players performed relatively normally, which may have been related to what coach Pardew said before the game—they were still successfully pulled out of their absent-minded state of mind by Pardew.

So they quickly took the lead, and not just by one goal.

In the first half, Newcastle played at home and took a two-goal lead. This somewhat diluted the sadness of the Newcastle fans about the renaming of the home stadium.

The atmosphere in the stands of St. James' Park Stadium... uh, no, it should be Sports Direct Arena, was much more active than at the beginning.

But this activity was not all cheering for the team. They became active because they could finally relax and attack club chairman Ashley—when they were only leading by one goal at most before, Newcastle fans had to worry about the team, fearing that Liverpool would equalize the score. Now that they were leading by two goals, what was there to be afraid of?

The current program is... to scold the damn Mike Ashley to their heart's content!!

The Newcastle fans attacked their club chairman in various ways, singing songs.

"Ashley! You are the sinner of Newcastle! You will go to hell! St. James' Park is watching you from above!"

"We have an idiot, an idiot that you don't have! He made us look ugly! Made us lose face! That idiot is Mike Ashley!!"

Ashley sat in the chairman's box with no expression on his face, and it was impossible to tell what he thought about burying the name "St. James' Park."

How much do Newcastle fans hate Ashley?

Once, a Newcastle fan named Alan McKen was beaten up by angry Newcastle fans because he looked too much like Mike Ashley. Although he argued at the time that he was not Ashley because he was not as fat as Ashley, he was still beaten half to death. Even when he went to watch Newcastle games live, he was repeatedly insulted by fans.

So now he can't wear a Newcastle jersey to the stadium, but has to wear a white t-shirt with the words: "I'm not fucking Ashley!" printed on it.

※※※

While the stands were so lively, the game on the field was a bit dull.

Honestly, this was not an exciting game. Newcastle had no highlights other than the two goals.

But football is so wonderful sometimes, you don't perform well, but you can win.

Of course, Newcastle's poor performance could still lead by two goals because their opponent Liverpool performed even worse...

"Liverpool's entire team and Chen Hero's performance have not improved. Now Liverpool's best performing player is Suárez, his dribbling and breakthroughs are the team's most threatening attacks. But he lacks support, and more often than not, he is fighting alone..."

"Hero, who Liverpool originally relied on the most, is still performing sluggishly. Of course, in fact, his performance is not considered sluggish in theory, it can only be said to be average. But who told him to perform so well before? It was completely beyond the scope of ordinary people's cognition, so when his performance is only average, we will feel that he is in a slump..."

Yes, Chen Hero's performance in this game cannot be called a slump, it can only be regarded as... average. But everyone's expectations for him were too high before, so it led to the fact that as long as he didn't perform to the level he should have, everyone would flock to say that he was in a slump.

Of course, Chen Hero still doesn't use headers. Everyone still doesn't understand why? Is there an injury on his head that he can't touch?

This idea is close to the truth, but everyone thinks it's nonsense—who saw a wound on Chen Hero's head? He's fine!

If he doesn't use headers, what should he do when his teammates still hit high balls?

Chen Hero invented a way, which is... to stop the ball with his chest!

Yes, it is more difficult to use the chest than the head, and it is impossible to compete with others by jumping up. But Chen Hero persevered and insisted on doing so. Because this is the only way...

The first half ended in this dull rhythm. Newcastle led by two goals, and comparing it with their opponent Liverpool's performance, it should not be a problem to win this game.

So throughout the halftime break, the Newcastle fans were connecting with each other, discussing how to continue dealing with Ashley in the second half.

※※※

In the locker room, Dalglish's face was very solemn.

The team was two goals behind away from home, and the future was uncertain. Although he had prepared for it, he still didn't expect the situation to be so bad.

The Liverpool players also felt depressed. Since coach Dalglish decided to change the team's attacking tactics, this was the third game and the team had not won a single game.

If it weren't for Dalglish's high prestige, the players would have rebelled by now. Fortunately, Dalglish has such great prestige within the team... otherwise the team would have been in chaos long ago.

Facing such a situation, Dalglish was also really helpless.

He had to say: "In the rest of the game, I won't give you any pressure, winning or losing doesn't matter, anyway, our goal for this season has been achieved..."

Yes, the team has already qualified for European competitions. Even if they lose all the next games, it doesn't matter as long as they are not relegated.

These words were a bit discouraging, but they reflected the team's true situation. Facing such a situation, Dalglish had no other way. The only thing he could do was to keep going. In fact, even without Chen Hero's matter, he had already realized that if Liverpool's tactics were not changed, there would probably still be no hope. In modern football, continuing to stick to things from decades ago is a dead end.

In any case, he wanted to make Liverpool's tomorrow better, so let the reform start with himself.

Chen Hero looked at the boss's face. In fact, he was only sixty-one years old, but he looked as if he had aged ten years rapidly.

He knew why the boss was aging so rapidly.

He couldn't just sit back and watch any longer...

Otherwise, it would be too unkind, right?

Many people thought that Chen Hero was in poor form in the past few games. In fact, only the first game against Queens Park Rangers was really in poor form. At other times, he was more affected by the team's overall sluggish state. But who told him to be the team's number one star? If the team can't win, who are they going to scold if not you? He naturally had to bear great pressure. It's just that Chen Hero didn't take these pressures seriously.

If the team's performance still hasn't improved, then what can I do to give the boss a hand?

It's the free kick!