Ferguson's reaction was surprising. First, he was the last to speak out, and only did so under pressure from reporters. In the past, he had been very active in such matters, eager to jump out and engage in verbal sparring and psychological warfare, dragging his opponents into the mud and then defeating them with his rich experience.

Why was he the last to speak this time?

Secondly, what he said didn't sound like he had any fighting spirit at all.

What did he mean by "I'm not very concerned about the situation at Liverpool"? How could he not be concerned? Liverpool was probably the opponent Old Sir Alex cared about the most, even more than Manchester City. After all, they were his lifelong enemy.

Now that Liverpool were first and Manchester United were second, with a ten-point difference between the two teams, he couldn't possibly not be concerned about Liverpool's movements if Manchester United still wanted to make a final comeback and win the championship.

But he didn't seem to be lying either.

Because after saying this, he didn't participate in the debate. While others were enthusiastically discussing what trouble Chen Hero's outrageous remarks would bring to Liverpool, he didn't kick them while they were down, but remained silent.

It didn't seem deliberate, but as if he really wasn't interested.

Then some media went to analyze Manchester United and found that it wasn't just this one thing. Since a long time ago, Manchester United had stopped participating in matters related to Chen Hero and Liverpool. You couldn't find any words from Ferguson targeting Liverpool in the media, and Manchester United players hadn't discussed anything about Liverpool either.

They acted as if they didn't know there was a team called "Liverpool" in this league at all.

Some media began to analyze. It wasn't that Ferguson really didn't want to pay attention to Liverpool, but that the gap between the two sides was too big. Liverpool was already ten points ahead of Manchester United. Seeing that winning the championship was hopeless, it was better to be low-key and put their energy into the Champions League, where they might be able to lift the trophy for the fourth time.

So Manchester United probably wasn't interested in competing for the domestic league title anymore. Anyway, they had won enough Premier League titles.

Of course, some media disagreed with this analysis. What was the relationship between Manchester United and Liverpool? Mortal enemies! Lifelong mortal enemies! If Manchester City was ranked first now, Ferguson might have given up on the league. But now that Liverpool was ranked first, how could Ferguson tolerate his mortal enemy winning the championship in front of him, even if they were ten points behind?

But there was one question they couldn't figure out—if Ferguson couldn't tolerate this scene happening, then why hadn't he made any counterattacks against Liverpool? The former Ferguson was a tactical master and a psychological master. What he was best at and liked most was constantly provoking his opponents' anger before the game, arguing with them, creating incidents, and completely disrupting their mentality, so that they would perform abnormally in the game.

His combative style had been integrated into his blood and had become a part of his coaching style. How could he not react to his mortal enemy's words?

This question didn't make sense, so no one believed the conclusions drawn from the analysis.

※※※

Ferguson knew how the media had been analyzing him lately.

He didn't care and didn't take it to heart at all.

He had his own plans and arrangements.

The current Manchester United didn't have the most powerful lineup in history and was in the process of rebuilding, with some personnel not keeping up.

It could be said that Manchester United, who had dominated the Premier League for twenty years, was declining, while, on the contrary, Liverpool, after twenty years of decline, had begun their revival.

This was the general trend, and it wouldn't be changed by one person's will.

But Ferguson had his own ideas—even if this is Liverpool's revival, I will make it come later! As long as I'm here, Liverpool can forget about stepping on Manchester United's head to ascend to the throne!

So even though they were ten points behind, he hadn't thought about giving up the fight for the league title.

His current strategy was to be low-key, low-key, and even more low-key, and to bite tightly behind the first place, even if they were ten points behind, they couldn't give up. They had to keep waiting for an opportunity. When the Champions League knockout stage fully started, the inexperienced Liverpool would definitely make some mistakes due to fighting on two fronts. That would be when Manchester United started to exert their strength!

As long as they could narrow the gap between the two sides, even if they chased from ten points to five points, it would greatly increase the pressure on the league leaders, Liverpool. In the blink of an eye, the ten-point gap had become five points, and Liverpool would become very insecure. Then the thought of "Manchester United might catch up" would become like a nightmare, deeply rooted in their minds and lingering, thereby affecting their performance.

Under such tremendous pressure, Liverpool couldn't help but make mistakes! Once they made a mistake, the pressure would increase further, and the increased pressure would force them to continue making mistakes… thus forming a vicious cycle.

And at that time, chasing from ten points to five points would boost Manchester United's morale, and the whole team would see hope, so they would play even better. This would form a virtuous cycle. Coupled with Ferguson's seasoned experience, he was confident that he could lead the team to complete this unprecedented great reversal!

Ferguson had seen all kinds of storms in his decades of coaching. What was a ten-point deficit? They could still catch up!

What he had to do now was to be low-key and not let Liverpool notice what they were planning.

He even wished that Liverpool would become more complacent, so that he would have a chance to take advantage of them. Because the more proud they were now, the greater the psychological gap would be when they fell, and the more unacceptable it would be.

Unfortunately, Ferguson couldn't openly praise Liverpool, because that would be too obvious and fake. Just like the last time he praised Chen Hero, he originally wanted to make the other party lower his guard, but he didn't expect it to backfire and arouse the other party's vigilance. It was because how could a Manchester United coach praise Liverpool players? It would be merciful not to curse him to break his leg…

Within the team, he had already issued a gag order to the players. Everyone was forbidden to talk about anything related to Liverpool and Chen Hero. Even if they were asked by reporters, they shouldn't say anything, and they should just find an excuse to get by, but they weren't allowed to say anything.

Now it was already February 2014, and the Champions League Round of 16 would fully start this month. The opportunity that Ferguson was waiting for was getting closer and closer, and he didn't want any unexpected problems to affect his plan.

He even hoped that Liverpool could go further in the Champions League, at least to the semi-finals.

It wasn't that he was kind and wanted Liverpool to win another Champions League title. It was that this would create a dilemma for Liverpool. On one side was the Champions League, and on the other was the league. They had a chance to win the championship in both arenas. Which one should they give up? If they didn't want to give up both, they would have to pay a greater price, but the current Liverpool couldn't do that. There were great hidden dangers on their defense line, and problems would inevitably occur. Wanting both would result in nothing at the last moment.

Ferguson thought that such an ending would be good for Liverpool—having the opportunity to win the championship on both fronts, but failing to win either in the end, a double runner-up, it would be so wonderful!

The Liverpool bastards only deserved such an ending!

※※※

Chen Hero, this Liverpool bastard, didn't know what Ferguson was planning. He didn't pay attention to those voices at all. He didn't even take a look at the media's hype.

In his opinion, those were all "the distant barks of loser dogs"!

A bunch of losers, there was no need to pay attention to them. If you did, they would get even more excited.

Martin O'Neill couldn't help but pay attention to this matter. He did have a headache, because Chen Hero's words were equivalent to forcing Liverpool into a dead end. In addition to having to win the championship, they would also encounter more tenacious resistance in the games.

But he couldn't blame Chen Hero either. He was also kind-hearted and thinking about Carragher…

He made a decision—no matter what, he wouldn't let Chen Hero go to the next FA Cup game. He would directly give up the FA Cup, so as to avoid having a chance to win the championship in three arenas…

The most tragic thing in this world was that you thought you had a chance to become a treble winner, but in the end you were just a triple runner-up…

※※※

The game against Portsmouth was the first opponent Liverpool encountered after Chen Hero's rant.

Portsmouth was ranked sixteenth this season, only two places away from the relegation zone. Even if they weren't trying to stop Liverpool from winning the championship, they would do their best in the game for their own survival and to avoid relegation.

So this game was actually very difficult.

Portsmouth took the lead at the beginning of the game. After all, it was their home game, and they had the ability to do so.

Then Gareth Bale helped Liverpool tie the score.

Before the end of the first half, Suarez gave Liverpool the lead, and Portsmouth fell behind.

During the half-time break, Liverpool's players felt that this was no different from the previous games. Liverpool had already taken the lead, and they only needed to expand this advantage into a victory in the second half. Taking down Portsmouth away should be no problem.

Who would have thought that Portsmouth would actually tie the score not long after the second half started!

After tying the score, they immediately changed their tactics and contracted their defense. They hoped to get a point at home. For a relegation team, every point was especially precious, because their relegation opponents might not even get a point…

If they could force a draw with the powerful Liverpool at home, it would also be an acceptable result.

But Chen Hero didn't agree.

If Chen Hero had already scored a goal before this, it might have been easier to say.

The problem was that Chen Hero hadn't scored yet!

He was now trying to break Gerd Muller's European record of scoring in sixteen consecutive league games. How could he fall on this sixteenth game?

In the eighty-fourth minute, Chen Hero finally scored!

He sealed the victory against Portsmouth and also scored in his sixteenth consecutive league game, tying Gerd Muller's record!

"Ah… Portsmouth has been preventing Chen Hero from scoring for the entire game. They defended for eighty-four minutes, but in the end they couldn't stop this monster!"

"This is Hero's goal in the sixteenth consecutive league game! He has tied the record created by Gerd Muller at Bayern Munich! This is also the highest consecutive goal record in world football!"

"Although that big mouth is not likable, this Chen Hero… is indeed too terrifying!"

The commentators exclaimed one after another.

The Portsmouth players, on the other hand, were paralyzed on the ground, losing all their strength after being defeated at the last moment.

The result of 2:3 and 2:4 was the same. In the next few minutes, they really didn't have the fighting spirit to play.

But Liverpool was also quite satisfied.

In the end, neither side was able to score again, and Liverpool narrowly defeated Portsmouth 3:2 away, maintaining their winning streak.