Overall, the score was 0-0 at halftime, which the Liverpool players could accept, except for Chen Hero, who seemed very angry. He even went to argue with the referee at the end of the first half because he felt that Caldwell should have been sent off with a red card, instead of being allowed to stay on the field.

He rarely did this, so when the commentators saw this scene, they all said that Chen Hero was obviously being driven to the brink of collapse by the pressure of the new record! This was the best proof.

Because he hadn't scored in the first half!

If he had scored, would he have bothered arguing with the referee?

The fact that he was arguing with the referee showed that he cared a lot about scoring... and the moment he cared about whether or not he scored, it meant his mentality was off.

How could he score a goal under such circumstances?

So everyone was saying that Chen Hero was about to be driven to collapse by the immense pressure.

※※※

The situation that made Chen Hero so unhappy was this:

At that time, Glen Johnson pressed forward and crossed. Chen Hero felt that as long as he hit the ball, he could blast it into the goal. Although this ball might seem very difficult to others—the shooting location was outside, Glen Johnson's cross from the wing was very fast and powerful, not a good cross, but more like a ridiculously off-target shot.

But Chen Hero had absolute confidence in his own strength. He had practiced his right foot diligently in the training games, and he was confident that he could score a beautiful world-class goal with a direct volley!

Breaking his own record and creating a new one with such a volley would be absolutely fantastic!

Who knew that at the most critical moment, Caldwell crashed into him, almost throwing his entire body into the tackle. No matter how strong Chen Hero was, he was standing on one foot at this time, facing Caldwell's aggressive, all-in impact, he couldn't maintain his balance.

He still managed to hit the ball before falling, but the shot was way off, flying straight into the sky.

Then Chen Hero was knocked to the ground by Caldwell.

After pushing the opponent away, Chen Hero jumped up from the ground and raised his hands angrily to complain to the referee.

The referee did blow the whistle for Caldwell's foul, but he didn't give a card, no card at all, not even a verbal warning.

Chen Hero was very dissatisfied with this. He believed that it was definitely a sure goal, and Caldwell had prevented his sure goal. According to the rules, such a foul should be punished with a red card without hesitation! Even if you don't give a red card, you should at least give a yellow card!

The result of giving a yellow card was actually the same. Caldwell had already received a yellow card for a foul in which he tackled Chen Hero from the side and behind. If he got another yellow card, he would definitely be sent off, which was no different from a direct red card.

But in the eyes of others, including the referee, that opportunity just now was definitely not a good opportunity...

Obviously, they didn't believe in Chen Hero's ability.

And Chen Hero didn't expect that being too confident was not a good thing either, because... you couldn't get others to understand you!

This feeling was too miserable.

It was fine if the referee didn't make a call, Chen Hero didn't believe he wouldn't have another chance.

The problem was that Caldwell actually took the initiative to provoke him!

After getting up, he ran to Chen Hero's ear and whispered, "You won't score a goal in this game!"

After saying that, he ran away.

Chen Hero was walking back when he suddenly heard this sentence. He was stunned for a moment, and when he realized that Caldwell was cursing him, he immediately flew into a rage.

He wanted to run up and argue with Caldwell, but he was spotted by Suarez, who was trying to comfort him. Because Suarez had also heard the sentence, he immediately hugged Chen Hero, who was about to go berserk: "Don't pay attention to him, why would you bother with an ant, Hero?!"

Although Chen Hero didn't actually go looking for trouble with Caldwell, it made him very unhappy with Caldwell.

He felt that the referee was too biased towards the home team for not giving a card for this foul!

During the halftime break, he ran to argue with the referee.

The referee would naturally not change the ruling just because a player complained to him, and besides, he felt that he had done nothing wrong.

"That ball of yours didn't look like a sure goal, Hero. You have to know that you were outside the penalty area at the time, shooting directly with a volley..." the referee explained to Chen Hero. "I don't think you could have kicked the ball into the goal in that situation."

Chen Hero was stunned for a moment—damn! Was he being looked down upon by the referee?

Chen Hero was too lazy to continue arguing with the referee. He nodded, "Okay! Then I'll score a goal like that for you to see in the second half, Mr. Referee! I hope you don't find an excuse to disallow my goal when the time comes!"

After saying that, he turned around and strode towards the tunnel.

The three referees on the field were stunned for a moment. The two assistant referees were the first to react, and they were a little angry: "Is he questioning our professional ethics?"

"How can he do this? He's famous, so he has a big temper!"

"You should give him a yellow card, Joseph."

The referee Joseph shook his head and said with a wry smile. "Forget it, forget it, it's not like we don't know what kind of person he is... let's just take it as an angry remark..."

In fact, Joseph also felt that he had been a little too lenient in his rulings in the first half, which had indulged Wigan Athletic's style of play and caused a lot of trouble for Liverpool.

Because of this idea, he showed mercy to Chen Hero's public questioning.

Seeing that the referee didn't intend to take action, the two assistant coaches had no choice but to retaliate verbally.

"Did you hear what he said just now? He said he was going to score the same goal, is he talking nonsense?"

"I think so. How can there be such a certainty? That ball was not generally difficult, and it's not wrong to not judge it as a sure goal opportunity. I think he's gone crazy trying to score a goal. With such great pressure, he will be crushed sooner or later. I think we should pay close attention to him in the second half, and don't let him do anything excessive..."

The two assistant coaches walked off the field while discussing this. The head coach was sandwiched between them, not participating at all.

Why wasn't he so angry when Chen Hero said those words?

In addition to feeling that his rulings in the first half were indeed questionable, he was also very curious... He wanted to see if Chen Hero would really deliver on his promise in the second half.

※※※

Back in the locker room, everyone came up to comfort Chen Hero, hoping that he wouldn't be too anxious and that goals would come...

At first, Chen Hero thought everyone was being kind and he couldn't refuse, so he nodded frequently with his head down, indicating that he accepted their comfort.

But later he found that there were more and more people, and he couldn't stand it anymore.

"I said, I'm not a work of art, you don't have to line up to visit, do you?"

"What are you talking about, Hero! We're worried about you!" Suarez, who was almost in line, glared. If Chen Hero didn't cooperate, then the lines he had been brewing for a long time to ridicule Chen Hero would be useless! Of course, he wouldn't agree.

"Fuck you, Luis." Chen Hero gave him the middle finger. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do!"

"This, Hero, everyone is really being kind." Gerrard also came out to speak.

Chen Hero spread out his hands: "I know, but I don't need comfort, I really don't care... Do you think I would be very frustrated? But I'm not at all! Do you want me to sing a song for you? Two_birds_on_the_tree, on_the_tree!" He really sang as he said!

"Two birds on the tree? What kind of song is that?" Suarez asked.

"Traditional Chinese opera, a selection from the Huangmei Opera *The Fairy Couple*!"

"It's quite nice..."

"Thank you for liking Chinese culture, Luis."

"Okay, okay, don't get off topic." Gerrard saw that these two unreliable people were drifting further and further away, and quickly called a stop. "Hero, is your mental state really okay?"

Chen Hero clenched his fist. "Of course, I will definitely score a goal in the second half. I will blow that damn Caldwell to smithereens! He actually provoked me! No one has ever been able to jump around after provoking me! He's dead this time!"

※※※

In Wigan Athletic's locker room, everyone was cheering for the team's outstanding performance in the first half.

Head coach Roberto Martinez was encouraging the players, he shouted loudly: "Guys, you did a great job! Keep playing like this in the second half! We are about to become the first team to successfully stop Hero! This is something that teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal have not been able to accomplish!"

Hearing his words, the Wigan Athletic players let out such shouts.

"Oh oh oh! Hero is nothing!"

"Long live Wigan Athletic!"

The locker room presented a kind of fanatical emotion. And Martinez shouted with them, shouting hoarsely.

If outsiders saw this scene, they would definitely find it very strange, because this didn't look like a football team's locker room, but more like a ritual of some evil religion... Everyone was brainwashed, and fell into a fanatical state, unable to extricate themselves.

But Martinez was actually very sober, what the team needed now was this kind of momentum and spirit. This kind of self-hypnosis was actually like a drug, making them think that they were the best team in England. But doing this wouldn't last too long.

But forty-five minutes was enough.

The team's physical strength would definitely encounter problems in the second half, and the only way to solve it was this. Let the players be in a state of excitement, not feeling tired, and keep fighting until the end of the game.

In fact, Martinez had used this trick many times.

Wigan Athletic was a very strange team in the Premier League.

This team hovered on the edge of relegation all year round.

But they always managed to stay up in the end.

They were like the kind of students in school—they never listened carefully in class, either sleeping or reading novels, or simply skipping class. Then they crammed for a few nights before the exam, and passed every subject!

This kind of student was probably the most envied, resented, and hated by everyone.

Wigan Athletic was indeed like this. Their performance in the early and mid-season was very bad, so that they were mired in the relegation zone or the relegation zone. Then, in the late season, they suddenly began to exert their strength, winning game after game, and finally successfully landed ashore and succeeded in relegation. And the teams that had performed better than them before were instead relegated to the lower leagues...

Martinez had used this self-hypnosis大法 many times in the key battles of the relegation battle.

The effect was very good, and he used it to deal with Chen Hero and Liverpool.

It seemed that this time it would be another "Wigan Athletic-style" performance—in the process of Wigan Athletic's continuous winning streak and final relegation success, Martinez had heard such exclamations and praises from the media a lot.