If Sunderland had known why Liverpool slaughtered them at home, they would have wanted to die—it was too humiliating!

But they couldn't know.

Like many of Chen Hero's other opponents, they died in confusion, only to add to the legend of football—Chen Hero performed a hat-trick, leading the team to slaughter the Black Cats!

Before the end of the first half, Chen Hero scored another goal, his second of the match.

The "Black Cats'" misfortune was already sealed.

After the halftime break, Sunderland showed no improvement. Instead, Suárez seized an opportunity to score just after the second half began. Not even fifty minutes had passed, and Liverpool was already leading Sunderland 3-0.

Although Sunderland later scored a goal with a penalty kick, it couldn't change their fate.

In the fifty-seventh minute, Chen Hero completed his hat-trick.

After scoring, he ran straight to the coach's bench and hugged Martin O'Neill tightly.

He didn't say anything like, "Now you know, right?"

He just hugged the coach and vigorously patted O'Neill's back.

Everyone rushed up to hug the two of them.

Martin O'Neill naturally knew what Chen Hero meant.

He could only smile wryly.

It seemed that some things couldn't be changed just because he wanted them to...

Forget it, don't worry about it, let it be.

Anyway, we won, Chen Hero can still score goals, and those voices and things really didn't affect him...

That's enough.

※※※

After Chen Hero scored, Liverpool didn't stop attacking. There was still plenty of time left in the game. Liverpool's highest-scoring game this season was the 6-1 victory over Portsmouth. This time, Liverpool seemed poised to break that record.

The final score was Liverpool 7-1, breaking their biggest win record this season. It also tied their biggest win record in the Premier League—previously achieved in January 1999, when Liverpool thrashed Southampton 7-1.

However, this was not their biggest score in the English top league. That record was set in September 1990, when Liverpool swept Crystal Palace 9-0 in the English First Division.

"What an amazing result!" The commentators exclaimed at the end of the match.

"7-1! They tied the 1999 record! No one expected Liverpool to defeat Sunderland so easily at home! You have to know that the 'Black Cats' are not a weak team..."

Chen Hero scored a hat-trick in this game, the most goals of any player. The other four goals were scored by four completely different players.

Suárez scored one, Sanchez scored one, Glen Johnson scored one, and Škrtel scored one.

For O'Neill, this score was very convincing. After a week of verbal warfare, Chen Hero not only wasn't affected, but also scored three goals in the game, completing a hat-trick. More importantly, Preston manager Phil Brown, who was originally a missile aimed at Liverpool, was intercepted by Chen Hero. The entire Liverpool team was not affected, performed well in the game, and directly tied the team's Premier League record for the biggest win.

It should be noted that Phil Brown was clearly targeting the Liverpool team at the beginning, and then the media followed suit. If this matter was allowed to develop, either he would be dragged into the mud, or the entire Liverpool team would be harassed.

Chen Hero came forward and had a week-long war of words with Phil Brown, which instead shifted everyone's attention. Later, the media's attention was all on Chen Hero. When they talked about this matter, they no longer said it was a feud between Phil Brown and Liverpool, but changed their tune to say it was a personal feud between Phil Brown and Chen Hero. Liverpool was no longer mentioned.

If it weren't for this, the entire Liverpool team would have been affected, and this game could not have been won so happily.

Whether he admits it or not, he must acknowledge Chen Hero's contribution to the team. Although he may have been completely unintentional at first.

And he was also thinking about a problem. Originally, Phil Brown's remarks at the press conference were nothing, and could be understood as a loser's unwillingness to accept defeat, purely an excuse. Even a fool could see that his claims were untenable, otherwise how could Chen Hero's ridicule have been unanswerable.

In normal times, this might have been an insignificant episode that would not have caused any waves. But this time, with the promotion of the media, it turned into a war of words.

O'Neill felt that things were indeed unusual.

He hasn't coached Liverpool for a long time, only one and a half seasons so far, but Liverpool didn't have such "treatment" before.

Just as Chen Hero said, as Liverpool's results get better and better, and start to threaten more people, making many people panic, they seem to have become the nail that sticks out...

There will be more and more of these things in the future, and he is not the kind of head coach who is good at dealing with reporters. Does he really want to ignore it? That would only be a greater harm to the team.

Thinking about it, O'Neill felt that if Chen Hero was willing to take the initiative to help Liverpool as a scapegoat, like this time, then he should not only not blame him, but also cheer him on secretly.

As for why it's secretly, rather than actively cheering... it's because our famous British coach can't save face.

※※※

Chen Hero was very happy. He completed the task. He didn't care about the experience or anything. The achievement title and the power behind it were what made him the happiest.

And he also got confirmation from reality—he didn't need to directly ask Martin O'Neill if he agreed with him doing this. He only needed to look at O'Neill's performance after he completed his hat-trick to guess.

O'Neill has surrendered. He agreed with him doing this, but he just didn't say it out loud.

Chen Hero didn't know whether Liverpool would really attract a lot of crazy attacks in the future. He was just talking nonsense at the time, just to fool O'Neill into agreeing. But even if he really becomes the nail that sticks out in the future, he is not afraid, but even more excited, because he will have more opportunities to slap those bitches in the face grandly and openly!

And what a glorious mission this is!

As an MT (Main Tank in online games), he will keep the enemies in front of him, protecting his friends and people behind him.

Want to hurt me? Then you have to step over my dead body first!

No... that's too unlucky, does it foreshadow that he will become a corpse?

Change it...

Want to hurt me? Go to hell!

※※※

Twenty-one rounds of the league have passed, and Liverpool is still at the top of the list. The gap between them and Manchester United has been widened to ten points.

This made O'Neill breathe a sigh of relief.

The media is more concerned about Chen Hero.

After this round of the league, he has scored thirty-two league goals.

And the league has only been halfway through.

How many more goals can Chen Hero score in the remaining seventeen games?

Just thinking about this makes many media people feel chills—this person is too terrifying!

He scored a total of thirty-nine goals last season. This was in a situation where he missed almost a third of the games.

And this season, everyone can see that Martin O'Neill will rotate anyone but him, so his playing time can be guaranteed. Except for the two games he was suspended for after being sent off with a red card, he has not missed any game.

It seems that this season's goals are definitely heading for the number forty.

In addition, if he can continue to maintain this state, scoring more than thirty goals in half a season, then maybe he can try to challenge Dixie Dean's English top league single-season goal record set in the 1927-28 season...

"Playing in the Premier League with Hero is the tragedy of other forwards... His terror makes people unable to compete at all. If you want to compete with him, maybe he only needs ten league games to completely leave you behind! That's completely humiliating yourself!"

"Chen Hero scored thirty-two goals, don't think this is the number of goals he scored in a season, this is just his goal total halfway through the season! How many more goals can he score? No one knows! Now everyone is looking at him like they are looking at a monster..."

"I don't know if Hero will suddenly fall into a slump in the upcoming league due to such frequent and intensive outbursts. But I think the possibility is very low. Even if he is in a bad state... even if he stops scoring from now on, no one else on the scorer list can catch up with him. The closest person to Chen Hero at the moment is Manchester City's Agüero, and he has only scored fourteen goals... This gap is really desperate. Haven't you noticed that we are no longer discussing the topic of who will win the league's Golden Boot? This is really the most boring topic..."

The media described this matter with admiration and helplessness.

In addition to England, in other places, in Spain, in Italy, in Germany, in France, in China... all over the world, people are discussing Chen Hero's great achievement of scoring thirty-two goals in twenty-two league games.

Even Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo did not have such a performance in their most crazy seasons.

At this time, many people remembered what Napoli coach Mazzarri once said: "In terms of scoring ability alone, Hero is ten times stronger than Messi!"

At that time, many people dismissed it, thinking that Mazzarri was really talking nonsense. Now, in the face of cruel reality, no one dares to refute Mazzarri's words anymore.

Chen Hero may not be as naturally gifted as Messi, nor as technically flashy as Ronaldo, but he can score goals!

As a center forward, this is the best praise. Being able to score goals, these three simple words, many forwards can't do it.

During the winter transfer window, the media began to report rumors about Chen Hero's transfer. Real Madrid is interested in him, Manchester United is interested in him, AC Milan and Inter Milan have fought over Chen Hero, Juventus has asked Liverpool for a price...

In short, there are all kinds of bizarre rumors.

But Liverpool has stated: Not for sale! No amount of money will do!

"Hero is not for sale. Most of the time, people in the industry say this just to ask for a sky-high price. But we are telling the truth, Hero is indeed not for sale at Liverpool, and we can't put a price on him, because he is priceless!"

Nion, the general manager in charge of the team's transfer affairs, said in response to these rumors.

Everyone believes he is telling the truth. Because if Liverpool really sold Chen Hero, it can only mean that everyone at Liverpool, from top to bottom, has water in their brains!