When play resumed, Liverpool—now holding a strong lead settled into a more comfortable rhythm. The confidence exuded from every red shirt, each pass was crisper than the last.
Stoke City's players, by contrast, had clearly lost their appetite for the physical battle. Their approach to Julien completely transformed. The vicious tackles and reckless challenges that filled the first half gave way to cautious tracking, fearful of provoking the dangerous Frenchman again. The penalty incident had sent a message that echoed across the pitch.
Among the supporters watching replays, a consensus began forming about that penalty. Many believed Julien had deliberately targeted Shawcross—the slow-motion footage told a damning story. The shot wasn't drilled along the ground, nor was it lofted high. It struck that awkward height right at waist level.
Any experienced footballer understood instantly: defending against such shots created an impossible dilemma for center-backs.
A ground shot?
Simple—stick out a boot.
A high ball?
Easy—meet it with your head.
But this cruel in-between trajectory at waist height?
Block it with your hands and you're sent off for deliberate handball. Take it on the body and you're eating a cannonball to the ribs or worse.
As the stretcher carried Shawcross off the pitch, one fan watching the replay muttered, "Look at that height—looks perfectly calculated. Not high, not low. If he's lucky enough to pull that off by accident, I'll buy drinks for the pub all season. No chance. That's precision, that's intent."
Inside the Boot Room Tavern—one of Liverpool's most hallowed supporter gathering spots, the atmosphere was filled with cigarette smoke and charged with passionate debate. The air hummed with excitement, interposed by the heavy thud of beer glasses slamming onto wooden tables.
"Deliberate! I'd bet a season's worth of ale on it—he meant every inch of that shot!" Sean roared, hammering his fist on the scarred table surface, veins bulging in his neck. "Look at the trajectory! He went straight for Shawcross's weak point. That butcher had it coming!"
A chorus of agreement erupted around him, fists were pumping in solidarity.
But Mick leaned back with a knowing smile, his eyes twinkling with dark amusement. "Ha! You lot actually believed it, didn't you? Two years at Bastia, arrives at Liverpool all polite in interviews, first to training, last to leave, flashing that innocent smile at the cameras—and you genuinely thought he was some choir boy?"
The tavern quieted, all eyes turning toward the older supporter.
Mick swept his gaze across the room, savoring the moment. "You've all forgotten who he really is. Forgotten his past. Should we pull up those L'Équipe articles from a few years back? Refresh your memories?"
Another regular immediately jumped in, grinning wickedly. "No need, mate. I've known since the moment Shawcross went in on him. I knew it wouldn't end there.
"Julien—product of Clairefontaine, moved to Chelsea's academy as a teenager. When he was just a kid, he got into a screaming match with captain John Terry. Would've thrown punches if Drogba hadn't pulled them apart.
That same year, he hospitalized a Russian teammate in the youth setup—beat him absolutely senseless. Chelsea showed him the door immediately. Then, after returning to France, he got arrested for armed robbery on his seventeenth birthday."
Mick laughed darkly, slapping the table. "Listen to that! Confronted Terry! Hospitalized a teammate! Armed robbery! What kind of player are we talking about here? This is a proper street kid, a football hard man! Shawcross, that idiot, thought he was bullying some pretty boy from Ligue 1. He had no idea he was poking a wolf in sheep's clothing!"
The revelation sent a ripple of stunned silence through the pub.
"You put it like that," another supporter mumbled, "and yeah... he's been way too quiet since joining. Completely under the radar."
"Under the radar?" Mick's smile widened. "That's because he's grown up, gotten smarter. Success at Bastia and whatever he experienced in prison taught him to hide his fangs. But don't you dare touch his pressure points!
You want to snap him with a leg-breaking tackle? Want to end his career with a reckless challenge? Fine. He'll respond in the most direct, brutal, and perfectly legal way that leaves you with no recourse. That penalty? That was his answer. You want to play dirty? He'll play dirtier—and at a level you can't even comprehend."
"So this wasn't losing control," Mick concluded, his eyes gleaming. "This was calculated revenge. How dare Shawcross even try? He probably thought the bad boys were extinct in modern football. Wrong. Dead wrong. Liverpool just might have signed an angel-devil hybrid."
The tavern erupted again, but now the conversation had shifted from "Shawcross deserved it" to fascinated speculation about Julien's complex character.
"Reformed troublemaker? Maybe," someone pondered aloud. "But that edge, that ruthlessness—it's still there, just buried deeper."
"That's exactly what we need!" Sean jumped back in, energized. "We need gentlemen, sure, but we also need warriors willing to roll in the mud and terrify opponents! William the Conqueror didn't ask permission before invading!"
"The Conqueror..." Mick savored the nickname, his smile turning wolfish. "That nickname makes even more sense now. Conquering isn't just about goals—it's about domination."
Old George, the tavern's owner, listened to it all with a satisfied smile. In his experience, the truly great players were never saints. Why else would Manchester United fans worship their King Cantona with such passion?
This French kid Julien seemed cut from similar cloth—controlled violence, calculated aggression. George just hoped the boy had truly matured, that he'd learned when to bare those fangs and when to keep them hidden. Today's handling was perfect. Brutal but legal. Devastating but justified.
They loved players like this.
Players with fire in their blood.
The debate about Julien's character raged on, but suddenly a Liverpool attack seized everyone's attention.
"Look at this! Gerrard with the through ball! Henderson!"
Jordan Henderson burst into the box with perfect timing, meeting the pass without breaking stride. His outside-of-the-boot flick was sublime—a delicate chip that arced over the diving Begović and crashed against the inside of the left post.
THWACK!
The sickening thud echoed through television speakers everywhere. The ball ricocheted downward, bounced off the turf, then was desperately hoofed clear by panicking Stoke defender Robert Huth.
"DID IT CROSS?!"
The Boot Room exploded. Every supporter launched from their seats, fists in the air, beer sloshing everywhere.
"IT'S IN! ABSOLUTELY IN!" Sean roared, his neck veins were pressuring to burst, spit flying.
"That bounce—the keeper never touched it! That crossed the line!" Mick poked his finger at the screen, his composure was completely gone.
"BRILLIANT, HENDERSON!"
The pub became a cacophony of celebration, whistles and roars suggesting the fifth goal was a certainty.
But then...
On screen, the referee made no signal toward the center circle. Instead, he pressed his finger to his earpiece and stared intently at his wrist.
The celebration died as if someone had cut the power. Silence crashed down like a physical weight.
"What's he doing?"
"The watch... that new 'Hawk-Eye' system?"
"No way they're ruling this out..."
Nervous murmurs replaced euphoria.
Then the broadcast cut to the Hawk-Eye replay—cold, clinical 3D animation showing the ball's trajectory with unforgiving precision. The blue tracking lines revealed the cruel truth: a minuscule portion of the ball, merely millimeters, remained on the goal line.
"NO GOAL."
The referee's crossed arms and the on-screen graphic arrived simultaneously, delivering the verdict like a death sentence.
"FUCK!"
"Bloody hell! What kind of shit system is that?!"
"Millimeters?! MILLIMETERS?!" Sean smashed his fist on the table, sending glasses jumping.
Disappointment and rage flooded the tavern in equal amount.
Commentator Martin Tyler's voice cut through the chaos with professionalism: "Definitive decision! Historic decision! The Premier League's first use of goal-line technology has made a crucial call!
Using fourteen high-speed cameras positioned around the goal, the Hawk-Eye system calculated with absolute precision that the ball did not completely cross the line. Look at this replay—indisputable! Despite Liverpool's players, including Henderson himself, being convinced the goal stood, technology has delivered the fairest possible answer."
The camera found Henderson on the pitch, hands on his head, his face cycling through ecstasy, crushing disappointment, then settling on a regretful smile of acceptance.
Captain Gerrard was first to regain composure, patting Henderson's back and nodding acknowledgment to the referee before waving off teammates who wanted to argue. "It's done! Back to the game! Keep going!"
Julien also approached Henderson, offering consolation. "Don't worry about it, Jordan. More chances coming."
Henderson nodded, but the weight on his shoulders was evident.
His situation at Liverpool had never been comfortable. Since his high-profile 2011 move from Sunderland, he'd faced constant skepticism from portions of the fanbase and media. Critics called his movement pedestrian, his passing uncreative. Many labeled him "talent-deficient," questioning whether he deserved a starting role in Liverpool's midfield.
This past summer, Brendan Rodgers had even considered using him as a makeweight in a swap deal for Fulham's Miralem Pjanić. The pressure was immense and unrelenting—a massive boulder crushing down on the young player's shoulders. Every mistake, every mediocre performance was scrutinized under a microscope.
He desperately needed moments like this to prove himself.
But Julien knew something the doubters didn't. He understood exactly what this currently questioned, seemingly uncertain teammate truly possessed. Beneath that workmanlike exterior burned an engine that never quit, a warrior's heart, and nascent leadership qualities that would one day define him.
Julien knew Henderson wouldn't just become a competent Liverpool player—he would become captain, would lead this team to the summit of European football. His running, his tackling, his inexhaustible will would become among the club's most precious assets.
Of course, Julien had his own thoughts about that captaincy timeline. He only acknowledged Gerrard as captain—Henderson would have to settle for vice-captain at best.
Anfield erupted in a chorus of boos. The fans weren't accepting the technology's verdict gracefully.
But goal-line technology was officially part of English football now—a new era beginning whether traditionalists liked it or not. After all, England had suffered from goal-line controversies themselves. Frank Lampard's "ghost goal" against Germany at the 2010 World Cup still haunted English supporters, it was a wound that never quite healed.
Liverpool continued their siege. They wanted to start this season with an emphatic statement.
4-0 wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
The opportunity Julien promised? It appeared in the 72nd minute.
Gerrard collected the ball near the halfway line, surveyed his options, and spotted Julien already accelerating down the right flank. The captain's pass was perfect—a crisp, ground-level through ball that split Stoke's midfield and met Julien's run with surgical precision.
Julien gathered it smoothly, pushing forward with ease.
Stoke left-back Erik Pieters backpedaled frantically while center-back Ryan Shawcross—no, wait, Shawcross was gone.
It was Wilson Palacios desperately sliding across to provide cover, both defenders converging to create a double-team.
The KOP faithful anticipated magic—this setup screamed for an explosive one-versus-two dribble. Anticipatory whistles already echoed from the stands.
But Julien read the situation differently.
He feinted toward the inside; a convincing shoulder drop that shifted both defenders' weight fractionally. Then, with his right foot's outside edge, he nudged the ball outward as if preparing to explode down the touchline.
Both Stoke defenders bought the dummy completely, collapsing their defensive shape to cut off the crossing angle and any continued dribble.
In that microsecond of defensive commitment, Julien's peripheral vision had already registered what mattered most—a red shirt ghosting into the box unchallenged. Sturridge!
As the defenders fully committed, Julien's plant foot anchored, and his right ankle produced a subtle flick that was pure artistry. Not a driven cross, but a delicate, perfectly slanted chip with just enough backspin.
The ball floated over every retreating Stoke defender clustered near the penalty area edge, a precise blade cutting through their defensive structure. It dropped toward the six-yard box with devastating accuracy—too far out for goalkeeper Begović to claim, the perfect area to attack.
Daniel Sturridge, reading Julien's intention perfectly, timed his run to perfection. He didn't need to adjust his stride. At full sprint, he launched himself forward, body fully extended, and met the descending ball with a powerful diving header.
SWOOSH!
The net rippled.
5-0!
Pure, flowing football. Poetry in motion.
Julien with the assist. Sturridge with the finish.
The striker immediately rolled away, pointing toward Julien with both hands before sprinting over. Sturridge grabbed Julien around the neck, shouting gleefully in his ear: "Brilliant ball! Absolutely brilliant! That pass was so perfect it made scoring feel like cheating!"
Gerrard jogged over, ruffling Julien's sweat-dampened hair kindly. "Quality pass. Though I half-expected you to take them all on yourself and win another penalty."
Julien laughed, gesturing toward Sturridge. "That's Daniel's goal. Don't blame me!"
The teammates shared the moment with broad grins and back-slaps.
After the celebration, Sturridge turned toward the KOP, arms spread wide, drinking in their adulation.
Martin Tyler's commentary was awed: "Liverpool's fifth! Daniel Sturridge with a magnificent diving header! But let's examine the genesis of this goal—let's appreciate what Julien created here.
When Gerrard's pass found him, Stoke's entire defensive focus shifted toward him. Given his sensational form today and the confidence radiating from every touch, we might have expected another individual masterpiece, another one-versus-two moment of brilliance.
But watch this—he chose the unexpected, perhaps the option that makes him most unpredictable. First, the convincing feint inside, genuine enough to shift both defenders' weight. Then the subtle outside touch, drawing them further out of position. He successfully pinned two defenders in front of him, creating crucial space and time for Sturridge's run.
And that final delivery—not some hopeful punt into the mixer, but this exquisite chip. Look at the trajectory, the weight, the placement. Over every defender's head, landing in the one area Begović couldn't reach.
Impeccable!
This goal might tell us even more than his four strikes. This demonstrates that Liverpool have acquired not just an explosive individual talent capable of dismantling defenses single-handedly, but a player with a world-class football brain—a genuine attacking hub!
A winger who can dribble, shoot, and now clearly pass with this level of vision and execution—how does that transform Liverpool's tactical possibilities? What will this mean when Sturridge, and later the returning Luis Suárez, combine with him?
Liverpool's attack has evolved from 'dangerous on both wings' to a multi-dimensional strike force with almost unlimited potential.
How do you defend against him? If you sit deep, fearing his cutting inside and shooting, he'll dissect you with passes like this one. If you commit numbers to mark him, you're creating gaps elsewhere that players like Gerrard, Aspas, even Coutinho from the bench will ruthlessly exploit.
It's a tactical conundrum with no easy solution!
This debut performance transcends description. Four goals, one assist, and this assist showcased maturity and game intelligence beyond his years.
Premier League managers, take note—write this name in bold letters in your tactical notebooks: Julien, The Conqueror.
Liverpool's title aspirations have been fundamentally altered by his arrival."
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