This player is characterized by his superb shooting skills, flexible and changeable movement in the frontcourt, and his height of 183cm allows him to stand and act as a fulcrum in the penalty area.
This is not the first time Chopra has played for Cardiff City. Chopra is one of Newcastle United's most promising newcomers. He is from the same school as Alan Shearer and has played for the England Under-15, 16, 17 and 19 national teams.
Chopra's most shining moment was when he was loaned to Watford by Newcastle United at the age of 21. In the game against Burnley, Chopra scored four goals alone, and then in 2004, he was loaned to Burnley.
Chopra joined Championship club Cardiff City for £500,000 on June 14, 2006, having rejected Newcastle United's offer of a one-year replacement contract to get more playing time.
His performance in the Championship stole the spotlight, becoming the Championship's best player in September and October. In his first 17 games, he scored 36 points and 7 goals for the team. He also scored three goals in the league match against Leicester City, helping the team win the game 3:2.
After joining the Premier League team Sunderland in 2007, Chopra was loaned back to Cardiff City in 2008 and then bought by Cardiff City again for £5 million in 2009.
From 500,000 pounds to 5 million pounds, Chopra has achieved an inspirational life with her net worth increasing 10 times.
From a player's perspective, Chopra is still very good and very talented.
However, he is not so good off the court. Chopra's biggest problem is excessive gambling. Not only betting on football, but also betting on horses, betting on cards, in short, all kinds of gambling. He often goes to the casino as soon as he gets his salary. He married a model and divorced her just one year after getting married.
In this regard, golfer Bellamy is much better than Chopra.
Apart from his love of singing, drinking and beating his teammates, Bellamy has no bad habits in his life off the court. He doesn't smoke, visit prostitutes or gamble. He is just keen on financial management and buying stocks.
Bellamy remembered the famous saying "If you don't manage your money, your money won't manage you", so after he retired, he lost all his savings of 45 million pounds because of financial management, and was chased by the tax department. He couldn't even afford to play golf.
Cardiff City's left midfielder is No. 7 Peter Whittingham.
This is a pure tragic player.
Peter Whittingham came from Aston Villa's youth training. He showed extraordinary talent at a young age and was hailed as the rising star of Villa and even the whole of England.
Peter Whittingham was once a key international for England U21. His passing is extremely creative and imaginative, he has a broad vision, a high football IQ and his crosses are accurate.
Moreover, Pete Whittingham is a rare left-footed player. Although his speed and impact are not high when breaking through the wing, his technique is very gorgeous, and he often performs wonderful moves to tease the opposing players.
He was selected for the England youth team 17 times and scored 3 goals.
However, because he has good skills but poor confrontation, Pete Whittingham is often targeted by opponents during games, so he is often injured, which prevents him from becoming the target of top clubs.
After 2006, Peter Whittingham moved to Cardiff City and became the core of Cardiff City's organization.
The reason why he died is not because his talent was not displayed on the platform of a wealthy club and allowed more fans to know him, but because in 2021, he was drunk and playing with his friends at a beer garden party, and he fell down the stairs and hit his head on the ground - he died.
He was 35 years old.
People, everything is determined by fate.
Cardiff City's right winger is No. 25 Jay Emmanuel Thomas, 19 years old, on loan from Arsenal, and nicknamed Little Henry JET.
Jay is a genuine Arsenal product and one of coach Wenger's favorites.
When Jay was 16 years old, coach Wenger couldn't wait to appoint him as the captain of Arsenal U18. When he was 17 years old, he gave him a formal professional team contract. When he was 18 years old, he was loaned to Cardiff City for training.
Jay is an all-around player, a jack of all trades.
At the age of 19, he is 191cm tall and weighs 86kg. He can not only play as a striker, left winger, right winger, left midfielder, and right midfielder, but also as an attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, left back, wingback, and even center back.
He is very fast, very confrontational, likes to make intermittent runs, has balanced skills with both feet, is a sharp header, and has a very accurate and powerful long-range shot. He also has a good personality, and except for the fact that he doesn't like to train and is always late at the loan club, he has almost no other shortcomings.
His current weekly salary is £5,000, of which Arsenal pays £1,500 and Cardiff pays £3,500.
He is also the highest paid player in Cardiff City.
Coach Wenger hopes that Jay can gain some experience in Cardiff City and then become the successor to Tsar Arshavin so that he can rule Arsenal's left side in the future - of course, demoting Jay can also save Arsenal a lot of weekly salary expenses.
As a result, after being demoted, Jay never returned to Arsenal, but plunged into the lower leagues.
Jay has played for Cardiff City, Blackpool, Doncaster Rovers, Ipswich Town, Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers, Milton Keynes, Gillingham, as well as Livingston and Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League.
——Nicknamed the wandering beggar version of Little Henry.
Jay's career is a case of a genius who does not cherish his talent. The experience in the lower leagues not only did not make him grow, but instead made him over-indulge and relax. He lacked the suppression of coach Wenger, and there are very few coaches in the lower leagues who can suppress a genius like Jay.
Even the experienced coach Dave Jones couldn't suppress Jay, who came from the Arsenal.
Therefore, there are risks in letting talented new stars go their own way.
According to the survivor bias principle, those who can make it out of lower-level leagues are known to everyone, and the number of unknown talents who have not made it out will be even greater.
Cardiff City's two midfielders are No. 11 Chris Booker and No. 10 Stephen McPhail.
——Chris Booker's position is actually more suitable for right winger, while the all-round Jay mentioned just now is more suitable for the center and left. In this game, Cardiff's head coach Dave Jones deliberately put Jay on the right and Chris Booker on the right side of the center. In fact, it was targeting Southampton's super star Gu Ran. When defending, Jay will work with Chris Booker to limit Gu Ran with strength confrontation and speed, and when attacking, Jay will cross positions with Chris Booker from the right side, which he is not very good at, and go to the center or even the left.
This formation and positioning arrangement does have some ideas, and it also indirectly shows that Cardiff's head coach Dave Jones has watched Gu Ran's game highlights and has a clear understanding and preparation of Gu Ran's strength level.
Chris Booker is a member of the Scottish national team. He has been selected twice so far and scored 2 goals. Although he is not fast, he has good dribbling and cutting skills, and his long-range shooting skills are also good.
Veteran No. 10 Stephen McPhail is a Scottish international. He has been selected 10 times so far and scored 1 goal. He has excellent short passing skills, a very creative through ball, and good ability to connect the front and back fields.
Both of these midfielders are more offensive and their defense is not very good.
This is also the reason why head coach Dave Jones adopted a back-to-back defensive strategy. Such tactics can save Cardiff City's overall physical energy consumption and gather superior forces in the back line to fight more people against fewer people.
Cardiff City's left back is veteran No. 3 Lee Naylor, a former England youth team player. He is aggressive and can run endlessly, but his technique is relatively rough.
Cardiff City's right back is their 25-year-old captain, No. 14 Scotsman Paul Quinn.
Paul Quinn is also a versatile player in the backcourt. He can play as left back, right back, center back, defensive midfielder, left and right midfielder.
Paul Quinn is also the type of player who runs all over the field, trains hard, and is very aggressive during games.
Moreover, Paul Quinn is also a rare left-footed right back - almost half of Cardiff City's main players are left-footed.
This formation configuration can easily catch the opponent off guard during the attack, making it difficult for them to defend.
Cardiff City's two central defenders are No. 5 Mark Hudson and No. 6 Gabor Giepez.
Mark Hudson is a veteran defender who is aggressive in tackling, fierce in fighting, and first-class in both heading attack and defense. He was born in Fulham and has played for Crystal Palace and Charlton, with a stable performance.
It is worth mentioning that when Mark Hudson was at Charlton, he was teammates with Zheng Zhi, who played as a defensive midfielder/defender, for half a season.
No. 6 Gabor Giepers is a Hungarian international, selected 27 times and scoring 1 goal. He is 191cm tall and his balanced left and right feet allow him to show rare flexibility when dealing with dangerous balls. However, his shortcoming is also quite big, that is, his speed is too slow, and his turning is like an aircraft carrier turning around. Once he cannot be intercepted head-on, then he cannot be intercepted.
Cardiff City's goalkeeper is 25-year-old Scotland national team goalkeeper David Marshall.
David Marshall's reaction speed, ball control skills, and one-on-one ability are all very strong. His shortcoming is that his positioning is not very good, a bit like Joe Hart, who can be easily defeated by anyone.
All in all, Cardiff City also fielded all its main players in this League Cup knockout round.
The biggest advantage of Cardiff City is not just that they have many international players and stars on loan from Manchester City and Arsenal, but their real advantage lies in the team's average age of 26.
Cardiff City's overall physical fitness and confrontation ability will be a big problem for Southampton today.
The overall strength of Cardiff City is actually one level higher than that of Southampton's arch-rival Portsmouth.
So in today's game, although Southampton is at home, it is conceivable that it will be a very difficult game.
Southampton's tactical mentality today was also very simple - use their bodies to stick to Cardiff City and prevent Cardiff City from passing the ball easily.
To put it more bluntly - do it right next to your face!
Gu Ran, who hadn't played for 10 days, couldn't wait any longer! The diehard fans of the Saints in the south stand were all cheering and waving flags to cheer for their players.
Beep! At 7:45, with the referee's whistle, the second round of the English League Cup officially began! Cardiff City kicked off first.
No. 39 Bellamy knocked the ball back to No. 10 Stephen McPhail.
McPhail ran with the ball quickly.
Southampton's midfielders and forwards immediately came up to strangle the player.
McPhail quickly looked up while running, and when he saw the opportunity, he passed the ball to right midfielder No. 7 Pete Whittingham who was running over to support.
- Avoid excessive physical entanglement with Southampton during attack. This is also one of the basic tactics arranged by coach Dave Jones before the game.
Schneiderlin quickly turned around and chased back.
The other Cardiff City players actively interspersed and provided support.
Cardiff City had a sharp offensive climax right from the start! Their pace of advancement and passing was very fast! Right back Richardson came up and double-teamed Whittingham with Schneiderlin.
Southampton's defensive focus also shifted to their own right side.
Whittingham did not compete physically with Richardson and Schneiderlin, but made a sudden stop to create a gap and passed the ball short to No. 11 Chris Booker who was supporting in the middle.
Chris Booker didn't bother with Hammond who was defending him. He touched the ball and passed it to "Little Henry" Jay Thomas in the left area!
Cardiff City's series of passes were designed to pull Southampton's defense and get the ball to Jay's feet! It's no wonder Cardiff City won four consecutive games.
Cardiff City's tactical thinking is very clear, that is, to use short passes to promote the rhythm of ball possession, and use the width of the field to tear open Southampton's defense! And they did it. In just three or five kicks, a huge gap appeared in Southampton's defense! Jay Thomas stopped the ball with his left foot and sped up instantly! His skin is black, his jersey is black, and he runs like a black horse, not only fast, but also full of impact! He dribbled the ball from the left rib area and directly cut into the penalty area.
The hearts of Southampton fans were all in their throats.
The nightmare of being beaten 4:1 by Fort Pitt United in the last game seems to be happening again.
Chamberlain chased back desperately, trying to stick to Jay and force him to slow down, but Chamberlain could not catch up with Jay's speed at all!
Speaking of which, Chamberlain can definitely be called a fast winger, with a speed that can reach the Premier League level.
But in front of "Little Henry" Jay, Chamberlain's speed was reduced to a background board! Jay ate Chamberlain alive, just like a dark horse eating feed.
At this time, Gu Ran predicted Jay's cut-in route in advance and blocked the position in advance. At the same time, he raised his hand and pointed at Chamberlain, indicating Chamberlain to defend Chris Booker who was quietly crossing to the left!
The young and inexperienced Chamberlain finally came to his senses and quickly turned around to intercept the sneaky Chris Booker!
Cardiff City's overlapping cooperation plan was thus discovered by Gu Ran!
Gu Ran not only plays a lone man's role in the defense, but he can also command the defense with his extremely high football IQ and vision.
Seeing that Chris Booker was being targeted, Jay Thomas didn't think much and just took the ball to force his way through Gu Ran.
During the pre-match tactical analysis class, coach Dave Jones focused on analyzing Gu Ran's abilities for Cardiff City players - strong in intercepting, ghostly in moving, extremely fast, extremely strong in physical fitness, excellent in long-range shooting, a perfect B2B striker template.
Jay was naturally disdainful in his heart.
Jay thought Coach Jones was exaggerating just to make his teammates take this elimination game seriously.
How strong can a player who is not even wanted by the Chinese national team be? With a height of 191cm, a weight of 86kg, and a powerful sprinting style, Jay can ignore any opponent!
Jay goes straight to the point!
Naturally, Gu Ran did not dare to be negligent, and strengthened reasonable collision +3, interception and steal +4, and strengthened positioning defense +5, all at full power!
Bang! Their shoulders collided heavily.
Gu Ran was bounced back two and a half body lengths in an instant!
It is indeed a product of Arsenal! The quality is very good!
For a millisecond, Gu Ran felt that all the bones in his body were about to be broken, and all the muscles in his body had lost sensation and control.
However, relying on his 78 points of strength and 83 points of power, Gu Ran quickly stabilized his body.
Jay, who was rushing forward with inertia, was knocked back three steps by Gu Ran! The football under Jay's feet was also out of control! Jay was completely dumbfounded! He couldn't believe it at all! In the last second, Jay didn't take the thin-looking Chinese man in front of him seriously, but in the next second, Jay felt that his eyes went dark, as if he had hit his head on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology.
Before Jay could react, Gu Ran rushed forward and stole the ball!
Jay exclaimed immediately and reached out to grab Gu Ran's shoulders and arms!
But Gu Ran is faster!
Without waiting for Jay to start, Gu Ran directly used Son of Wind +3, King of Highbury +2, and continuous charge and collision: Violent Sprint +4 to fully activate!
Gu Ran launched himself like a rocket! His speed was so fast that one could not see the afterimage! As soon as Jay's hand touched Gu Ran's arm, he was thrown away by Gu Ran's violent sprint! Gu Ran turned into a red and white lightning and rushed straight into Cardiff City's half!
Violent aesthetics! Overturned the whole stadium! All the Southampton fans jumped up from the stands, clenched their fists and screamed wildly!
At this moment, Gu Ran is the embodiment of their will! Every one of them is Gu Ran!
Gu Ran's violent aesthetic sprint speed, handsome appearance, and strong sense of substitution! Southampton fans and domestic fans in the live broadcast room were all celebrating!
After Jay missed the target, he immediately tried his best to chase after him! Jay's speed was extremely fast, but Gu Ran left him visibly behind!
The captain of Arsenal's youth team, Arsenal's rising star, had actually become Gu Ran's background in a head-on competition of speed and strength!
The Cardiff Bluebirds players at the scene were all dumbfounded - some of them had seen Gu Ran's performance in amateur high school competitions, and they thought that Gu Ran would be just like everyone else in the professional arena, but it was not until now that they realized that Gu Ran's growth was so great!
This speed, this sprint, this violent and aesthetic running posture, this is Henry!
Chinese Henry!
At this time, Southampton's forwards Lallana and Gully accelerated to support, while other Southampton players maintained their respective positions and formations.
According to the requirements of coach Adkins, Southampton focused on defense in the first half, supplemented by counterattacks, and Gu Ran had unlimited firing rights - yes, Gu Ran's position in the Southampton team is definitely not just a left back, but a striker behind.
Gu Ran rushed straight along the left rib area at high speed, and was unstoppable near the center line! Seeing Gu Ran about to cross the half court, the defenders of Cardiff City immediately retreated to their own back half court and did not press Gu Ran closely.
Cardiff City's tactics are also very clear, which is to avoid physical confrontation and physical exhaustion as much as possible.
Coach Dave Jones is also an old fox. He knew that Southampton would definitely use physical confrontation, but Dave Jones chose to avoid a head-on confrontation with Southampton and concentrate his superior forces to defend in the second half.
Cardiff City's defense is very fast. Once a positional battle is formed, Southampton will inevitably press forward and spread out their formation, which will give Cardiff City a chance to steal the ball and counterattack.
The head coaches of both sides were also playing games from a distance.
Coach Dave Jones, who has coached Southampton twice, has a confident look on his face.
Coach Dave Jones was not worried at all about Gu Ran's single-handed attack. Even if Gu Ran could dribble the ball to the edge of the penalty area, it would be impossible for Gu Ran to tear through Cardiff City's dense defense by himself.
Cardiff City players retreated quickly and maintained their defensive formation very intact.
Gu Ran continued to sprint at high speed with the ball across half court, while "Little Henry" Jay was desperately chasing after Gu Ran.
As long as Gu Ran slows down his sprint pace, Jay can follow up with a sliding tackle.
At this moment, Guli and Lallana were still diagonally behind Gu Ran.
Generally speaking, Gu Ran can pass the ball to Lallana, then make a short pass from the outside and look for an opportunity to penetrate deeper.
But Gu Ran looked up and glanced directly at Cardiff City's goal.
Goalkeeper David Marshall was standing in the penalty area, as if possessed by Joe Hart.
Gu Ran suddenly had an idea in his mind, and he kicked up and violently shot in the frenzy of violent aesthetics.
Top pass and shot: God’s kick +2!
Heavy artillery long-range shot: Cloud-piercing arrows +3!
Heavy artillery long-range shot: Earth-shattering +3!
Heavy artillery long-range: cruise missile +1!
Full firepower!
This is a super world wave long shot from 50 meters away!
Everyone at the scene held their breath in shock, watching the ball draw a ballistic parabola above St. Mary's half.
!!!
(End of this chapter)