This mistake would not be a big deal under normal circumstances, but when facing the Southampton team with Gu Ran, any tiny mistake would be fatal.

Gu Ran rushed forward quickly, using his body to take on two Exeter City midfielders. After stealing the ball, he started violently on the spot, running straight to the top of the arc of Exeter City, and then directly kicked a long shot! World wave! The goalkeeper of Exeter City had no time to react and could only watch the ball go into the goal!

The score on the big screen at St. Mary's Stadium was immediately changed to Southampton 2:0 Exeter City!

Exeter City is in trouble now!

As the game continued, Exeter City strengthened their defense, especially their defense against Southampton midfielder Gu Ran.

But this kind of defense is of little significance.

In the 24th minute, Gu Ran intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a precise diagonal long pass to Chamberlain who was rushing quickly from the left. Chamberlain rushed to the left side of the penalty area and rubbed the ball in front of the goal. Gu Li's header was miraculously saved by the Exeter City goalkeeper, but Lallana, who followed closely, grabbed the first point and rubbed the ball into the goal! St. Mary's Stadium was boiling!

Less than half an hour into the first half, Southampton broke through Exeter City with a crazy momentum!

Southampton fans were mesmerized by the sight! Every game with Gu Ran was a festival for them! The game continued, and the slaughter continued!

In the 31st minute, Gu Ran intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a straight pass!

After getting the ball, Lallana broke into Exeter City's penalty area without stopping. Under the double-team of two defenders, he took a low shot with full confidence!

Exeter City's goalkeeper fell to the ground to save the ball, but it was too late!

The ball went in again!

Lallana scored twice!

After such a long time since his injury, Lallana's competitive form has finally returned completely, and he is better than before! The score on the big screen at St. Mary's Stadium was changed to Southampton 4:0 Exeter City!

The Exeter City players are about to collapse!

You know, they are definitely not a weak team in the English League One. They can even play with Brighton and Hove Albion, the second-ranked team in the English League One. But when they met Southampton at home, they were just like facing a strong team in the Premier League! Exeter City no longer expected to take away 3 points at St. Mary's Stadium, nor did they expect to take away 1 point. They just hoped not to be embarrassed by being beaten into double digits.

So, Exeter City began to defend with all their strength.

The game then became dull.

Before the end of the first half, Gu Ran launched seven or eight fatal attacks, but unfortunately they were either called offside or the forwards failed to seize the opportunities.

At the end of the first half, the score between the two sides was temporarily fixed at 4:0.

The second half started with a change of sides, but the scene was still dull.

Coach Adkins began to deploy his troops. Chamberlain, Schneiderlin and Lambert were replaced one after another, while Gu Ran and Lallana remained on the field.

This is also to allow Gu Ran, who has not played football seriously for several games, to adapt to the game and prepare for the important game next month.

In the 77th minute, Gu Ran dribbled the ball back and forth at the top of Exeter City's arc looking for an opportunity. Exeter City's four defenders double-teamed him and eventually tripped him to the ground. The referee resolutely took out a yellow card and awarded Southampton a free kick in a good position.

Amid the cheers of Southampton fans, Gu Ran took the penalty kick, a stunning hit with a crescent-shaped scimitar and a deadly elevator!

The score on the big screen at St. Mary's Stadium immediately changed to Southampton 5:0 Exeter City.

After scoring this goal, Gu Ran took off his shirt, revealing the strong muscles in his upper body.

Southampton's female fans screamed wildly and fainted in a row! The referee also showed Gu Ran a yellow card as usual.

Gu Ran has accumulated 5 yellow cards. According to regulations, he will be suspended for the next game.

This means proactively shuffling the cards in advance.

In this way, Gu Ran can ensure that he will not be suspended due to accumulated yellow cards before important games.

In the 83rd minute, Gu Ran's long pass was blocked by Exeter City's defender and went out of bounds, and Gu Ran took the penalty kick.

Young defender Aaron Martin rushed to the goal, met Gu Ran's throw-in, and headed the ball directly into the goal! The ball went in! Southampton 6:0 Exeter City!

Even though Exeter City tried their best to defend, they still couldn't escape the fate of being pinned to the ground by Gu Ran! In the end, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Southampton beat Exeter City 6-0 at home, taking all three points and continuing their winning streak to top the English League One! After this game, all of Gu Ran's games in 2010 were over.

Although the club still has a home game against Plymouth on December 28, due to Gu Ran's early reshuffle, he will be suspended from the last game of the year.

Although the winter transfer window will open in January, the teams will not take a holiday and all competitions will continue to proceed steadily until the end of all schedules in May, which is when the entire season is considered over.

There are a total of 9 games in January, almost one every 3 days, and the intensity of the games is very high. Relatively speaking, December is like a vacation now.

The first game will be at 3 pm on Saturday, January 1st, in the 24th round of the English League One, where Southampton will challenge Rochdale away.

The second game will be at 7:45 pm on Tuesday, January 3rd, in the 25th round of the English League One, where Southampton will challenge Notts County away.

The third game will be held at 3 pm on Saturday, January 8, in the third round of the FA Cup, when Southampton will host Rotherham, the first-placed team in English League Two.

The fourth match, at 7:45 pm on Wednesday, January 12, is the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals, where Southampton will challenge Chelsea, the champions of the last Premier League and the Champions League! The fifth match, at 3 pm on Saturday, January 15, is the 26th round of the English League One, where Southampton will host Colchester United.

The sixth game, at 7:45 pm on Tuesday, January 18, is the first round of the English Championship South Division final, with Southampton hosting Colchester United.

The seventh game, at 3 pm on Saturday, January 22, in the 27th round of the English League One, Southampton will challenge Brentford away.

The eighth game, Tuesday, January 25th at 7:45 pm, the second round of the League Cup semi-final, Southampton will face Chelsea at home!

The ninth game, Saturday, January 29 at 3pm, FA Cup fourth round (if we win the third round), the opponent is yet to be determined.

Seeing such a tight schedule, even Gu Ran couldn't help but take a long breath.

In English football, it is really not something that ordinary players can gain a foothold in.

Even in the lower leagues, the intensity is terrifying!

The opponent in the League Cup semi-finals will be Chelsea!

Moreover, both rounds of the semi-finals will be played in January! The only thing to be thankful for is that the points in League One are now very stable, so we can focus on the two games in the League Cup semi-finals.

Compared with Premier League teams, the value of competitions like the League Cup is not very high, and Chelsea also has to compete for the Premier League and Champions League titles, so it is impossible for them to focus their main energy on the League Cup.

For a League One team like Southampton, they have reached the semi-finals, so they must do their best to win! Even if they don't want the FA Cup and lose a few games in the league, they have to bet all their energy on the League Cup.

It is well worth it.

It's not just because Southampton's best record in history is winning the League Cup runner-up, but more importantly, if Southampton can really go all the way to the end and win the League Cup with Gu Ran, then next season Southampton can directly skip to participate in the Europa League! And if the Europa League can win the championship, then it can directly participate in the Champions League next season as a seeded team! Therefore, the League Cup may not be very valuable for Premier League teams, but for teams in lower leagues, it is simply a great opportunity to turn things around if they win the bet! The focus of the 9 games in January must be on the League Cup with Chelsea! After returning home, Gu Ran continued to practice.

Although he would not have to play in the next game due to the advance reshuffle, Gu Ran still seized every available time to train.

On December 28th, Southampton's match against Plymouth began.

Coach Adkins boldly rotated the substitute players, allowing the main players to take turns to rest as much as possible in preparation for the game against Chelsea.

The two sides played back and forth in the first half. Plymouth scored first, but was soon equalized by Southampton.

In the second half, Plymouth scored two goals in a row and Southampton's substitute lineup was obviously unable to hold on.

Coach Adkins had no choice but to replace Chamberlain and Lallana, two main players who were on rotation, and adjusted the tactics on the spot.

Southampton immediately showed good signs of improvement. Before the end of the game, Lallana and Chamberlain each scored a goal to tie the score.

In the end, the two sides tied 3:3, each getting 1 point.

Southampton's 21-game winning streak came to an end.

However, Southampton is already far ahead in the English League One standings, at least 25 points ahead of second-placed Brighton, which is almost unshakable.

Southampton fans are full of confidence that they can win the English Football League One title and be promoted to the second-tier English Football League Championship.

All the games in 2010 were over, and the club selected the best player of the year and gave him a reward of 200,000 pounds.

Gu Ran beat captain Davis to become Southampton's player of the year.

On January 1st, the 2011 transfer window opens.

...(End of this chapter)