Thats my point SD, PTC said Ch*pra had that 6th sense but I said I hadnt seen it. It was a good goal and as you say he was on the last defender. Im not taking anything away from the goal but it didnt shout to me, natural scoring ability.
Really? I thought that goal had everything you look for from a striker. On the shoulder, anticipation and timing of the run followed by a calm side footed finish one on one with the 'keeper. In fact, I wouldn't have wanted that particular chance to have fallen to anyone else that we had on the pitch at the time.
Have to agree with SD most natural goalscorers play on the shoulder of the last defender, that type of goal often goes hand in hand with that type of player, it was due to him knowing where to be at the right time. I do think Chopra is a natural goalscorer, he's generally one of the quickest to react to a spill from a keeper or a rebound but he is also technically a very good finisher, some natural goalscorers when they've got time aren't great finishers (Bent comes to mind) but the thing for me that lets Chopra down (apart from his off the field problems) is he's a confidence striker, if he misses one it can take a while for him to get back his confidence. Some strikers like Bent and Rhodes seem to be able to miss very good chances but they don't lose their confidence and when the next one comes along they put it away!!
It all goes back to how you interept 'natural goalscoring ability' and for me that is someone that will always get away a shot on target when the ball falls to him in the 18 yard box. Im not taking anything away from a very good goal or the technique. I like the fact he was on the last defender and everything about it was very positive but this is the same player who has done sod all else in a Town shirt in 2 seasons so maybe I can be forgiven (?) for questioning whether he has that ability to change matches. He has done nothing as an 18 yard box player and that is what I meant by the sniffing out that half yard to get his shot away. If anything drops in the box then we dont/ cant capitalise on it.
I would argue that him playing upfront the majority of the time by himself has been a factor to him not scoring quite as many goals as he should've done for us. At times he was the only player in the box for us in thee 451 formation and he's the type of player who attacks the second ball not the first ball, which is why I think he is best next to a target man. I do think he's a natural goalscorer but as I've said I think confidence is a big thing with him, given what has happened off the field I'm not sure that was too high!! Given all this though, he still managed to score 13 goals last season, which when looking at the circumstances isn't a bad return. The sad thing is he's probably got the best goal to game ratio out of all of our strikers in the past couple of seasons!!
Maybe I just have a massive downer on the contemptable little ****e! or maybe its the fact he keeps boasting pre seasons about being our saviour or probably its i mix of both!
I would imagine so TB, his character is most definitely questionable but he is certainly a talanted footballer, unfortunately his character has affected his form at the club!!
