PES Chronicles

Mid-table mediocrity. The most dismal phrase in the footballing lexicon.

I win one, I lose one. I go up a few places, I fall a few places. I lose one, I win one. I fall a few places, I go up a few places….

It’s as if I am under some kind of magic spell. I can neither rise nor fall. My team is in some kind of PES stasis field. As idle as a painted oil tanker upon a painted ocean.

I’ve been looking long and hard at my 4-3-3 formation. And I’ve been thinking the unthinkable.

I’m going with the above 4-4-2 formation as my new starting formation for all games. This is a big deal for me.

Duffy is a DMF. Shimizu is a CMF. Chairman Mao and De Ridder are SMFs. I’ve positioned Schwarz slightly deeper than Frutos because the latter is the bigger and better striker right now. Schwarz still gets most of his goals by receiving the ball and running with it, playing one-twos, etc. Frutos is a strong giant of a striker who belongs just in front of Schwarz.

I’ve played 4-3-3 for as long as I can remember. I don’t think I’ve ever seriously tried out any other formation in Master League. Even when struggling in PES5, and for over two seasons now in PES2008, switching the formation to something else has been unthinkable.

Until now. Defending is the key to success in PES2008. Currently, my goals scored tally is an average of almost 1 goal per game. Nothing spectacular, but within operating parameters for a football team.

You would expect to pick up results simply by keeping clean sheets, something I found relatively easy to do in years gone by. In PES5 and PES6, after the tough first campaign or two, I conceded an average of 8 goals per season.

My current goals against tally is an average of almost 2 per game. Defending against the CPU is my problem right now. I’m tired of losing games after having 60% of possession and 15 or 20 shots on goal, only to see the CPU score with all of its 3 shots on goal.

My problem has been stopping the CPU from creating openings in midfield and in front of my defence. Having a lone DMF is all well and good – but he’s got to be good, and he’s got to have good support from the AMFs and, when up against it, from the CFs. Duffy and co. currently are not up to scratch.

I could have tinkered with the positioning and defensive settings in my existing 4-3-3. But I’m thinking right now that a few imaginary lines on a virtual chalkboard are no substitute for having solid bodies placed squarely in the way of the rampaging CPU midfielders and attackers.

I tested the 4-4-2 formation in a couple of Exhibition matches (England vs Germany; England vs Brazil), and I’m quite liking it.

Yes, I feel a bit lost and bewildered when I get the ball up front and there’s only two central strikers to look for. But the two wide midfielders in a 4-4-2 are much better at wing penetration than the more centrally-placed AMFs in my 4-3-3 ever were.

I won the Exhibition games 3-1 and 2-0 on Top Player. Granted, with good players the 4-4-2 might have worked out well, but how will it work with my middling players in Master League? Only one way to find out.

Switching to 4-4-2 at this stage could all go very wrong. But I have a good feeling about it, for some reason.

The wheels have come off my season. Not in a big way – I’m still in touch with the promotion spots. But it’s been a disappointment after getting off to such a good start.

Hammarby beat me 4-2 at my ground in the second round of the Cup. I went 1-0 up in the game and it would have been enough to take me through on away goals. But Hammerby just steamrollered me in the second half.

I’m 11th in the table and 10 points behind the current 3rd-placed team, Wigan Athletic. I’m only 11 games into a 38-game season, so it’s still feasible that I could haul Coventry City into the top 3 by the end.

I’m scoring enough goals to win and draw key games. But I’m conceding more goals than I’m scoring. I’m conceding ridiculous goals – goals like nothing I’ve ever seen before in any PES game.

A CPU free-kick within 30 yards of my goal is usually as good as a penalty.

Corners continue to be a problem – especially ‘blind’ corners from the opposite side of the pitch where the camera – even on Wide – cuts off my view of the six-yard box. Defending these is a matter of using the radar and some guesswork.

Ad hoc games of pinball take place around my box. My players are mysteriously incapable of passing to any of their team-mates, until a CPU player gets hold of it and rifles in a shot.

Occasionally, any old random CPU player will turn into the superhuman love-child of Maradona, Pele, Michel Platini, and Zinedine Zidane combined, and twisty-turn a slaloming path through my entire team until in on my goalkeeper. And then gently chip the ball into the net.

It’s crazy stuff, some of it.

I can’t complain about my goalkeepers. Friedel and Ivarov have been playing alternate games. They’ve both played really well, considering. One of the big complaints some people have about PES2008 is that the goalkeepers are poor. But I’ve yet to see either of mine palm the ball into the net.

Friedel in particular (still only 18) is shaping up to be a great shot-stopper, just like his real-life counterpart. But for some of his meaty slaps at the ball, my goals-against tally would be a lot higher. Thanks, Brad.

There are other plus-points too. Schwarz is the #1 goalscorer in the Division so far. He has 5 goals. Which doesn’t say much for the Division, but I’ll take it. Shimizu and Traore are joint-4th on the Assists table.

It’s a peculiar season. Neither one thing nor the other at this stage. In the previous two seasons, at least I knew where I was by now. I was bottom of the league.

This season is still in the balance. I’m mid-table. A good run is needed now, I think, for me to have any chance of going up to Division 1.