#Going up, going up, going up…#
Strewth, there’s just no suspense after that headline and that photo, is there?
I have completed season 2009 and finished 3rd. Here’s the final table:
Final Position: 3rd (66 points)
Won: 20 Drew: 6 Lost: 12
Goals scored: 59 Goals Conceded: 50 Goal difference: +9
Yellow cards: 39 Red cards: 9
Coventry City have been promoted to League B Division 1. I can breathe slightly easier. I have avoided having my worst-ever start to a PES Master League. (It’s joint-worst with my PES5 Master League start.) I’m glad I don’t have to go through another Division 2 season again.
I’ll kind of miss scrapping around for results. I’ll also kind of miss the accompanying neuroses and self-doubts. I really thought I’d lost my PES mojo for a while back there.
But I’m really looking forward to playing the Liverpools, Man Utds, and Chelseas of Division 1, and qualifying for Europe, and going for Trebles, and all the rest of it. I’m also looking forward to meeting the Division 2 champions, Sunderland, again – I owe them one for a painful defeat earlier this season. A true PES Master League player never forgets, and never forgives.
In the end, I had a pretty comfortable run-in. I played very well for most of the games, and superbly in a few. Here’s a goal from Shimizu that I scored along the way:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYuyRzv6hZE&rel=1]
There was no contrived last-game decider. There were a couple of games in which I lost heavily and wondered if I was being set up for a last-game drama, but it never materialised.
I clinched 3rd spot in the penultimate fixture against the then 4th-placed team, Birmingham City. I won 1-0. Chairman Mao scored the goal early in the second half with a powerful shot that the Brummie keeper could only get fingertips to. I then had to hold on for dear life after Klavan was sent off in the 70th minute.
The final whistle blew and my players celebrated. John Champion had some kind words to say. I sat back, taking it all in.
Afterwards I was in a hurry to get the season over with, and crack on to the off-season negotiations. But I had to play one more league game against Derby.
It was a meaningless final fixture. But there was an important lesson to be had from this game. I barely concentrated, thinking about the season to come, and Derby thumped me 4-1.
It was embarrassing. No defending, no attacking. Precious little midfielding. My goal came during injury time at the end – a lucky header from an aimless cross. I didn’t deserve it. The lesson was, and is: bring your whole self to every game. Divided attention is the deadliest PES handicap.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
“Divided attention is the deadliest PES handicap.” So true!
Congratulations on the promotion! Looking forward to hearing how you fare with the big sides and bright lights of D1!
One question, what is the button combo that you used to loft that nice soft ball over the top for Shimzu on that goal? Whenever I try it on PES6, my goons punch the ball forty yards downfield regardless of the fact they are twenty yards from goal.
Thanks ck, and the pass was made using the good old-fashioned L1+Triangle lobbed through-ball.
In PES2008 more than any other instalment, the player making the pass determines its effectiveness. I think it was either Shaw or Donadel who played the pass.
It was only a tap on Triangle, by the way. I struggle to weight a longer press too! Again, it all depends on the skills of the player who’s passing and the player who’s receiving. Aerial through-balls down the wing from the SB position to the AMFs/CFs, for example, are pretty tough in PES2008. They were my universal get-out-of-jail card in former games but now the CPU just gets to them first almost every time.
“but now the CPU just gets to them first almost every tim”
Do you think it’s becuase the passing accuracy stat of the SBs matters more in this edition?
I got my PES2008 today, and as I feared, it doesn’t play as it’s Euro region. A few judicious google searches convinced me that there is a product called GameShark that will let me play the game on my USA PS2, so tomorrow is the Moment of Truth.
Duh duh duuuuuh!
Your blog is so inspiring, I might start chronicling my play on http://www.cklarock.com/blog/!
“Do you think it’s becuase the passing accuracy stat of the SBs matters more in this edition?”
I never thought about this, although sometimes it does depend on formation in my opinion
With my first season pretty much replicating gregdown’s I played with formation alot. When playing a straightforward 4-4-2 formation with wingers not very advanced on the field I’d say 70% of my through balls down the wing were sucessful (by that I mean reach the man). Same goes for 4-5-1 also.
Where as when I switched to a 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 because of either the position of my defenders or my midfielders (which were still out wide but not quite as distinctly), that sucess dropped massively and was being forced to play everything through the middle ir the dreaded long ball.
My two pence.
“When playing a straightforward 4-4-2 formation with wingers not very advanced on the field I’d say 70% of my through balls down the wing were sucessful” -
Paul, I found exactly the same thing when I switched to a 4-4-2 for a few games in the middle of the season just gone. My two wide midfielders were rampant down both wings. I was able to feed them with through-balls (aerial or ground) far, far more often than with my beloved (but flawed) 4-3-3.
The drawback was that I found I couldn’t play with just two strikers. Yes, I reverted back to 4-3-3 before giving the 4-4-2 a proper chance. I would have learned how to play with two strikers eventually I’m sure. If I hit a bad run in Div 1 I might try the 4-4-2 – or even a 3-5-2 – again.
I struggle with just 2 strikers myself with only a few games where I really make break-throughs and I’m able to get in to a rythem of attack.
Last time round I played 3-4-3 for 10 seasons and it was by far my favour formation but with defaults its just not possible. So I know how you feel, with only playing 2 up top. I’m sure its half the reason why I’m struggling to win games, I just can’t dominate the box.