PES Chronicles

I have played my long-anticipated first game in Division 1.

Arsenal 1-0 Coventry City

Hmm. This isn’t how things were supposed to be. I was supposed to streak to the top of the table, laying waste to all who crossed my path. Schwarz was supposed to be a one-man team. Donadel would stop everything that came within 40 yards of him. Kim U Don would safely catch every single shot on goal – including the CPU’s magic free kicks.

It was looking that way for most of the first match against Arsenal. I started superbly, having 62% of possession and 9 shots on goal in the first half . Arsenal didn’t have a single shot.

As the second half started I thought I’d cruise to a win easily. For most of that second half, that’s the way it was looking. By the 80th minute, though, I still hadn’t scored. The CPU suddenly upped its game, but I held them off, and held them off – and then in the 90th minute I conceded a free kick a few yards in front of my penalty area…

If you’ve played PES2008, you know what happened next. About 80% of CPU free kicks in the ‘Hot Zone’ will result in CPU goals, and this is a conservative estimate by some accounts. See my sophisticated and scientific diagram:

The Arsenal player took his run up to the free kick… and the ball sailed into my net, as I knew it would. I’d even dragged a defender to that side of the goal and stood him on the line. But when you put a defender on the line, they never jump. You can press the button all you like but it just won’t happen. Even if they did jump, the ball is so exactly placed in the postage-stamp corner of the goal that he wouldn’t stop it anyway.

Even if the CPU doesn’t score directly from its Hot Zone free kicks, the ball very often hits the bar or post, and they’ll score from the rebound while your unresponsive defenders stand and watch.

Grrrrr.

Despite the loss I am in a reasonably healthy 14th spot. Losing by only 1-0 has its advantages.

Below is a screenshot of one of my player’s current stats.

The player is Schwarz. On the left are his stats back when he joined my club two and a half seasons ago. On the right are his stats now. He has a good many years of continuous development ahead of him yet. It’s almost frightening. All of the youngsters I got in the first and second seasons are starting to come good in a similar way.

So I don’t think I really need to get some great new players during the off-season – but it would be nice.

PES2008’s players’ stamina gauges are frailer than eggshells. They cannot play two full games in succession. Well… they can, but then you lose them for two or more games while their stamina builds up again. You really need at least three players to cover for every position. No wonder the starting squad was so huge this year.

Things got off to a good start in Week 1 of negotiations. An offer came in for Van den Berg. That was a very welcome 2400 points, right there. This boosted my overall points to 26000. My wages at the end of the season would only be 14500 or so. I had lots of points to play with.

Here’s who I got, and why:

KIM U DON (GK, age 17)
Due to those stamina issues, I really need a third goalkeeper in the squad. This Korean youngster is 3 years younger than Friedel but already has better stats than him in every department but one (stamina of course). In addition he shares two key special skills with Friedel: 1-on-1 saves, and Penalty saves. Rather than just lazily looking at the Show All Players and the Openness to Negotiation lists, it’s always worth doing Advanced Searches for players with the exact attributes you want. I searched for a keeper aged 17-26 with the two special skills and a minimum Keeper Skills rating of 80. There were about 30 players who matched the criteria (including my own Friedel). Kim U Don was among them. Yes, a more experienced head would have been preferable, but Friedel at 20, and Ivarov at… whatever age he is, have got the experienced angles covered.

FELIPE (CB, 25)
Not much to say about this one. I traded Valeny for him, paying a couple of thousand points on top. Good stats, good height, good heading ability.

REYES (SS, Age 26)
One of Europe’s brightest real-life stars was sitting on the Unbelonging list, just waiting for a club to come in for him. His abilities actually look a little poor right now, but his development chart shows he still has a ways to go yet. He is primarily an SS, but has alternate positions of AMF and CF. Always handy, that.

CHIESA (SS, 17)
Another worthy name from real life popped up in the Youth list as a regenerated player. I snapped him up in the last negotiation week.

VAN STEENSEL (SB, 26)
I wanted a left-sided SB to replace Ruskin, wonder goals notwithstanding. In the last negotiation week I Advance Searched and found this player. His stamina is pretty poor but in all other respects he’s better than Ruskin. I traded Ruskin for him, paying only 500 points on top.

And that was all – just the four players. I hunted high and low for a great DMF with the precious Middle Shooting ability (or Shooting from Distance as it has been renamed in PES2008).

Mathieu’s club still won’t let me make a bid for him. He’s 27 now. If I don’t get him before he’s 31 or so, it won’t be worth getting him at all – I’d wait for him to retire and then reappear as a Regen. But I’ll be trying for a few more negotiation periods yet.

I did find a DMF (with Middle Shooting) called Muntari. I tried to trade Mao Molina plus 7000-odd points for him, but negotiations broke down in the final week, and Muntari went off to Valencia in the end. I left it alone for now. I still have Donadel, who is still playing just great. And Duffy is starting to mature too.

So, on the verge of game 1 in Division 1 – against Arsenal, no less – here’s my full current squad:

From which I have chosen this First XI:

I’d prefer to stick with Friedel in goal, but I want to give Kim U Don a little run to settle him in. And technically he is the better keeper anyway.

I’m going to start with Chiesa on the right up front as often as I can. One thing I have learned about young players is that they’re ultimately worth it.