Now we can concentrate on the cup
Ahhh… I found that missing screenshot of my league position. It shows the state of play going into the last three games. It was tucked away in a sub-sub-folder on my PC along with photos of my best friend’s wedding two years ago. Go figure, as they say.
I’m 3 points clear of the relegation zone with three games to play. My goal difference has come down to a workable level. (See Celtic on the bottom with just three wins all season? Guess who they got two of those wins against. Go on, guess.)
This morning I played the critical last few games of the Division 1 League season and the Division 1 Cup Final. It was a very interesting session of play. I’ll post about the League separately later today. For now I want to concentrate on the Cup.
Last night I overcame Manchester United in the semis after a 0-0 draw at my ground and a 1-0 win at theirs. The goal I scored was notable for a couple of reasons. Here it is:
That’s the first goal of its kind that I have ever scored in any PES game. Really. I meant it when I said that I’m not a dribbler. The people who are complaining about these kinds of goals being too easy in next-gen PES2008 might have a point.
I’m still not capable (or really willing) to play like that all the time, so hopefully it won’t become a universal get-out-of-jail card for me. But it is a worry. If I can do it, I can only imagine what players who routinely used to do this in previous PES games must be doing. No wonder so many have said they’ve traded in their copies of PES2008 for FIFA08, or gone back to PES5 or PES6. Hmmm.
So it was Liverpool in the Final. Before starting the game, there was one important thing I had to do. I had to change my First XI. When I started this blog I was naive and never dreamed that it would attract commenters, or that those comments and suggestions would influence my decisions in playing the game. But I also never dreamed I would struggle with PES2008 to the extent that I have.
A consensus seemed to emerge over the past several days. Shore up the defence. Pick midfielders with better strength and body balance. Concentrate more on defending – you don’t have to go charging in. And lots more along those lines. Thanks, all.
I moved the defence upfield a notch or two, and brought the AMFs back a similar distance. By playing the defence deep and the AMFs too far ahead of the DMF, I was inviting the almost constant pressure I came under in most games.
Suzuki had to go from the CB position. Thinking back now I have no idea why I continued to play him while Felipe was sitting on the bench. Pride? Almost certainly.
After careful deliberation I decided I could afford no more than one show pony in the AMF slots. It had to be Shaw on the left. Djiba – poor, neglected Djiba with his high stamina and body balance (high compared to Shimizu, anyway) – came in on the right.
And as for the DMF slot… well, it finally had to be done: Donadel is retired to the bench and Muntari takes his place. Forgive me, Donadel. Don’t look at me like that. Cheer up – look what happened to you:
Up front, Chiesa on the right is another player I’ve probably stuck with for too long due to misplaced pride. Schwarz was relatively blunted out on the left, which is a position more suited to a nippy striker who can do a passable impression of a winger when called for. Poor old Schwarz lumbering down the wing… Let’s not dwell on the past, eh.
So, with my all-new, all-improved First XI, how was I going to get on – in the Cup Final first of all? An instant heavy defeat – requiring more work on the drawing board – or instant success?
Gulp. I won the D1 Cup Final, hammering Liverpool 4-0!
Look at those stats! Liverpool’s world-class stars barely had a kick of the ball. I think Kewell might have had a glancing header at one point. (When I was distracted by a car horn in the street outside. Otherwise it would never have happened.)
My players were like a team at last – a team with a proper spine: Felipe, Muntari, Djiba, Schwarz…
None of my goals were ‘all that’ – each one was crafted, though, with passing and movement (pass and move is how I like to play – no, how I love to play – PES). A header and a snapshot and a scramble and a deft finish from the edge of the box – those kinds of goals. Reyes, Schwarz, Djiba(!), and Reyes again were the scorers. (Leading me to ask myself yet more soul-searching questions about why I’ve left Reyes on the bench most of the season.)
And not a single yellow card.
After the game I was very, very happy to see my Team Ranking progress bar shoot up almost to the end. I’m about this far >-< from going up to rank C. Another couple of wins will do it.
It’d be great to get those wins in the final league games of the season. The Cup is all well and good, and the performance was amazing, but I’ve had these kinds of moments in PES2008 before. I’ve always got up only to fall down again. Would that happen this time? Only one way to find out…
Woohoo! Congratulations! A C means C-level players, which could mean shipping off, oh, let’s say 15 less goals, which would mean a mid-table finish and (dare to dream) a challenge for a European spot!
. . . provided you escape relegation first!
you should consider playing a really poor team or two in the very first off-season weeks if you do not get ranked ‘C’ by the remaining league games so that you can get up to ‘C’ for the other negotiation weeks. How are your funds doing? if you need money, play against the world team for tonnes of cash (hopefully it wont knock you back down to ‘D’ being beat by them in the case of that happening lol – after you rank up, you cant really afford an immediate loss!)
Great results, Greg.
On the defending thing, again, there’s something else you can do to improve your backbone. You can field CBs in the place of your SBs, and keep their attacking arrows neutral. When I play with two DMFs, I bring my SBs up the field a bit, and give them attacking arrows, but with only one DMF, I like to get tall strong SBs that don’t attack much. That way you take the burden off your midfielders, and leave them further up the pitch waiting for the counterattack, especially when you’re playing 4-3-3 with wingers wide open. Another thing you can do is choose a DMF, a CMF and an AMF as your midfield three. You just place the DMF behind smack in the middle, the CMF a little to the side and further ahead with attacking arrows point ahead and back, and the AMF to the other side a little furtherer ahead. That way, you always have a sort of triangle with players everywhere on the pitch moving naturally into space. Your SB has either the DMF or the CMF or the AMF to play one-twos with, and the winger can do the same. If you’re not doing it so already, don’t forget to set your wingers’ arrows diagonally towards the goal, so they will always (hopefully) be there when you lob a ball in.
It’d be slightly spoilery for me to respond to some of the above points before I post about the last few games of the season…. So I’ll try to cover them in the post itself.
I will say about the arrows, though, that I took all the run arrows OFF way back in season 1, after I read somewhere (on PESfan I think) that they contribute to players getting tired during games. Now that I’m a few seasons on and I have better players it might be time to reinstate them. I’ve *always* played PES with the player runs on, so it was a departure for me to take them off. However I did notice (or I thought I noticed) that my players’ in-game stamina bars held up much better without them.
I’m not liking the idea to have four CBs! Although I’ll probably end up doing it….
I started playing with CBs in my SB slots with my most recent team (PES 6), and love it. Ultimately, what you’re looking for is low Attack and Aggression scores.
1st criteria for me are CBs who are also registered to the SB spot (naturally), then 2nd criteria are passing and technical skills.
What I found is that there are a wealth of CBs out there who are very skilled on the ball, but due to low Defense scores (i.e. 78 instead of 84) or standing under 180 cm tall wouldn’t get a look in on my sides.
With CBs playing SB, it lets me put together a roster where my back four are on aggregate extremely good in defense. There aren’t any weaknesses on-the-ball defensively, and there is less problem with SBs getting caught in the attacking third while I’m trying to defend in midfield!
Exactly, low attack and aggresion and CBs who also play as SBs, good points. I remember I was playing Zoro and Pepe as SBs recently in PES6. The problem with playing straight CBs on the side is that sometimes they tend to stray towards the center of the pitch, leaving your wings unguarded. You can now get them to target-train passing during off-season to get some deadly counterattacking going.;)
Ahhhh, the greatness that was Zoro in PES6! Every now and then I could run up the wing with him, cut inside and unleash a Hollywood-style 40-yarder that would scream into the net. When I finally abandoned my PES6 ML he was 36 or so and ready for the retirement home.
And: hmmm. I might have to try that four CBs thing. They don’t wander away? Really? Sounds good.
They do wander toward the center, but don’t wander as far forward in support of the attack. It strengthens you against the counter, and makes sure you have strong one-on-one defending from all four members of your back line.
greg have you got any idea of a good formation for liverpool?