Friendlies and First Elevenses…
After the exhilaration of avoiding relegation in 2010, I had gone ahead and set up my 2011 pre-season friendlies before realising that it might be better to play, you know, someone rubbish in order to bump my ranking up a bit. I’d chosen to play the North American Stars in the fourth week of negotiations, and the South American Stars in the seventh week. Gulp.
As things turned out my ranking went from ‘D’ to ‘C’ anyway - I think I received a bonus after the end of the previous season. But still. It would have been nice to play a few teams who I wouldn’t have to struggle to beat (in theory).
I waited until the end of the pre-season period before settling on the new First XI. Hopefully I’d be able to test out all the new signings at some point during the two friendlies.
Not Andy Cole, though. He had a grey form arrow for both games. I never try to adjust grey arrows using the Regulate Condition feature – as noted by Ziggy Bashmore, you’re only ever going to move a player’s form arrow up by one level. There’s no point turning a grey arrow into a blue arrow.
A brief word about Andy Cole before we move on – just look at those stats! Most are only just above-average for a 20-year-old striker. But look at Body Balance and Response. His development curve shows he has a ways to go yet…
The other new signings were all fit and in form. In the first friendly against a selection of North American stars, I managed to play nearly all of them.
I put Delgado on the right of midfield, O’Shea in the centre of defence, Braafheid on the left, and Lekstrom went in goal. I kept Marcos on the bench, planning to bring him on for the second half. Too many new signings in a team makes for a lot of misplaced passes and general confusion – PES has always represented teamwork most excellently, in my opinion. Depending on their teamwork stat, your new players have to play for several games – with each other, as well as with your existing players – before they settle down.
I kicked off, passed the ball wide to Shaw, went on a little run, and scored:
A great start, and it seemed it was only going to get better. I knocked the ball around at the back like a pro, linking up with midfield, finding the strikers. I hit the bar twice in the same attack. I had several shots that flew just wide. O’Shea and Braafheid at the back were excellent. I noticed how useful Braafheid was down the wings. He seemed to have that extra yard of pace missing from Klavan and Van Steensel.
At half time I brought on Marcos for Shaw. Midway through the half, Felipe received the ball in his CB position, and I knocked the ball sideways to O’Shea – but for some reason O’Shea ‘tickled’ the ball rather than trapping it… A CPU player nipped in, took the loose ball, and scored past Lekstrom (who was excellent throughout the game, and blameless here).
This incident doesn’t mean that O’Shea is a poor player. I think it was the game representing a misunderstanding between new team-mates. O’Shea won’t be a First XI choice for me, but I saw enough of him in the pre-season games to know he’ll be a good CB to have up my sleeve when necessary.
The game ended 1-1 – a fair result in some ways, but in so many other ways an unfair result. I had 16 or so shots to the CPU’s 2 shots. I had 61% of possession. But hey, that’s PES for you. Frequently, results are not fair reflections of matches. There’s nothing unique to this year’s instalment on that front. We just accept it (grumpily, but we accept it) and move on.
The next pre-season friendly against the South American stars was absolutely torrid for me. I was hammered 2-0. I call it a hammering because once again the result did not reflect the match. The South American Stars had about 55% of possession, 11 shots to my 5 shots – and, well, they ran the proverbial rings around me at times. Ronaldo and Adriano were colossal up front for them. I was lucky to keep the score down low. Lekstrom pulled off some amazing saves. O’Shea, playing again, was strong. Marcos played the whole game and was anonymous. That was only minus-point – other than the match itself, of course.
Right on the cusp of starting season 2011 proper, I had to put together my First XI. This selection isn’t necessarily the team I would put out in every game. From match to match, the usual fitness and form considerations will always supersede the First XI. But it is a template, a statement of intent if you will.
In many ways the toughest decision was who to play as my regular goalkeeper. Friedel has been a loyal servant to the club, but both his youth and the last few seasons’ goals-against tallies count against him. The development chart shows that Friedel’s peak is still several seasons ahead of him. Deputising for Lekstrom at this stage won’t do him any harm at all. As for Kim U Don’t… I still have not forgiven him for that goal.
Guimaraes goes from strength to strength as an all-round right-back. I’m starting to find that I can sprint past anyone with him down the wing. He’s become a tough SB to get past as well. Mattsson and Felipe in the centre are a formidable duo. Mattsson – one of my first-season signings – has blossomed into a true presence as a CB.
I’m planning to lock up the midfield with Marcos, Muntari, and Delgado. Djiba will play when Delgado can’t. When Marcos is out, then I’ll play Shaw. Gone are the days of routinely playing two light-as-air show ponies in those AMF slots.
Also gone are the days of routinely playing youngsters up front. I was strongly tempted to go with Andy Cole as a right-sided CF, but after playing most of last season with Chiesa, another youngster, in that position, I’ve learned my lesson. In the end I gave the place to Shimizu. His pace and dribbling should get him plenty of goals (and assists) in the games to come.
And so we start all over again.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
Good lineup you got there, Greg. I’ve had Felipe, Guimarães, Mattson and Shimizu before, and all have been ace except for the puny little guy.
Not that you care, but here’s my current starting XI: Friedriksson, Luisão, Sidnei, Doesburg, Cem, Denilson, Bradley, Anderson, Kleber, Diogo Rincon, Kim Cyoun Hi. Playing 4-3-3 as well.
Mirandina – (why wouldn’t I care, btw?!) – Denilson is a player I have tried to get for two/three seasons now. He looks fantastic, but of course my pesky Team Ranking has always been in the way.
Shimizu is great sometimes, but often disappoints. In PES5 I got him late in my 40-season ML career (he’d regenned a few times by then), but he was only ever a supersub kind of player. In PES6 I couldn’t get him at all – he just wouldn;t come to me, even after I’d won the Treble. Here in PES2008 I was so excited to get him in my first season that I’ve overestimated his actual worth. He’s actually better as a CF for me than an AMF.
As for Mattsson – wow! Can’t remember ever signing a young defender before who turned out so good. Ditto Guimaraes. Felipe was already pretty old when I got him, so I don’t have the same sense of satisfaction.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, the best Konami player I’ve played so far was Yamada. I’m reminded of him when you mention Shimizu probably because he’s Japanese too, and a small guy, but his body balance was over 90 in his peak. Amazing, agile, fast, with a deadly finish and very precise passing. I’d love to get that guy again.
Another AMF who was ace for me in PES6 was Anderson. I’ve got him again now, but he takes quite a few seasons to mature.
As for Bradley, who we both have, you should give him more time on the field. He develops very fast. If you play him consistently, you’ll see what I mean. His great body balance and shooting abilities will payback in no time. Trust me. Much better than Muntari, and as good as or better than Denilson (who lacks the middle shooting star).
Will it make you jealous if I tell you I just passed my first mid-season negotiations in my first season in Div1 buying Micah Richards and Benzema?
mwuahaha
Mirandinha – Yamada was a squad player for me in PES5 and PES6 but never quite managed to become as irresistible in my game as you found him in yours. It all depends when you get them doesn’t it? In both cases I got Yamada when he was already in his late 20s. I’ll be having a look for him next negotiations, though. Thanks for the heads-up.
On the subject of Best Player I’ve Had In Any PES Ever… Dennis Bergkamp in PES5. No question. I had him in my ML team back then *twice* – first when he regenned in about 2009, and then again in 2043 or so.
David – what’s your team ranking? I nearly got Richards in the negotiations just gone, and would have got him if I’d had one more week. I’ll get him next time.
I have an ‘A’ Ranking, but it will soon go up. Your ranking goes up very rapidly when you stop losing.
Im having a bad spell and lost twice in 4 games
anyway, back i go to change that!
There’s nothing like playing your starting XI consistently for two or three seasons. They start playing sort of by telepathy, and you hardly ever miss any passes, not to mention that your players are where you need them to be when you’re building up your attack. In PES6 I had an ML team that was probably my best ever, I played it until season 2017, and it was unbeatable at its peak. I won the treble consecutively for three seasons. The lineup was: Pagliuca GK, Alex CB, Luisão CB, Guimarães RB, Mathieu LB, Denilson DMF, Maxwell CMF, Park Chu Young AMF, Wallner LWF, Rafael Sobis RWF, Fernando Torres CF.
Dear God in Heaven above, I remember a friend and I underwent a co-operative Master League with Osasuna, and watched in horror as inept custodian Pone Joels fumbled a corner into the net, costing us a D2 Cup Final 1-0. We sold him shortly afterwards.
Mirandinha – you’re right again, the mass appeal of keeping the default squad is the immense teamwork rating they eventually build, and it seems even the slowest carthorses like Stein can run into goalscoring positions through Arsenal-like passing.