I didn’t realise until now that this season is a season of European football for me. Winning the Division 1 Cup last year automatically qualified me for the European Masters Cup (the game’s UEFA Cup equivalent). Winning the Cup in every other PES has brought European football in its wake, but for some reason this year I completely forgot, or neglected to remember, which amounts to the same thing, really.
Checking out my upcoming European fixture, I see that I’ll be playing Espanyol away in the first leg of a knockout tie. After four-and-a-half seasons of playing the same clubs twice per year, playing a brand-new club with whom I have no prior history just feels weird. The match is a good few weeks away yet. I’m already worried about fixture congestion and how a stamina-challenged squad will cope in all the games. I’ll worry about it when I get there, though.
For now, there’s league games to get through. Europe will look after itself. Finishing as high as possible in the league is the #1 priority.
I thumped Anderlecht 4-1 at their ground. Marcos ruled in this game. He owned. He was 1337. He pwnd them. He – I’ll stop that now. Marcos played most excellently against Anderlecht, and bagged himself this goal:
Marcos is a 24-year-old left-footed CMF/SMF in PES2008. He seems to be a made-up Konami player. I’ve played him in my midfield as the left-sided AMF without any problems at all. He’s been one of the best all-round midfielders I have ever had the pleasure of playing with in any PES.
In the next match against Fenerbahce, he showed that he is more than just a rasping left foot. Fenerbahce had the effrontery to score first. I came back, scoring my equaliser quickly (always good for the nerves, that). Then in the second half I was pressing and pressing for another, but making no headway.
What I love about Marcos is that he’s an effective attacking force, but can also put himself about a bit. If I’m ever short of a DMF, I have no doubt he could play there and do well. On the edge of the Fenerbahce box, I lost the ball to a defender. Up stepped Marcos:
In PES2008, stamina and form is as big an issue for Marcos as for everyone else. However, unlike some players I could mention (Shaw, Shimizu, I’m looking at you two), Marcos can play two games in a row before there’s much of a dent in his stamina bar. Sometimes I can play him for three games in row – league, cup, league again – before having to rest him. My best buy from the Unbelonging list so far? Definitely. Player of the season? Possibly. There’s a ways to go yet.
Marcos simply performs - time and again, game in, game out. Looking at his stats, it’s difficult to see what marks him as so special. It’s psychological with some players, I think. I started well with Marcos, so now when I get him on or near the ball I always believe something special can happen, and I play accordingly – with confidence. It was no surprise to me when Spain came knocking on my door for him.
Marcos’ international call-up meant he was unavailable for the next game, which turned out to be an easy 2-0 league win against Newcastle – sweet revenge for their 1-0 victory back in the second game of the season. My other contender for player of the season, Schwarz, got both of the goals. I haven’t scored with many first-time shots in PES2008. I was happy with this one, as it put the game to rest late in the second half:
Arsenal are next in the Division 1 Cup quarter final. In our recent league match I just couldn’t cope with their skills and teamwork. If I’m going to hold onto that trophy it looks as if I’ll have to do it the hard way.
Filed under: D1 Cup, European Masters Cup, Marcos, Schwarz, goal replay
After your rave reviews of Marcos I went in search of him last negoiation period. After seeing his stats I wondered why, I didn’t sign him.
I don’t know how you play but I have Shaw (only had him a season) and can play him two games more than not! Not sure why your struggling with his stamina. I have him running up and down the left wing all game.
But like you with Marcos I have a play that I feel plays brilliantly. Leydon, 21 year old CMF
I know when hes not playing thats for sure. (Doesn’t setup alot of goals (3 assists in 3/4’s of a seaon 1 goal to his name). But dominates the middle of the park for me. Hes nothing special, don’t even remember where I picked up him from. Only got him because he was young (19) with lots of low 70’s. He’s never going to be a lampard or gerrard of the team but I never have scored alot of long distance shots with my AMF/CMF’s (My wingers do though?)
Don’t know if he’d fit your style of play or not but he’ll of leveled out in your ML by now. Possibly a back-up player (SB/SMF/CMF)?
Who knows!
Still I’m jealous now, almost finished my second season in D2 (6-8 games left) and I’m only 18th (drawn about 10 games that I’d of lost last season though!) Good luck with your euro journey I hope you suceed.
Did you ever check out the glitch on PES6 that let you see some of the Japanese players’ hidden stats when you selected them for international matches?
The stats you could see all related to goal keeping — things like “throwing accuracy”, “throwing strength”, etc.
But you know that there are other hidden stats. I think in part, this is why some players just play above their apparent level, and others play beneath it.
I saw that, Japanese players were always great in ML for being 350 regardless of class. :p
the glitch only lets you see a certain few characters hidden stats? i never heard of the glitch, sounds very interesting, but wish it could be used for all players.
ill have a look for marcos, but im seriously one for shown stats, not inner belief that a lower-stat character is somehow better. i just finished the negotiations at the end of my first Div1 season, and my squad is phenomenal. I wanted rooney (i offered schwarz plus 50,000 cash plus 4,500salary with 6percent chance of getting him, and still got rejected!!!) but settled for Fernando Tores (18,000+LuaLua(5th top scorer in the game if that boosts his worth)) – i picked up guimaraes cos of your word, plus kim u don who has great stats/stars for such a young guy, making that 4 gk’s for me lol, i also got 2 young defenders plus an experienced stalwart (all got the important stats in the high 80s at least) and fattened up my midfield with players that make Aissati a sub lol (mikel is one name i remember).
Also i played a couple more games in my new difficult ML…2-1 and 3-0 (loses lol, i have started searching for players that want to play for me, larsson this year is impossible to get with me choosing the leagues (how it should be) but ive found some decent premier league faces that are cheap – dickov, santa cruz etc).
changing the subject to a moan–The biggest flaw in PES2008 for me is the goalkeeping. Playing on my ML where i have a great squad, I chose to play 2 off season games – against the worlds best and the worlds strongest players – buffon in goal both times for them… In the first game I took a corner, and the ball was going straight to buffon…he put his hands out to catch it and it went through his hands (not in an impossible fashion, but in a butter-finger fashion) into his face, and bounced into the goal. This type of goal does NOT please me, this is set on the hardest proEvo setting, playing against the best team in the game (supposed), with the best keeper in the world making a boring fumble to give me a goal. Id accept that players make mistakes – if it didnt happen EVERY DAMN GAME. Just to further things, in the second game with buffon in goal again – he did the same thing!!!!… I took a corner, it went to him, but he pushed it in?! One of the goals I let in with my weak ml team was a long shot (not powerful) that went straight at my keeper – he pushed it, yet it still went in the net.
seriously, the keepers are AWFUL. Konami tried to make them realistic but it has seriously been relaxed to the degree of conference football. Buffon is as skilled in PES as a Sheffield Wednesday Youth GK reject.
p.s. I think ive found a way to make a bit of ML cash…
at the beginning of the negotiations, offer contracts to players that arent attached to clubs (donadel, mitea, youths), then once you have them, make them available to other clubs. Anything they offer goes in your pocket!.. I bought Donadel in Week 3 of negotiations and then used him as a makeweight to buy a guy i actually wanted. As donadel had a P worth of 750 or so, I only needed to offer another 1000 PES cash for a very good player. hurrah
Marcos is a strange one. I got him when he was 23 in the game, at the end of season 2010. His stats then were decidedly average and I got him mainly as a squad-filler.
I don’t believe in the worth of hidden stats either, but like i said in the post, it’s psychological with some players. I feel confident with Marcos on the ball in a way I still don’t with Shaw (those terrible first seasons with Shaw in the First XI may be influencing me here).
My opinion on the hidden stats thing – I think it’s as much a case of the human player playing above himself as it is the player in the game playing above himself due to hidden stats. Although I have to say Marcos moves and turns and shoots and tackles like a player much, much better stat-wise – so who knows?
david – that’s an exploit! But that’s not what bothers me – ***you bought and sold Donadel?!?!***
yeah, an exploit for those who are cash strapped or stingy (i have the cash but dont want to give it up lol)
Donadel had to be sold I’m afraid, his stats were just not up to scratch, and he doesnt become a great player either, hes at his prime.
Granted Donadel is an average player at best (he doesn’t play for me any more unless I’m seriously stuck) but I found him a Godsend at the time with the Default squad. Next to them he was like Maradona.
Ever play LMA Manager? Not bad for a console management game, and you were prevented from getting young players on a free and then immediately selling them. I think this is one for Konami to put into PES2009 (or PES2010 – from the sounds of things, PES2009 is already set in stone).
seriously pes09 is already done? wow
LMA Manager = like the old Champ Man series? That was a fantastic series, but could completely take over your life, homework/kids whatever would be put to one side every single day lol
From what I’ve gathered, yes, the features that will be in PES2009 are already set. Seabass has been talking about PES2010 as the one where he’ll implement the ‘re-vision’ thing. I’ll be posting an article in the next day or two about PES2009 – a traditional blog-style Top 10 List of most-wanted/needed things. It won’t do anything – not only is PES2009 probably already past the drawing board stage, but out of the couple of hundred hits this blog gets per day I doubt any of them are from Konami (especially not after my post a few days ago!). But I’ve been looking for suggestions that you almost never see made – the little niggles in the game that they could and should fix. Like not being able to transfer list a player in ML and use him in trade negotiations at the same time – that kind of thing.
yeah that sucks, I hate having to non-list a player to then use him in my negotiations.
There are tonnes of things that need changing, many are just logic (like the one you have mentioned). The GK thing i mentioned is my biggest problem with the game. Once you have an angle to shoot (not even having to take on the opposition), its a goal. The GK rarely makes a good save. Honestly, scoring is too easy.
One of the problems i had with the goalkeeping is with a long shot (lets just say 20 yards out) u kick the ball at one of the corners and the keeper really doesnt move until he dives, if u understand what i mean, he doesnt run and then dive, he jst dives, and if that dive isnt far enuff he wont save it, but he could run across one yard and then dive and save it.
i had already bought marcos in my ML and i think he is a real player. altho this is hardly a fullproof way of telling it as its not always correct, but i find that if the commentator says a players name when they recieve the ball then chances are they are real. there are exceptions in my case (such as Giovanni Dos Santos, Bojan Krkic and Alexandre Pato, all of whoms names are not sed, but this must be because they are all very young players or sumfing.
I dnt think its about players having hidden stats, i often find a player can hav a bad season and a good season. I bought marcos a couple of seasons ago and he wood be my second choice player, and he played average, not bad, but not good. but last season he played exceptionally well, scoring and his crosses always found sum1, but this season it is back 2 him playing average, he’ll still score occasionally and knock in a good cross but not so well as he used to.
I find lots of players can be quite inconsistent like this while some play solidly every match, such as issiar dia, aissati and akinfeev.
[...] speed, but his other stats are all on the high side. Maybe he’ll be one of those players like Marcos from my last career who just comes from nowhere and turns out to be great and you have no idea [...]