Coming Clean Comments Off
It’s time to come clean about a schoolboy error I made way, way back in the day when I first set up this Master League.
When I set it up, I replaced all of the clubs in League B Division 1 with all of the English Premier clubs. What I failed to notice at the time was that League B Division 1 was the game’s version of Serie A. Thus, at a stroke, I eliminated AC Milan, Inter Milan, Roma, Lazio, Juventus… All of them. There are no Italian clubs in my Master League, and no Italian opposition in Europe. Oops.
Keen-eyed readers may have already noticed the error. I only noticed it for the first time last season (2011), when I prepared for my EFA Cup tie against Espanyol by curiously checking the other fixtures to see who else was in the competition.
I noticed that there were no Italian teams.
What does this mean? It means that my current Master League is devalued. The longed-for Treble will be devalued, if I get it. Devalued by how much? By quite a lot, actually. A European competition without Italian clubs is like an Olympics without the Americans, or a World Cup without the Brazilians. It’s easier than it otherwise would have been. So I won’t be able to regard PES2008 as having been ‘completed’ even if I win the Treble at a canter this season.
The Italian clubs’ players are scattered among all the other teams across all four Leagues. Kaka is at Spurs, for example. It’s just not right.
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Never mind. You can only play the opposition put in front of you, as they say. There’s still plenty of quality opposition in Europe, and indeed in the domestic League and Cup.
The bad news first: I had another careless match when it came to the first leg of the D1 Cup quarter-final against Galatasaray. I lost 2-1 at their place. I got a precious away goal after being 2-0 down for most of the game, but it’ll still be a nervy return leg.
My ECC group opponents are Athletico Madrid, Le Mans, and Manchester United. In the first batch of group games, I beat Le Mans 3-0, and drew 0-0 with Man Utd. (I think that was my first 0-0 game all season. I was in shock.) Against Athletico I was 3-0 up by half-time, then allowed them back into the game in the second half, but held on for the 3-2 win.
In the League, I’m still banging in goals for fun. I beat Basel 3-0. Then I was 3-0 up against Liverpool by half-time (again), but I let my guard slip and they scored two goals against me in the second half (again). I held on for the 3-2 win (AGAIN…)
I’m about one third of the way through the League season and I’ve scored 46 goals. I’m well on course for that 100+ goals tally that I half-jokingly said I’d get.
Man Yoo have still not lost in the League. Could the title be decided on our head-to-head fixture later in the season?
All of this relentless winning has pushed my Team Popularity rank to the brink of ‘A’. One more win or draw will do it.