Mid-season negotiations 2012
I tried again for Mathieu. And I succeeded! Well, kind of. Look down there – that’s Mathieu, that is. Wearing the Sky Blue shirt of Coventry City.
What a shame it’s not in PES2008.
It’s in FIFA08, where I placed a bid for him just out of curiosity to see what he would be like in that game.
I’ve been extremely naughty over the past few days: I’ve played more FIFA than PES. It’s unheard-of. Every year used to be the same: I ignored FIFA – or I got it as a stopgap until PES came out, and then I ignored FIFA. The world is turned on its head this year.
I know that I’m not the only PES fanatic feeling like this. “Huh, you’re no true PES fan,” an objector might say. Hey, don’t grumble about it to me. Go tell it to the Seabass. If PES2008 was up to the standards of the past, I’d be using the FIFA08 disc as a beermat.
The player known in FIFA08 as Jeremy Mathieu is pretty good, for what it’s worth. I’ve had him for half a season. He’s got 4 goals from the DMF slot, which is more than respectable by FIFA08 standards. He’s picked up several Man of the Match awards. FIFA08 week is coming to this blog, oh yes. There is so much to talk about.
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Back at PES2008, I tried for and again didn’t get Mathieu and Richards.
Now that I am an ‘A’-ranked team, flying high in all competitions, I know that it’s a wages thing. They won’t come to me because I won’t offer them 2000 to 3000 points in wages. That’s okay, though. I’ll win the Treble without them. They’re nothing special. Who needs them, when I’ve got Guimaraes, Bradley, Kaiser, Beerens, Schwarz, Shimizu, Shaw, Felipe, Mattsson, and Maldini?
Who was that last one? Maldini?!
Yes, finally I have laid my hands on the elusive 20-year-old regen. He’s just been sitting in Man Utd’s reserves for the past couple of seasons. I traded Bramble+7000 points for him.
In PES5 and PES6 I picked up Maldini as a youngster and played him solely as a CB. He was at the heart of my team in every sense – as captain, as defence strongman, as a stand-in SB (left or right) when needed, and on odd occasions as a glorious long-range goal-scorer. In PES5 I played so many seasons that I got him aged 17, saw him retire aged 39, then got him again as a regen. He was approaching retirement again when I had to stop (because PES6 was about to come out).
Is Maldini the best defender I have ever played with in PES? Definitely.
Only when he’s developed, of course. Right now, he’s extremely under-developed. Only a couple of his stats are even in the 80s. It’s a shame I won’t get to see him mature into an all-round Master League great this time around. I’ve made a decision regarding the future of this Master League (see below) which means I’ll have him for the second half of this season and no more.
I also got one other player in the mid-season: Burdner, a 24-year-old forward whom I recall signing a couple of times in other PESes over the past few years. He’s a bit like Shaw: a left-sided player with pace, who can play anywhere from the halfway line to the opposition goal line. I’ve got him as cover for my other strikers ahead of the huge numbers of huge games to come.
I traded in Cafu for Burdner. A shame, as I got Cafu aged 17 and had high hopes for him.
He’s one of those players, is Cafu: a name to be reckoned with. Alas, in PES2008 his development curve shows that he would continue to be fairly rubbish until his mid-to-late 20s. I just haven’t got that long.
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Which leads me nicely to The Big Decision.
I’ve decided to abandon this Master League career at the end of this season – whatever happens. I still want to win the Treble. I would regard it as a failure not to win the Treble. But I’m not going to cut off my nose to spite my face by playing another season if I don’t win the Treble.
I want to restart in a Superleague made up of all the top clubs in the game. I want to play with Master League difficulty set to Very Hard. I also want to operate my own House Rules, adding another layer of self-imposed difficulty. I want to win a Treble in that Superleague, one that won’t be devalued by the absence of the Italian clubs.
There’s half a season left here. I’m still in all competitions. Before the mid-seasons came, I reached the top of the table after Man Yoo slipped up again. I’m two points clear at the top with a massively superior goal difference. Going on my performance so far, winning the League should – should - be a formality. I’m confident enough to say it even at this stage. The Cups will be more difficult. In the ECC, I spy Real Madrid and Barcelona waiting for me up ahead.
I still badly want that Treble this time around. On with the show.
i made a super league this year but i didnt find it as fun as playing with english teams
make sure u dont delete or overwrite this coventry save u might wanna come back to it later on
u must have played pes5 a long time!
good decision, i guess another season of it will be mundane.
The superleague is harder, but not in europe… It cant be, the best teams are all in the same league, meaning the teams in the champions league are a mix of the good league, and the shitty leagues that are there just to make up the numbers lol.
Its fun picking which teams will play in which league, have fun.
Dont mess up your first negotiations eh, bring in lots of faces on the cheap
bob – Don’t worry, this ML career save will be safe and sound on a USB stick and on my PS3 hard drive while I head off for new pastures. I’ll also post the save file on this blog at the end of the season in case anyone wants to take a look at my players or my record, or just fancies playing on with my team.
david – I think the Superleague can be almost as hard in Europe. Four teams from each Div1 qualify for the ECC, so it doesn’t completely eliminate the big boys from the competition.
The real test, of course, is in the domestic league title. And getting promoted in the first place, of course. I’ve got an extra special something planned for my Superleague: I’m going to start with half (or all?) of the REALLY Big Teams in Div 2 with me! It’ll make getting promoted a nightmare.
Not forgetting my House Rules. These can be as strict or loose as I like – I’m going to go with strict. I could formally restrict myself to only playing a Second XI in Europe, for example. Unlike the last time, under a House Rules arrangement I’d have to stick to it.
the problem with that, is that once youre promoted, you know it’ll be a diddle to get to the top. once you can top Div2 youll be capable of topping Div1, no?
House rules may not be completely necessary if youre up against barcelona one day, then real madrid, then man u, then chelsea, then arsenal, then liverpool, then lyon, then bayern, then PSV, you get me? throw in the stamina issue, and the fact that if you want a treble youre gonna need to play 12games in 6weeks at one point (did i mention the stamina?).. it could be difficult enough
After your praise of FIFA08 downloaded them demo the other day for my PS3, must say does look alot better. But in all honesty I couldn’t get in to it properly just didn’t ‘feel’ right after played PES for so long.
As for house rules restricting to nationality is quite a good one. I’ve done it with english players before (no pouching signed players nor current internationals). That was hard. Might try doing one with only restricting to 3 countries (one from each continent)
Wish you luck in your challenge though.
The European issue has been the big thing holding me back from ever playing a Superleague in the past. The league will be as tough as anything but one you break into Europe you will probably only end up with about 4 sides that are likely to challenge you.
Chances are you would end up with the likes of Spurs, Everton, Lazio etc. who although are good teams are not likely to challenge you given you will be used to playing again the Real Madrid’s and Man United’s of this world
David – that’s a very good point about the drawback of stocking Div2 with loads of Big Clubs. I think it would spoil Div1 for me when I eventually got there. That idea has to be thrown out.
When I start the Superleague I’ll post my club selections here before I start it properly and see what you all think.
Paul – glad you got to try out the PS3 demo. The full game is a little different from the demo, but it’s enough the same for you to have got a good idea of what they’ve tried to do with FIFA this year. I’ll say more about the whole PES/FIFA issue on the blog in due course.
On the topic of House Rules, I could go any way at any time with them. I won’t restrict on nationality, at least to begin with. I also don’t want to get into the situation of chopping and changing them all the time. At the moment I’ll probably go with not allowing myself any players I’ve had before (apart from some players who I’ve only had for one season or less – like Maldini and Beerens, who I’d want to see more of); and I’d limit my squad size to 25 or so players. I might have an under-21 rule as well. I wouldn’t be allowed to buy anyone over 21, but could have them in my squad for all of their careers as they aged. As PES2008 is so pace-oriented, I *might* also ban myself from buying any players with speed/acceleration stats over 80.
We’re looking at probably next Monday now when all this gets going. My current season will be over by Friday at the latest. Then I think instead of a FIFA week I’ll do a FIFA weekend.
stinger – It’s a burning issue for me as well. On the one hand I love the idea of the Superleague. On the other hand I don’t want the European side of the Treble to be devalued. I might compromise and put together a Superleague missing a couple of the big clubs.
Of course, I could always play with the Editor for a few hours and make *every* club a Big Club…. That’d probably be overkill though
Like I said, I’ll definitely post a list of clubs here before starting the Superleague, to see what people think of it.