Singers when you’re winning
One agreeable side-effect of giving your ML team a stupid name: the opportunity for lots of cheesy puns. Expect that to be the first of many.
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When choosing a formation for Singers FC, have I learned the lessons of my previous Master League career?
All those weeks ago, I started with a 4-3-3 for the Default squad and got my arse royally kicked for a couple of seasons. Ziggy Bashmore’s ML guide recommends playing a 4-4-2 or even a 4-5-1 with the Defaults, as the players just can’t cope with anything more attacking that leaves them exposed in midfield.
Have I learned my lesson? Have I hell.
It’s a 4-3-3 all the way, and I’ll take the consequences. I cannot play with any other formation on PES. I am sticking with my strategy button alt formations, though, so I’ll always have the emergency 5-4-1 to fall back on. I think I’ll be falling back on it a lot.
Here’s the formation and First XI that I’m going with this time around - for what it’s worth…
I’m playing this ML on Very Hard difficulty. The players’ stamina is even worse from game to game than it was last time – and it was shockingly bad last time. Thus the team selection in this First XI is ridiculously provisional. Indeed, there’s little point in having a First XI when the team selection is not all about “who do I want to play?” but “who can I play?”
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Here’s how my first five games went:
Singers FC 0-0 Real Zaragoza
A game that I could and should have won. I created good chances and had 65% of possession. I found the Default players to be a lot better than the first time around. They’re still rubbish, but my added experience with PES2008 now enables me to make the most of what ability they do have.
Torino 1-0 Singers FC
Ouch. Another game where I dominated possession but conceded a soft goal and never got a look-in afterwards. Again, the Default players handled pretty well. I was worried that I’d try to play with them as if they were Schwarz et al, but for the moment I’m being very patient and disciplined.We’ll see how long that lasts.
Singers FC 3-1 Spartak Moscow
A great game, where I went 0-1 down but stormed back in the second half, scoring three without reply. Here’s my first two goals scored with Singers FC in this Master League:
Hardly classics. In fact, typical bread and butter goals – and typical PES2008 goals, also, with the Spartak keeper at glaring fault on both occasions. Hmmm. Where’s my copy of PES5 again? Oh, okay. There it is, safe and sound.
Singers FC 1-1 Espanyol
A hard game with an exhausted team against one of the league’s early pace-setters. I was happy with the draw.
Singers FC 0-2 Celtic
It had to happen. Celtic thrashed me at home. I say thrashed because a thrashing is what it was. It could have ended 0-5, easily. This was despite me again having the lion’s share of possession: 63%.
All of which leaves me in a respectable 15th position. I say respectable only because I was fully expecting to be rock bottom about now. If I can hold my discipline and grind out results, and if I’m in or around the mid-table area when mid-season negotiations arrive, and if I can pick up a couple of good players – then, who knows, a promotion challenge in my first season might be on the cards.
Plenty of other PES gamers have claimed they got promoted in their first ML seasons on Top Player with the Default squad, but I always assumed they were lying. We’ll see.
Similar posts:
- But, Konami, what about the bleedin’ kit selection…?
- My 4-3-3
- Booty and the beast
- Master League: Game On
- Back in black