Hooping the hoop Comments Off
I met Blackburn in the league and lost 2-1. I was 2-0 down at one point and battled back well to come within one goal, but it wasn’t going to happen. It was a frustrating game in which I had Valeny sent off.
My red cards are becoming a problem. 19 dismissals in 25 games is a poor, poor record. In real life my club would have been up before the FA. I have to calm down…
After spending a week or two just playing next-gen FIFA08, I’ve more or less completely readjusted to PES2008 in all respects but this one. In FIFA08 I got into the habit of deliberately fouling CPU players to break up attacks, taking the inevitable (and realistic) yellow card, and just getting on with it.
In PES2008, tackles that should be punished with yellow cards – or even just by the award of a free kick and nothing else – are frequently punished by red cards. I’m slowly learning (again) to restrain my instincts, but until I get completely back on board it’s costing me.
One bright spot in the Blackburn game: a nice goal from Altintop. He’s come on strong recently and is starting to dominate the forward line in much the same way that Schwarz used to back in my first ML career. He’s currently third in the top scorer’s table with 14 goals (Elcherino is way out in front on 44 goals).
Turkey called up Altintop immediately after this game, so I was without him for the next, against Celtic.
I find that Celtic in PES2008 are either very easy to beat or ridiculously hard. They’re one of those teams that occupies no middle ground. I included them in this Superleague for a couple of reasons. Mainly because I love their kit. There’s something about a hooped football shirt that is evocative of the game itself. When I was about 5 years old I supported QPR solely because of their hooped shirts. This instinctive affection for the design has never worn off.
The game itself against Celtic was a minor classic. I went 0-1 down to a soft goal that I could and should have cleared upfield. But no, I had to try to pass my way out of trouble. Gatti hesitated on the ball when receiving the pass and a Celtic striker nicked the ball off him. Seconds later it was in the back of my net.
I was playing this game in my black away kit, despite being at home. That was fine with me. My equaliser came early in the second half, and it was one of my most favourite goals on the game so far.
It’s not only hooped football shirts that I have a weakness for. As anyone who has watched any of my PES5 compilation movies will testify, I do like to have a long-range shot…
Here’s Camacho, he of the fabled Middle Shooting ability and the callow youth, dispatching a screamer across the goalkeeper and in off the far post:
I scored the winner pretty quickly after that, but I forget who with, or what type of goal it was.