Holding Steady Comments Off
Yesterday’s run of five straight wins hoisted me up the table to where I think this squad belongs: challenging for promotion and for the title.
Anybody who has ever played a PES Master League knows that when you go on a run of great performances and results, things have a way of mysteriously coming to an end. Scoring a hatful of goals in one match can lead to a game or two where it seems you’re not allowed to score. Or to games where the CPU gets a 1-0 win with its only shot on goal.
I was ready for PES to trip me up. I think that in the next game, against Espanyol, I was meant to come a cropper.
Every once in a while in Master League you play a match that is so dull, so dire, so lacking in action, that it almost resembles the bulk of real-life football. Somebody once said that football was 90 minutes of tedium enlivened by a few moments of meaningful activity, which was unfair, really. If you support one of the teams, or if the match is a big match, even the poorest game can spring to life in your own mind.
All of which aimless preamble is by way of getting to this scoreline: Espanyol 1, Singers FC 1.
The two goals in the game make it sound a lot better than it was. In my notebook there is just the scoreline and, next to it, one word: tedious. I remember neither of the goals. I just remember a lot of tackling and ball-bobbling in midfield. At least if I was meant to lose this game, I’d rewritten the script. Draw a line under it and move on.
I played Genoa in a much more lively game that ended 3-1 to me, and then I met AEK Athens.
They’re a tough team, I’ve found. I didn’t help myself one bit by getting a player sent off early. Then I took the lead. Then Athens equalised. And then…
I’ve mentioned frequently just how well I seem to play with 10 men, and this game was no different. I scored two more goals in quick succession to make it 3-1 at half time. All I had to do in the second half was defend well.
I changed my formation around, going to two up front, and dug in. Athens didn’t get a sniff of a goal for the rest of the game, but… I had two more players sent off. I can’t account for it. I was never under that much pressure. They were silly sendings-off, slide-tackles in areas of the pitch where my goal was not under threat. I think I just wanted to stop Athens getting that one goal back that would have probably led to them getting another. Down to 8 men for the last third of the game, I somehow held on despite the continuous pressure. I even managed to create a few half-chances up front.
A draw and two wins from these three games boosts me up to 2nd in the table on goal difference. I’m level on points with the first-placed team, Spurs . After 16 games—almost half of the season—this is very much where I wanted to be.