PES Chronicles

Three games short of the end of season 2009—my third season as Coventry City in my rejuvenated career on PES2008 (the last-gen version)—and I’m just as inept and cack-handed as ever.

I’m really suffering from having played a far, far easier game for the past 5 months. I’ve said numerous times on this blog that I was always just an average PES player. Returning to the game’s roots here on the PSP/PS2 version has reinforced that. Now all I have to do is fully exorcise my demons (i.e. next-gen PES2008).

I drew 1-1 with Strasbourg. I was 0-1 down for almost the entire game. I got the equaliser in the 87th minute with Garcia. It was the culmination of a nice dribble and lay-off from Podolski. The CPU defenders were starting to swarm him and I thought the chance was slipping away. I was delighted with the goal and the result.

But I can’t seem to get any kind of run going on this game yet. I lost the next game 0-1 against Mallorca.

They got their goal thanks to the single most annoying feature of PES2008. Often when I put in a good tackle, win the ball, and send the CPU player sprawling with the ball sitting out in the open, I expect my player to be controllable and to be able to get the ball and then pass it or dribble away with it. There’s certainly enough time. But no. My player just stands there, unable to be controlled for the vital split-second that it takes the CPU player to recover and retrieve the ball.

It was after such a tackle that Mallorca swept upfield and got their goal. I was fuming, but what can you do? This is PES. We’ve now had to put up with it for several versions.

Perhaps PES2009 will see a tackled CPU player stay tackled. Total Player Control should be the next big thing for PES. The mythical Teamvision should be kicked well and truly into touch.

My position in the league is shocking. After three seasons I’d expect to be at least challenging for promotion. I have grounds to believe that next season I could do so. In the recent games that I’ve lost, I’ve put up a better fight, shipped less goals and created more chances.

Three more games to go. It’s all about preparing for next season now. I have 11000-odd points in the bank and my end-of-season salary will be 10000-odd. If I get rid of my surplus Default players I’ll have a few thousand points to play with. I think I’ll pick up some quality youngsters—two or three should suffice—as well as a couple of experienced heads from the ever-faithful Openness To Negotiation list.