PES Chronicles

Yes, I came up with so many possible puns for the title of this post that I thought I’d try to use them all at once. If this post is being viewed in a few months’ time, know that I used to have a player called Dos Santos, whose name nestles up there amongst the pun sandwich.

I’ve played 8 more games since the mid-season negotiations. Somehow I’ve dragged myself up to 6th in the table. Of these 8 games I’ve won 4, drawn 1, and lost 3. I was careless in the three defeats, but the four wins were big.

Dos Santos has been a revelation. I picked him up for next to nothing—I traded in Nakamura+a token 1000 points—and the difference he’s made over there on the left side has been electric. I can see now that not having a standout left-sided AMF (in the mould of Camacho on the right) has cost me dear for a few seasons now, ever since Nakamura started to show signs of age.

Straightaway, in game 1 of his new career with Coventry City, Dos Santos scored a stupendous goal. It was the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Deportivo la Coruna of all teams (Deportivo have been a bit of a bogey side for me so far).

I had the replay of Dos Santos’ goal saved on my PC, but I lost it when my main PC refused to boot and stubbornly stayed that way. What the replay would have shown, in the familiar grainy YouTube footage that literally dozens of people have come to know and love, was that Dos Santos can dribble, he can shoot from long distance, and he can score, oh yes. I beat two players—dribbling past players is as tough for me in last-gen PES2008 as it was easy (far too easy) for me in next-gen PES2008—and slotted it into the postage stamp corner from about 35 yards. It was one of the best long-rangers I’ve ever scored, and not just because of the distance and placement—the dribble helped it toward greatness.

Dos Santos has been pretty good in all the other games too. For the record, he’s only 24, and has lots of stats in the red and high yellow zones, plus several ability stars. One day soon I’ll restart taking detailed looks at individual players’ stats, and he’ll be the first to feature.

I doubt that I could finish any higher than 4th. 3rd place is twelve points away from me; 2nd and 1st places (Barcelona and Real Madrid) are way, way up there in a little mini-league of their own. I won’t be catching them up, but I can hold onto my precious top-six spot. It’s in my hands.

This is the lower limit of where I want to finish at the end of the season. It’s all about finishing in the qualifying places for the preliminary round of the PES equivalent of the Champions League. So the pressure will be on for the last 7 games. Must. Go. For. Treble. In 2014.