A journeyman for all seasons
Posted by: not-Greg in European Cup (ECC), goal replay, league table, tags: European Cup (ECC), goal replay, league tableSeason 2015 got off to an indifferent start with two draws, but things have settled down now. I’ve fought my way up to 3rd place in the table, and I’ve also played my first couple of fixtures in Europe. I’m going for the Treble this season—my first proper attempt in nine seasons since I started this Master League career as Coventry City on the PS2/PSP version of PES2008. I keep saying it because it’s true: I’m an average PES player. Which is probably the reason for the game’s longevity every year.
Until now I’ve either been in Division 2 or not good enough to qualify for the WEFA Championships. Last season (2014) I scraped into the pre-tournament qualifiers but was eliminated pretty quickly. This season I’m in the main tournament after finishing 2nd in the league last year. I’ve got a great squad and a great chance, I think, of taking all three major trophies.
Sevilla remain something of an unknown quantity in Division 1. I think they were relegated for a season or two a while back, and have just come up this season. I certainly don’t remember them recently. This season they were the early pace-setters, winning their opening four games and scoring lots of goals. They were comfortably top when I met them. It was a predictably tough game—not as tough as my average encounter against Valencia, and sometimes Barca/Real. But it was still tough. Every season the CPU picks one club to send ‘out there’, to be the pace-setters, to be the team to beat. Usually so far that club has been one of the Big Three.
I beat Sevilla 1-0 with a goal in the second half from my journeyman midfielder, Klavak. I’ve called him a journeyman there mainly because I’ve never heard of him outside of PES. For all I know he could be… whatever the opposite of a journeyman is. What the hell is a journeyman, anyway? In a footballing context, it’s used to mean a player who moves clubs a lot and isn’t very good. Robbie Keane moves clubs a lot, but no one would ever call him a journeyman. Strange.
Anyway, here’s Klavak’s goal—I love the placement, right into the postage stamp corner, the keeper nowhere:
In my first game of the WEFA Championship (the PES equivalent of the Champions League, of course), I played AC Milan and beat them 3-0. It was easy. Suspiciously easy—but I won’t be lulled into any ‘false sense of security’, oh no. It was peculiar to look at the makeup of Milan’s team: they had Carragher, Hargreaves, and Torres. When I set up this league I omitted the English teams, and consequently all of their players have been scattered across this game world. It’s led to some odd outcomes, not least Mark Noble being one of Real Madrid’s star players. Really.
In fixture #2 I met my regular domestic sparring partners, Barcelona. This was less easy, but I still won comfortably 2-0. I’m top of the group after two games played with four to go. I hope I’m not being premature here when I say that I should qualify for the knockout stages. After this start I’ll need a good slap if I don’t qualify.
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Excellent start to your Champions League (CL) campaign. Was not expecting such comfortable wins in the CL against big boys like Milan & Barça. I do agree on the “suspiciously easy” part. I’ve noticed that in PES2008, there is a whole lot of scripting. Sure, in most cases its against the player, as you hit the post, get stupid fouls, etc.. But sometimes it’s in your favor, sometimes its scripted for a bunch of goals from both sides, sometimes for a 0-0 draw. Im not trying to deprive you of your joy or deservedness to win though - if it so may seem.
Also, what do you mean by “When I set up this league I omitted the English teams” ?? Does it mean you didnt give them a league of their own?
heyendo - Thanks, and in Europe I either struggle or do great. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground. To start out with, first season in Europe, I usually get hammered until my squad reaches a certain level of quality (last season for example) - after that point, I seem to do great.
A lot of it has to do with attitude as well. I went into these big games feeling completely confident, as if I was unbeatable. To be fair to the CPU, only Milan were ‘easy’ to beat, and it did strike me as odd how tame they played. Barca were tougher and I had to work quite hard for my goals.
Re. the English clubs, when I set up this Master League I did so all in a rush, almost the moment that I started to play the last-gen version of PES2008 waaaay back in March.
I picked a league at random for my team to play in. It happened to be the one with the Spanish teams. By default, the English teams aren’t in Master League - you have to make the effort to create a league with them. I kind of regret now that I didn’t replace the French league equivalent with the English clubs, if only for the thrill I’d be getting now of meeting Man Utd, Chelsea etc. in Europe. But I played a couple of careers on the PS3 version in the English league, so I don’t really miss them that much.