Mid-season 2017
Posted by: not-Greg in First XI, negotiations, squad, tags: First XI, negotiations, squadWell, well, well. Today is June 1st. Doesn’t the time just fly? It’s just a few short weeks until Midsummer’s Day, after which the nights start to draw in immediately. It won’t be too much longer before the pulse quickens at the approach of FIFA09 and PES2009. But it’s wrong to be thinking about that now. Life’s already short enough.
In the here and now, I’m suffering from what I call ‘PES fatigue’. Don’t get me wrong. The fatigue doesn’t come from dislike or disenchantment with the game. PES2008 (the PSP/PS2 version) is a worthy finale to an unforgettable era of football gaming. The fatigue comes from playing it far too much.
I experience PES fatigue at various times every year, to some extent. What’s needed is a short break to reignite the love. I’m going to get today’s negotiations period done with, and then I’m going to play FIFA08 for a few days. Oh yes I am. I’m going to enjoy it, too. Not just because of the much-needed break from PES, but because FIFA08 is a very good game in its own right and I haven’t properly played it for a long time. Too long.
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So, I’m smack in the middle of season 2017. Since I assembled my squad of quasi-galacticos, I’ve skipped through so many negotiations periods without buying any players that I’d almost forgotten how to. But I soon remembered…
I brought in a new goalkeeper: Frederiksson. I’ve already got keepers who should be good, but it seems to me that I’m conceding too many goals and I should at least look around for a better keeper. I’ve had Frederiksson highly recommended to me. Normally I’m unwilling to take recommendations. I’ve always preferred to find (or lose) my own way in PES. But good goalkeepers are hard to find this year, so I’ll take what I can get. I traded my okay-ish young keeper, Borges (who I only bought in the first place because seeing that particular name in my squad gave me a spooky pseudo-intellectual thrill….).
The only drawback with Frederiksson is his age—he’s 27 years old. That’s a few years older than I would like, although as a goalkeeper he should have about ten good seasons left in him. I’ve been conceding so many goals that I’m putting Frederiksson straight into the First XI. I want to see how he does. Buffon is still a raw 19-year-old. Lehmann has developed well and is a good keeper on his day, but he is curiously afflicted by his real-life counterpart’s maddening inconsistencies.
Elsewhere on the pitch I’m short of a good AMF, I feel—step forward a certain player called Khumalo… It’s the first time I’ve ever had this player in PES. I only started hearing his name very recently. I couldn’t swear to it but I think he is a relative newcomer to the PES scene. He’s only 22 at the moment and no one had snapped him up from the stiffs, despite which his stats had grown to impressive levels. I was happy to put him out of his misery. Acquiring Khumalo also took my squad size up to the maximum of 32 players. I don’t like that, but I’ll live with it for now. I prefer a leaner roster of players. Too many players can spoil the broth.
At the end of this season, whatever happens, I have some restructuring plans. I don’t think I’m getting the best out of my players. I want to trim my squad down by at least five players, possibly more. I want to give Del Piero a permanent starting role. I want to replace Dos Santos with the best left-sided AMF that my virtual money can buy. There are lots of things I want to do with this team and squad.
First of all, though, there’s the small matter of the rest of this season to contend with. I’m still within reach of the league title. I’m still in both Cups. It’s all to play for.
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Did you take a good look at Fredriksson’s growth chart?
After I bought him, yes I certainly did - he’d been playing regularly for his previous club so his development wasn’t harmed by me not getting him until now. His growth curve is one of the steepest I’ve seen - whether it’ll translate into less goals conceded remains to be seen. Kim Cyun Hi is still not really doing it for me (or me for him, whichever) despite an equally startling growth curve.
As is now abundantly clear, I really am an average player with a totally different play-style from many (most?) other PES players. It’s more likely that my poor goals-against record in PES2008 is a result of shoddy defending than a result of anything being ‘wrong’ with the keepers. Or maybe both are factors. I think my seasons on PES5 of conceding <10 goals were flukes, specific to that year and that ML team and the ‘zone’ I’d got into.