Mewling and puking
Posted by: not-Greg in Barcelona, God mode, Treble, league table, tags: Barcelona, God mode, league table, TrebleI won game 15 of my season 2019 campaign. Coming up to the mid-season break, all three of my main ambitions for the season are on course.
I want to win a Treble of League, Cup, and European Cup. That’s the main one. I’m still in both Cups and I’m six points clear at the top of the League. I also want to remain unbeaten and to concede less than 20 goals all season in the League. That last aim is looking dodgy—I’ve already conceded 10 goals—but the other aim of remaining unbeaten is still viable. My record right now is played 15, won 13, drawn 2, lost 0. Looking at it realistically, I’d be delighted with just a Treble. The other two would be bonuses.
Yes, the Treble is definitely where it’s all at this season. I must not trip up again like I did last year. One bad game in the Division 1 Cup cost me everything last season. It’s in the Cups that a Treble is at its most vulnerable. You can afford to have a bad League game, or even several bad League games. The title is a marathon, not a sprint. But conceding a bad goal or two in a Cup match can lead to Game Over as far as the Treble is concerned.
After game 15 in the league I had one more game before the mid-season negotiations It was the first leg of the D1 Cup quarter-final. My opponents were Barcelona and the match was at their place. I prefer it that way around, as it gives me a chance to rack up an away goal or two before the second leg, and frequently make it a formality.
I went 1-0 down early on. That was disappointing but by no means disastrous—if I could get a 1-1 here, at minimum, it would still be a good result. The way I’ve been playing this season, I felt I could still come back to win the match and take a commanding lead into the second leg. Barca have never been any great shakes in my Master League.
Giggs had been unfit for this game and I was playing Del Piero out there on the left up front in his stead. Cole was playing in Del Piero’s regular place on the right. Why not simply play Cole on the left? Because he doesn’t have the celebrated ‘Both Sides’ capability. Yes, I frequently do play players on their ‘wrong’ sides, but I try not to, and it depends on the player. The swapping-around of players before a Master League match can get very involved. Early in an ML career—with the Default squad and for a few seasons after—you find yourself fielding half-fit players a long way out of position. Later on, when you’ve got a big squad full of great players who can play almost anywhere, it’s hardly ever a problem to fill every position with a fully-fit megastar.
I rallied strongly to make it 1-1 with an absolute peach of a strike from Del Piero on the left wing. It was one of those goals where you only have half a second after receiving the ball to get the shot away before the CPU defender closes you down. The ball curled inside the far post out of the Barca keeper’s reach.
Then Barcelona hit me with some seriously formidable God Mode. I’ve always said that I accept and even agree that, occasionally, for the sake of a good football game, it’s necessary and desirable for the CPU players’ abilities to be boosted. What I have never been able to accept is the simultaneous reduction of my own players’ abilities—or, in some cases, the blatant withdrawal of the basic footballing ability to kick the damn ball…
Barcelona scored another goal during their God Mode period. It turned out to be the winner, and it may well cause me to miss out on the Treble, and I’m not happy about it. The goal came about during a spell of Barca pressure. I was defending sturdily enough, when the ball fell just inside my box at the feet of my DMF, Prieto—one of the most talented and solid players in the entire game. I pressed X to pass the ball to my right-back. Nothing happened. Okay, I thought, I’ll just hoof it clear, and I pressed Square to do so. Nothing happened. A Barca striker—it was Rooney—nipped in, pinched the ball from the motionless Prieto, and scored.
What can you do? Wait for PES2009 and hope against hope that there’s a new AI in town, is what you can do.
I’ll have it all to do in the second leg—but at least I have that away goal. That’s something to build on.
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