I don’t heart John Terry
Posted by: not-Greg in First XI, negotiations, squad, tags: First XI, negotiations, squadMy mid-season 2021 signings were: Frank Lampard, John Terry, and Ronaldo. I’ll deal with them in reverse order.
My new Ronaldo is, of course, the currently-chunky Brazilian one. (I’d like to get the other one, the little Portuguese one, at some point, but he’s yet to retire and Regenerate.) My new Ronaldo is as slender as a gazelle and, you know what, he’s pretty damn good. People tend to forget that the real-life Ronaldo, at his peak, was arguably the most talented footballer since Maradona. The last time I had Ronaldo in PES was in PES5, when he was one of my top strikers, as he darn well should have been. I’m expecting him to be pretty special in this one too, although it’ll probably be a few season before I see the best of him. He’s still very young, only 21 years old.
John Terry is a player whom I don’t much like in real life. Before any Chelsea fans get on their high horses, hear me out. I acknowledge his considerable talents as a defender. It’s as an all-round footballer in the game that I have issues with him. John Terry is one of the most obnoxious characters in football right now. Who is it who chases after referees and shrieks at them the most? Yep, JT and his posse.
And another thing. John Terry was one of the so-called ‘golden generation’ of English footballers who disastrously flopped at the 2006 World Cup. Despite what England’s tabloid newspapers might have you believe, nobody in England really believed that England would go to Germany and come home with the World Cup. No.
All that I and everybody I know hoped for was that the team would perform well, play some exciting football, give us something to cheer, and perhaps get to the semi-final at best. Certainly England had the players to compete and give a good account of themselves. What we got instead was, in my opinion, the dullest, most dour performances from England at a major tournament that I can ever remember. John Terry was by no means the sole culprit—am I the only one who can tell that Steven Gerrard just doesn’t like playing for England?
But, yeah… Whatever. Rant over. John Terry is a dubious real-life character, but a fine PES player whenever I’ve had the opportunity to play with him. Maldini is in his early 30s now and before too long I’ll need another commanding CB to fill his boots.
And so to Frank Lampard. Yet another much-vaunted player who comprehensively failed to perform in Germany in 2006. And it could be argued that he was always only a flash in the pan a few seasons ago. Was it in 2004 that Lampard was being touted as the best midfielder in the world? It seems like a very long time ago now, whenever it was.
But, like Terry, Frank Lampard is a great PES player. He plays in several positions in midfield, is a great tackler, has got great energy, and of course that most important skill for a PES midfielder—Middle Shooting. I look forward to scoring several long-range sizzlers every season with Lampard.
I couldn’t bring in 3 new players without getting rid of some. I offloaded three existing members of my squad in the various deals that brought in the new boys. The players who went were Fernandez, Scholes and Khumalo.
Fernandez was a great player for my team during those often-tricky ‘middle years’ between the Default squad and my current near-dominance of the league. But alas, he’s now ageing and ripe for the chop. I had high hopes for Scholes but he’s just taking too long to develop—I might buy him back in a few seasons’ time when he’s at his peak. As for Khumalo, he was good but not great for me, and he formed part of the deal that prised Ronaldo away from his CPU club. I doubt I’d have got him otherwise.
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Greg
As a Scotsman the problem with the English national team is guys like John Terry and Frank Lampard. PRIMA DONNAS.
Guys that believe in their own publicity. Who can forget Frank Lampard at the last World Cup shooting from 30-40 yards at all opportunities. An absolute joke.
John Terry a COWARD in the sense he TRYS TO DO PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE ON THE GROUND aka Arsenal game last season. I loved it when he missed the penalty that cost them the Champions League, loved it.
Get back to England, with the squad of the last few years you should be looking at 2 European Championships and a World Cup.
I had to come out off my retirement just to say that you made a BAD deal by letting Khumalo go. I’ve played both him and the regenned Ronaldo, and Khumalo is the second best striker in the whole game.
heraldo - with the pool of players at its disposal, England should have done so much better in recent years. I always recall Italia 90, when a squad of pretty average England players (compared to Gerrard, Owen, Rooney etc.) went to the semi-final and lost a great game on penalties. They had great team spirit, of course, which arguably counts as much as having great players (e.g. Scotland’s Euro2008 qualifying campaign). Even the Italia90 tournament was a one-off during my lifetime. I’ve rarely seen England teams play with any real spirit. I always wonder if the players believe the hype and think they’ve just got to turn up to win.
And, ugh… I’d managed to forget about Lampard’s ridiculous shooting in the last World Cup until you reminded me. Thanks…
I don’t mind Chelsea so much as some of their players - and yes, they’re everywhere in the modern game. Players with this whole ‘entitled’ attitude. That chasing around of referees and shouting at them is a form of cheating that I’m surprised the authorities haven’t come down hard on yet. As Roy Keane pointed out during his playing days, the players who do it aren’t trying to influence the ref’s current decision—they’re influencing the next decision. It makes the ref less likely to give big decisions against them. Like I say, it’s so blatant and so endemic in the game now that surely they’ve got to introduce ‘Rugby rules’ for player-ref interactions, i.e. you can’t dispute any decision in any way whatsoever, or you’re off.
Adriano - Khumalo had to go. It just had to happen, I’m afraid. As you can see I have a massive squad now - it’s too big really - and I got Khumalo just a bit too late in his career (he was 26 or so) for him to get a regular place and keep it. I’ve almost finished season 2021 now and Ronaldo has been absolutely magnificent, so I do feel up on the deal.