Mr Bojangoals
…And I’m still playing FIFA09’s Manager Mode. I’ll never believe it’s anything other than a weak shadow of the majestic Master League. I’m happy that FIFA10 will surely see the mode become what it should have been all along in the next generation (instead of an afterthought once online had been taken care of).
FIFA09’s Manager Mode was overdue some extra attention from me. This current period of activity is the first time in this football game year that I’ve mounted a concerted ‘push’ in Manager Mode. I’m playing as Coventry City, building my team, forging ahead.
One of my recent acquisitions has been Bojan. His surprise move from Barcelona to Coventry City in the first season in the Premier League was secured for two million pounds—the bargain of the century. Ahem. Along with Pavlyuchenko, Edilson, Djemba Djemba, and a certain attacking midfielder called not-Greg Downs, I’ve got good players in all the major positions.
It took me time to get used to playing with Bojan. I didn’t like him at first. I rarely dribble in football games, relying almost totally on pass and move. Bojan’s great strength is dribbling. He’s a nippy little player. After a period of adjustment I’ve finally started knocking in the goals with him.
I know that 99.9% of FIFA09 players are used to playing online 24 hours a day with Cristiano Ronaldo and running and running and running and running with the ball. For me this is an alien way to approach the game, but I’m learning fast with Bojan. He’s probably my first experience of playing with a fast skilful dribbler in FIFA09 over any length of time. I’m starting to see clearly what everyone has been saying about certain aspects of the FIFA09 game engine being unbalanced.
Which isn’t to say I’m not enjoying playing with Bojan and doing the things I can do with him. For all that people carp on about the various exploits that enable people to play the way they do online, it’s a feature of the game engine and it just has to be coped with. (You can tell from this sentiment that I never play online…)
Here’s a goal I scored in my last session. Bear in mind this was ‘only’ a League Cup match against Doncaster, which accounts for the defenders’ lethargic reactions to Bojan’s dazzling run, spin, jink, burst of pace, and lovely shot high into the opposite corner of the net. Who says you can’t dribble in FIFA09? Or that shooting is broken? Dribbling and shooting are just harder than in PES, is all.
Link: 
Bojan and Pavlyuchenko are my golden two up front at the moment. Apart from the players I’ve mentioned above, I haven’t really got anyone else. I have replaced the entire defence, including the goalkeeper, with cheap identikit squad players from the transfer market. Players in the high 70s/low 80s, no-names to a man. They do the job required, and they do it very well. You don’t really need great defenders in FIFA09 in order to defend well.
One of the great flaws of FIFA09—which may not have been rectified for FIFA10 from what I read—is that the secondary pressure button is way, way overpowered. People talk about Ronaldo and Barca and Man Utd and the rest, but that secondary pressure button is far more unbalancing IMO. It seems that 90% of the time all you have to do is squeeze it, and wait patiently until you get the ball back. The remaining 10% of the time you just sprint your defender into position and then start squeezing.
I’m nearly halfway through the season and I’m going to finish in mid-table. I’ve considered dropping down a difficulty level. For all Bojan’s and Pavlyuchenko’s goals, for all that I only have to look at the secondary pressure button to win the ball back when I want to, the accursed CPU is pretty darn good on World Class. I do still keep getting beaten by the CPU, sometimes badly beaten. I’m talking 0-3 and 0-4 scorelines. It’s June and I’m still learning how to play FIFA09. That’s got to be a good thing, really.
I’ll be back to Become A Legend in PES2009 soon enough. Talk about unfinished business. But there are other things to do at the moment. There’s Final Fantasy VII to be downloaded from the PSN store onto the PSP, and then gleefully played on various buses. It’s almost ten years since my one and only playthrough of FF7. I’d always promised myself another one when I got the chance, but that chance just never came. There’s no excuse now.
Mid-table with the side you’ve got? thats pretty good in my opinion, if anything you should up the difficulty! Lovely goal by the way.
I had a shooting practice session last night, and I’ve definitely improved. I just use finesse a lot. Sill not able to strike it with laces with power consistently, but my score ratio has gone up. I should get into to playoffs in my first season on world class. My signings were Carlos Vela and Ever Banega, and a lot of staff. Very pleased, though I think I’ll try legendary next season.
Oh and the title Mr Bojangoals – genius, sheer genius.
Enjoy FF7 – I’m planning some retro gaming this weekend myself, digging out the Dreamcast and finishing off Shenmue 2. I don’t know why, they’ll never finish the series but I just feel like it. Will also no doubt have a few games of Puyo Puyo Fever.
Grilled Seabass—I think I should be doing better with the team I’ve got. I’m settled in World Class with my mix of semi-assisted and manual control settings (only through-balls are still on fully assisted). This mix of settings is the ‘Goldilocks’ level for me. I always have to be on my game, I can perform well and win convincingly if really on my game, and I can take beatings too.
I really enjoyed the goal too, mainly because in FIFA09 with semi-assisted shooting, it’s a pretty hard kind of goal for me to pull off. It was a laces shot as well, not a finesse one. As you’ve found, the laces shots are tougher to get just right. It really does all go back to the right player and the right timing. Stick with it – rockets are possible.
If you’re doing that well on World Class and want to mix up the difficulty without going to Legendary, try tinkering with your control settings first. Switch just passing on its own to semi-assisted, for example. Then go to crossing, then shooting, etc. Find a mix you like. I think you’d find the challenge different and it’s a good way to magic up a ‘World Class 2.0′ difficulty level before getting to grips with Legendary.
I’ve read that the pressure button has been rectified not-Greg, making defending a lot more of a skill than in 09
Chris—I can’t remember exactly where i read it, but I’ve read that the secondary pressure thing hasn’t been rectified, that it’s still way too strong. But like you I’ve also read that its effectiveness been reduced, so we’re getting conflicting reports. I’m sure it’ll all come out over the summer.