The Treble is secured. Ol’ Big Ears up there is being held aloft by the muscular left arm of Captain Coynborough (video below).
I felt from the start of this season—my 8th in Master League on PES2013—that I would win the Treble. And so it’s turned out.
I clinched the League with one match to spare, confounding my pre-run-in prediction that the game would take me all the way to the last fixture.
It was against Villa, a strange match where I had 25 shots on goal, 15 of them on target. The match ended 0-0, ridiculously. I was sure the last-match scenario would come to pass.
But no. Man City, it turned out, could only draw their game. My players clebrated on the final whistle. I watched (and filmed) the generic jumping-about celebration with some quiet pride. PES2013 has rarely been an easy game for me.
The final table—pardon the glow of my night lamp at the bottom:
The individual League player awards saw PES’s strange love of the side-back surface again.
My unassuming RB, Paccini (another Golden Default), scooped the Player of the Season title.
And a bonus there for Niellendner fans: Assist Leader. I’m still not a Niellendner fan myself. That shooting! *Shudder*
Mata as top scorer is, I suppose, a fair reflection of the real player’s current scoring prowess. But I’m sorry to have missed out on that crown with my regular front 3 (Mehmeti, Minandinho, Wroughllen), who have all been great in their own ways.
Team of the Season:
Next the Cup Final, against Liverpool. Another tough match that was 0-0 all the way and threatening extra time until I scored a strange, flukey goal. (The goal is in the short video below.) Regular readers with long memories might be reminded of the goal that I scored to win the League title in my last Treble—all those years ago on PES2010. A nice spot of symmetry.
FA Cup Team of the Tournament—Jacomorac has played at DMF for the past four seasons, so I don’t know what he’s doing at CB here.:
Player awards here were more my style.
Mehmeti scooped something called ‘Most Valuable Player’ (sigh). And getting top scorer was very fitting.
I could argue that Mehmeti has been my single most reliable, consistent performer up front for the past five or six seasons. Probably my best buy of the whole career.
Finally came the struggle against Manchester City for the Champions League. The final was slightly spoiled by being against another team from my domestic league. I’d have preferred to face an Inter or a Real, for atmosphere’s sake.
I went 2-0 up by half-time. I was cruising. Midway through the second half, for no reason, totally against the run of play, and against all reason and logic, Man City clawed me back to 2-2. The goals were… interesting. I won’t spoil the celebratory note I’m trying to strike by describing them. Suffice to say that my thoughts rhymed with ‘crypting’.
I got the winner in the dying minutes. A Mehmeti special.
And so Coynborough got to lift another trophy, his third in quick succession. Except this was the only one I actually got to see him lift. Because of Konami’s stupid licensing laws.
Here’s a compilation video of celebrations, featuring one unusual goal.
In order, you may see: 1) Post-League title celebrations. 2) The flukey goal that won me the FA Cup. 3) Post-FA Cup celebrations. And finally 4) Captain Coynborough lifting the European Champions Cup (as all of us of a certain age will always call that trophy).
The post-season formalities were not concluded. I was expecting to see post-Champions League Team of the Season and player awards screens. Nothing. Did I click through them, or are they missing somehow when you win that Cup?
And so ends at least this phase of PES2013. I may have given the impression last time that I’m walking away from PES2013. Not so, actually. My intentions towards FIFA are honourable, but history suggests that it won’t last. Not with a viable, playable PES at my back. PES2013, for all its faults, is certainly viable and playable.
So this is not goodbye to PES2013. It’s au revoir.
I’ll be back as usual on Friday with… who knows what?
I don’t fancy plunging straight into FIFA13 (and I haven’t got time to anyway). I’ll surprise you. It’ll be footy-game-related, don’t worry.
On a Plus note, Last night I thought id see if I could manage to hold a PS3 controller, I managed to improvise my grip technique so that my fractured finger and the one its strapped too weren’t under any pressure from the controller, and whilst not 100% comfortable, I managed to play a single solitary game oif my ML, season 10, on Superstar last night, the first PES action in 2 weeks, all relatively pain free.
I wont be having any mammoth sessions but a couple of games here and there will keep me going, and you’re right NG, even after only a 2 week break, the game felt vibrant and exciting.
Was worried that as Id only been on SS for 5 matches as it was a new season that id be rusty, but managed to beat Villa 3-1, to maintain my unbeaten start to SS level, 6 wins from 6.
Paul – That is some hardcore gaming there. Respect to you sir. That’s some result while carrying an injury. On a par with Benkenbauer and his dislocated shoulder. Careful though – you may find yourself stuck playing with that weird grip for good if you adapt too well.
I only played one game last night. Not playing too much really is helping the game feel fresh. Tonight I have my ridiculously cheap Just Cause 2 to try out after it finally finished downloading from the PSN. It only took TWO DAYS!!!
Paul—well done, 10/10 for effort there, and I’m thinking you’re perhaps more of a Bert Trautmann (what is it with these Germans and their injuries). I wouldn’t overdo it for a couple of reasons: possibility of adapting to the different grip, as John cautions, and also the danger of actually hampering the finger’s healing. In moderation, though, some ‘normal’ activity is probably going to benefit recovery—physiotherapy stylee. Couple of matches a day or every other day?
John—JC2 is on my ginormous to-play pile (grabbed it off Xbox Marketplace a year ago on a whim, played for 1 hour, never resumed). Let me know how you get on with it. My own feeling was that the genre’s time may have passed for me.
Wooah!! I’ve just had a new cutscene in PES… Bajszoros went off on international duty then was reported injured for 1 week. He’s now standing in my office saying “you’re not going to suggest that the reason I got injured was my fault for not looking after myself are you? What do you expect if you keep playing me until I run to a stand still in every game?” (there was not an option to reply). Totally out of the blue and plain wrong – he rotates with Castolis, usually being a 2nd half sub. Now he is really unhappy with me – orange face, etc – and I’ve never said a word. Bizarre.
Uncle Turf—I saw that one a few times in the course of my career. Interesting that you evidently didn’t see it last time around, but it might not mean anything. Remains to be seen.
Thanks guys, consider it a cortizone injection before a big game
I have physio to do for the finger so holding a controller shouldnt hamper me too badly, as i said only a few games at a time for now. Good to be back playing though.
NG – whos Bert Trautmann ?
Paul—I thought Bert Trautmann was as much part of footy folklore as the (non-) Russian linesman of 1966 and other such stuff?! Trautmann was the former German POW who played for Man City after the war, and played a Cup Final with a broken neck. I’ll let you Google him. You probably know who he is but forgot his name.
Never heard of him!!!! Blimey thats an effort, dont think my finger compares to that!!
For anyone that records their PES goal vids using their iPhone, if you want a way to apply a theme over it, and make it look more imovie like but in real time, then this is a cool little app: http://www.jollyfy.com/
Turf – that’s a coincidence, I saw the same cutscene for the first time on PES2012 last night, after Belhanda got a yellow injury in a match but had to play on as I’d used all my subs. Proper dirty hackers, Valenciennes, and the ref was giving us no protection – they can expect revenge in the return fixture later this season….
Having played through 2 season 2′s I reckon it’s the one for the worst effects of scripting, screw over and downright shafting. Every game seems to have a straight from kick off or last minute pinball in the box. I’ve picked up five times more cards than season 1 and yet my players should be better. It was this season that saw me relegated from the PL having suffered my worst ever series of red cards. I don’t really know why – maybe S1 goes easy on these aspects, maybe S3 your players are higher stats but just right now I’m not good enough as a team to cope with the sudden surge of in-game issues.
That… That video… It was beautiful ;w;
ACCEPT FOR THAT GOAL AGAINST LFC.
What happened to Reina? Whos that inbetween the posts for Liverpool? :O
Also, Athletico Reganio – From competing to come off the bottom of the table with rivals Reganio United, to promotion in 2 seasons! Campeonato Brasileiro here we come!
Shane – good to see a fellow Kopite on here!!
maybe you can defend me when NG taunts me about Gerrard from now on.
Turf – what level you playing on?
The first 3 or 4 seasons with defaults are often horrible, you notice the scripting more because of your shoddy players, trust me it does get better, alot better.
NSS – Shoot from anywhere, longest goal 52.7 yards
Paul—good find that jollyfy. I’ve been trying to get used to a non-jailbroken iPhone (just to see what it’s like) and so far I’m missing a lot of my old Cydia apps. iFile in particular.
Poor old Stevie G. See the picture of the European Cup being held aloft at the top of this post? Every time Stevie G blinks, that’s what he sees, and it’s always 2005… *runs*
Uncle Turf—interesting stuff, these differing experiences. You were on Professional for a good long while back at teh start of your old career though. We all thought the old PES2012 factors would apply re. the difficulty. If/when I make my near-inevitable Return to PES2013, I’ll be starting again somewhere on Superstar too.
Shane—that was the Liverpool keeper’s one blunder in that match, and it was more the game glitching really. So they’re not missing Reina in-game. And nor would the real Liverpool, I suspect. Another anti-Liverpool zinger there!
Lloyd—my furthest NSS goal is 51.7 yds. Furthest pass 55.2 yds.
*chases N-G*
Anyways. Have you checked out shane4pes.wordpress.com recently? Im only getting back into it.
Paul+shane..tee hee jan molbys painfully tight 80′s short shorts.”hides behind ng”
Paul – I’m on SuperStar this time out. Like NG said last ML I spent the first 4 (or5?) seasons on Pro, and still got whopped in season 2. I conceded 6 in my first game against Spurs and never recovered, but the red cards were the thing that really stood out. This season 2 I’m not conceding as many (is a lower league for a start) but the red cards are similarly bad – way more than season 1 – and the unstoppable dribbles and last minute winners are hugely up on the first season. Like I alluded to it’s almost as if season 2, regardless of level and division, sees the AI say ‘right, now we’re going to kick in’. Or maybe it’s just coincidence…
Cant find your blog at all shane, try posting a link in the comments! Just looking at a few youtube videos of PES2010 and cant believe konami changed what seems like a brilliant master league structure. In particular the player training looks amazing and from what i could see the transfer system looks good. Very tempted to pick it up
Turf – can only think that its because you’ve started on SS with a relatively poor team that it makes the CPU seem more cheaty, you notice it more because with the weaker team, you cant do much to prevent it.
I was on pro for a long while, but once I got a really good team assembled, the instances of cheating from the CPU became less and less because I was able to counter it with my better players. Of course you still get the ‘WTF’ moments but that’s all part of PES and always has been.
leroy getz—shane’s blog is there all right, try this link.
Shane – just checked out ya Blog..I love a story attached to a ML career..I think we should all publish ML novels…dragons den perhaps.
The life and times of Gerald Sibon!!!
Lloyd—did you mean to leave a link? Or was that just some kind of standalone, orgasmic shout of joy?
work in progress