Marseille 3-1 Singers FC

Thumped again…

I’m still not back up to speed on PES2008. All the time I’ve been putting in on FIFA08 has not helped me get back into the saddle. You know it’s a bad year for PES when you’ve got to unlearn habits picked up from FIFA.

As the 80th minute ticked around I lost my rag again and had two more players - Jackson and Gatti - sent off. I’m really totting up the red cards again. Just like last time.

Singers FC 1-0 Espanyol

This was more like it. And I scored a great goal with Caracciolo. I haven’t started with him too many times as I think Altintop is better than him at the moment. I have a few too many big strikers. Whenever I have started with Caracciolo, I’ve always been impressed. I hear good things about Caracciolo and I’m looking forward to seeing how his career with me pans out. Here’s the Caracciolo goal:

Lazio 2-1 Singers FC

I went 1-0 down and things were looking bad for a while. Lazio are a top, top side. This is their first season in Division 2 after being relegated last year.

Gulp. If this technically superb Lazio team could finish in the bottom 3 of Division 1, what am I in for when I eventually get promoted?

I had some hope, briefly. A goal from Altintop made it 1-1, but Lazio stepped up a gear or two and got their winner ten minutes from time. Again I can’t really moan about scripting. This was just a good game.

One thing I will moan about, though - because it’s a tradition on this blog that I must moan about something - is the implementation of weather effects in PES2008.

What was the point of putting rain into PES2008?

They should have just left it out completely, rather than go with this half-arsed effort. Actually, half-arsed is doing it a favour. It’s not even quarter-arsed.

Rain in next-gen PES2008 looks like the static that appears on your TV screen when a motorbike goes past outside. It looks terrible and it has zero effect on the gameplay.

Clearly, Seabass only put it in because he thought he had to. Most of the time you don’t even notice that it’s supposed to be raining. In PES2009 I’d love to see great wet patches all over the pitch that slow down the ball and the players in unpredictable ways. PES2 did that so well.