Ahhh, that’s better. Slipping the PES6 disc into the console and picking up the familiar joypad feels like coming home. I still feel bad about abandoning the PSP version - but, hey, the fact that I’d had it for nearly a year before only recently trying to get into it is a telling sign.

Straight into an International Cup tournament, playing as England on the Top Player difficulty level. My personal default 4-3-3 formation looks like this:

Yes, I know: it’s a typical ‘computer-gamey’ football formation. A real-life manager of a real-life team would faint to see it. The midfielders are spaced too widely apart. There’s too much space between midfield and attack. That lone DMF won’t afford much protection against CPU counter-attacks. I know all of its faults as well as I know my own name. But this formation, and 4-3-3 formations like it, have served me incredibly well for many years now. The possession you concede in midfield is more than made up for by the attacking threats you pose, especially down the wings. I vary the formation according to which team and players I’m playing with. The 4-3-3 seen above is not the 4-3-3 I’ll usually start with at the outset of a Master League career, for example. Castolo and Huylens et al would hardly get a kick of the ball.

Why do I have Steven Gerrard on the left side of midfield? Rather than on the right, or even in his other great position as a DMF? (With his thunderous long-range shooting, Gerrard is almost the ideal DMF for an attacking 4-3-3) It’s because I want to accommodate Hargreaves as my DMF, and Gerrard is just as good on the left side of midfield (in PES6 anyway) as on the right; he also manages to work his way into just as many long-range shooting opportunities as he would from the DMF position. Maybe more.

Joe Cole as a right-sided CF? Another questionable choice, but he is so effective in the position - and has been for a couple of PESes now - that like any good player playing well, he virtually picks himself. At times I almost prefer him to Owen.

After an awkward first half of the opening match against Spain, which I ended up drawing 1-1 (struggling to re-re-readjust to proper PES, after my adventures with the PSP version of the game, and also with FIFA08), I sailed through the remaining group matches, thumping Nigeria 4-0 on the way with a brace each from Rooney and Owen. Rooney in PES6 is a little overpowered for my liking.

Next up in the first knockout game is… Brazil.