The man who would be Kim
Posted by: not-Greg in Kim Cyun Hi, league table, negotiations, tags: Kim Cyun Hi, league table, negotiationsPro Evolution Soccer has certain traditions. Certain things that seem to be the same year upon year, whatever other changes are made. Rituals that never alter. Master League comes equipped with a whole host of them, some positive, some negative, some neutral. One of my ‘favourites’ is the mysterious dip in form that follows your first run of wins in Master League.
Master League seems at its most unfair to me when I’ve just started getting a team together, and just started doing well. That first run of good form has only just come in this season—which is season 4! It’s completely unheard-of even for me, an average player at best. It’s never been this late before.
Finding some form and consistency is one thing; keeping it is another. When form arrives, there’s always one game that comes along quite quickly, against God-knows-who, that I just can’t seem to do anything about. Sometimes there’s a cluster of such games.
I had a few of them in the run-up to the mid-season negotations. Going 1-0 up, only to get pegged back to 1-1. Or riding out a CPU storm to cling on like grim death to a 0-0, only to have a heartbreaker of a flukey goal scored against me.
My ‘favourite’ ones of these are when my keeper parries the ball onto some part of a defender’s body, and it goes into the net. I’ve scored a few of these at the other end, so the mechanic works for as well as against me. But I’d almost rather not score any of them than have just one scored against me in a big game. I know, I know. They happen in football. They’re ‘realistic’. I know.
This season I’ve played with a squad of 17. It has been tough. The Division 2 schedule is often kind to you, with numerous rest weeks, but at other times the strain on a small squad can be savage. Playing some games with seven or eight blatantly unfit players has been… interesting. At least it’s taught me that you can pick half-fit players and they will do a good job for you—for 60 minutes. Perhaps this tiredness—a chronic lack of stamina, from game to game—has contributed to the defensive confusions at times.
You can’t beat having a good, large squad with plenty of fit players to choose from. I think I’m going to make it to the end of this season with plenty of money in the bank. If my overall form keeps up there won’t be any danger of a Game Over. In fact I should have enough spare cash to pay for a larger squad. So I went shopping in the mid-season negotiation weeks. I decided to play it safe and just get three new players. Enough to spread the burden.
I found an old friend in KIM CYUN HI. (And I’m annoyed that I already used The Return of the Kim as a post title back in July.) I hope he’s at least as good as I found him to be in the PS2/PSP version of PES2008. Others raved about him, but I ‘only’ found him to be very good even after several seasons’ development. I’d settle for ‘very good’ in PES2009.
I also picked up KOEMAN and CEM, two SMFs who can play in a wide variety of positions. CEM alone can play in about five positions, including CB and SB, usefully. I’ve got high hopes for these two as well. All three new signings are Youth players, 17 or 18 years old.

Despite the maddening late CPU heartbreakers, I’m doing well in the League, a lot better than in the last three seasons: Here’s a snapshot of the table after 14 games:

But for a couple of those timely late CPU goals I’d be in the promotion positions right now, maybe even top. I’m not happy about my goals-scored tally. 8 goals in 14 games is pathetic, really. But I’ve got to be happy, overall, with my goals-against. Good defending is why I’m in the position I’m in, 3 points off a promotion place just after mid-season.





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