The wheels have come off my season. Not in a big way - I’m still in touch with the promotion spots. But it’s been a disappointment after getting off to such a good start.

Hammarby beat me 4-2 at my ground in the second round of the Cup. I went 1-0 up in the game and it would have been enough to take me through on away goals. But Hammerby just steamrollered me in the second half.

I’m 11th in the table and 10 points behind the current 3rd-placed team, Wigan Athletic. I’m only 11 games into a 38-game season, so it’s still feasible that I could haul Coventry City into the top 3 by the end.

I’m scoring enough goals to win and draw key games. But I’m conceding more goals than I’m scoring. I’m conceding ridiculous goals - goals like nothing I’ve ever seen before in any PES game.

A CPU free-kick within 30 yards of my goal is usually as good as a penalty.

Corners continue to be a problem - especially ‘blind’ corners from the opposite side of the pitch where the camera - even on Wide - cuts off my view of the six-yard box. Defending these is a matter of using the radar and some guesswork.

Ad hoc games of pinball take place around my box. My players are mysteriously incapable of passing to any of their team-mates, until a CPU player gets hold of it and rifles in a shot.

Occasionally, any old random CPU player will turn into the superhuman love-child of Maradona, Pele, Michel Platini, and Zinedine Zidane combined, and twisty-turn a slaloming path through my entire team until in on my goalkeeper. And then gently chip the ball into the net.

It’s crazy stuff, some of it.

I can’t complain about my goalkeepers. Friedel and Ivarov have been playing alternate games. They’ve both played really well, considering. One of the big complaints some people have about PES2008 is that the goalkeepers are poor. But I’ve yet to see either of mine palm the ball into the net.

Friedel in particular (still only 18) is shaping up to be a great shot-stopper, just like his real-life counterpart. But for some of his meaty slaps at the ball, my goals-against tally would be a lot higher. Thanks, Brad.

There are other plus-points too. Schwarz is the #1 goalscorer in the Division so far. He has 5 goals. Which doesn’t say much for the Division, but I’ll take it. Shimizu and Traore are joint-4th on the Assists table.

It’s a peculiar season. Neither one thing nor the other at this stage. In the previous two seasons, at least I knew where I was by now. I was bottom of the league.

This season is still in the balance. I’m mid-table. A good run is needed now, I think, for me to have any chance of going up to Division 1.

I’ve hit a mini-slump form-wise just prior to the negotiations period. Now I need to have a good mid-season negotiation period. I messed it up last season. I came out of it with just 3 Youth players and seriously delayed myself getting to grips with the game. It’s such a short period in the season - a mere blip at four weeks - that it’s easy to waste the opportunity to bring in the kinds of players who can keep the Default players where they belong - on the bench, and waiting to be traded or sold or released in the future.

My decision-making this time was a little strategic. The season is another write-off. Even if I could populate my team sheet with galacticos, they wouldn’t get me promotion. I needed to get players who could do a job, get me some good results, and wouldn’t cost so much that I’d be left with no wiggle room in the off-season to get some really fine new players for the 2009 campaign.

These are the players I acquired this time:

FRIEDEL (GK) - Age 17
WEIR (CB) - Age 17
DUFFY (DMF) - Age 17
TRAORE (WF) - Age 19
FOLAN (CF) - Age 26

A goalkeeper was top on my list of priorities. In PES6 I got an 18-year-old keeper from the Youth list who already had good stats. He played in my team for a few seasons until I got into the top flight and could afford a world-class keeper. This year my thoughts are to do the same.

In the Youth list I saw Friedel straightaway, alongside Lehman and Keller. It was a toss-up between the three which one I’d go for and I finally went with Friedel solely because his current ability just edges out the other two. In ten or fifteen seasons time I have no doubt that Friedel will be a solid keeper - just as he is in real life. Whether he’ll be my first choice keeper remains to be seen.

Whilst puttering about in the Youth list I also saw Weir and Duffy. Weir is a centre-back with stats already adequate for my needs, and as with any Youth player, he can only improve. Duffy is a versatile DMF and right-sided SB and SMF. I had him in my team on PES5. Back then he spent most of his time sitting on the bench. Although he turned out to be good, he never quite managed to be great - a solid squad player, but no more. Maybe things will be different for him this time.

You can never have too many players covering all positions. In PES2008 the players’ fitness levels from match to match are notoriously unreliable. (I commonly lose Shimizu to ‘blue arrow syndrome’ for three games in a row.) Therefore, a quality midfielder was another high priority. I didn’t want to raid the Youth list again, so I went on an Advanced Search and found Traore.

Traore was playing for some club who allowed me to negotiate a cash-plus-player deal for him. As soon as I saw his stats - several in the red and most of the rest in the yellow, at age 19 - I knew I had to get him. I swapped Gutierrez and paid only about 300 points. Traore’s wages stand at only 400 points as well. (Don’t hold me to any of these figures. They’re only approximate. I write this blog mainly from memory. While I’m playing, I’m too busy playing to take copious notes.)

In Traore I think I’ve got a bargain, but I’m slightly worried about his stamina. Yet again I think I’ve bought one for the future, rather than a player who is going to dig me out of the lower-league hole I’m in. We’ll see.

Finally, an experienced CF was also a priority, and this time I found one on the Openness to Negotiation list. Folan was easy to get in another cash-plus-player deal. This time I gladly shipped out Zamenhof (Friedel and Ivarov could handle the GK spot between them), and handed over a couple of thousand.

Folan caught my interest because at first I thought he was Diego Forlan… Some time I must write a paean of praise to the greatness that was Diego Forlan in PES5.

Even when I understood my error, I was still impressed by Folan: 26 years old, attacking stats in the high 80s, all others in the mid-to-high 70s (on average). Cheap and cheerful. Exactly what I need.

After all this wheeler-dealering there’s another half of the season to come. I had to make some choices about my new First XI. It’s not really a big deal, this First XI - there’s nothing holy or sacrosanct about it. It’s a rare game where the First XI seen here is the team I actually send out to play. But I’ve started so I’ll finish…

The big decision here was whether to play Weir at CB alongside Mattsson. They’re both teenagers, remember, and bring along all the baggage that entails in PES terms. I decided in the end to just go for it. I’m not going to challenge for promotion this season and I’m better off at least trying to bring Weir’s stats on a bit before next year. In any case, due to the aforementioned player fitness issues in this game, they’re unlikely to actually play together much.

Folan had to go in the middle of my front three. Schwarz is doing too well out on the left - he’s been a revelation over the last few games. Folan is a big striker in the same mould as Schwarz, so I’m not missing out on an aerial presence in the box. (Not that I really know yet how to exploit that presence in PES2008, but that’s not the point.)

Yes, I’m still leaving some talent on the bench. But: horses for courses. Mao Molina and De Ridder are settled in my team, with Chairman Mao (as I like to think of him) being an especially valued member of the side.

And, whaddaya know - finally I’m able to field a First XI made up entirely of players I’ve bought myself. Break out the champagne.