Fair play to Rodos for bouncing back Frank, it's never easy to raise the morale after a European exit, as I know only too well.
Well, I must admit, without a shadow of a doubt, Boro are playing out of their skin at the minute. I'm actually finding that I'm playing better football on Top Player than I was on Professional.
I dont even know why ? Maybe it's because I have less time on the ball and therefore using my footballing brain alot more, either way I'm loving this Top Player EPL lark.
I only had time for a couple games last night. First up was Sheffield Utd in the 2nd round of the FA Cup. I put the difficulty level back down to Professional for this game against the Championship side, as I felt that it made it more realistic. To be fair Sheff Utd played very well, and were very stubborn to break down. It wasnt until 70 minutes before I got my first goal, then the floodgates opened, and Boro hit them for 5 in the last 20 minutes.
Next up was a home game against top of the table, and unbeaten, Manchester Utd.
I changed it back up to Top Player and thought to myself, this is the real test. My coach advised me that Fergie was looking to field a weakened team. One thing is for sure, it didnt look fricking weakened to me. Rooney and Aguerro up front for starters had me quaking in my boots.
Within 2 minutes 30 seconds of the first half (15 minute game), and without Man Utd even touching the ball, Boro were 1-0 up through a Lita diving header. I swear this goal came at the end of at least 20 passes. All mixed up, varied from on the deck, to in the air, a couple of 1,2's and a lovely whipped ball in from the left from Taylor, who was standing in for the injured Johnson.
The replay managed to get the last 8 or so passes, but Man Utd were ripped to pieces as Boro played the ball around until the gaps were created, then 'boom' 1-0. Boro continued to play their best football so far as they ran Man Utd ragged. Another Lita goal on 60 minutes did nothing but justify Boro's dominance.
I then got a little sloppy. A stupid 'schoolboy' error brought on by a lapse in concentration by me, ( I was actually thinking about writing this on here, doh !! ) saw Aguerro disposses Wheater on the half way line. Aguerro raced through on goal and clinically dispatched the finish into the bottom corner. That was my first mistake of the game and I was duly punished for it. Boro started to panic a bit after that, and Man Utd seemed to turn it up a gear.
With 10 minutes of the game remaining, and some stunning football from Man Utd, Aguerro leveled the game with another composed world class finish. To say I was sick was a severe understatement. We had owned Man Utd for 70 minutes of the game, a stupid mistake gave them hope, and then they capitalised on it. You see this happen so much in real life, and normally, although with three seperate probable outcomes, usually only two come into play. Either the team thats come from behind, with the momentum still strong, goes on to score another and win the game. Or, the team that gave away the 2 goal advantage, somehow finds the ingredients to form the recipe that helped serve up the first two goals. Thankfully on this occasion, it was the latter.
With 85 minutes on the clock, a surging run and fake shot from Lita tricked the Man Utd defence. Lita then slid in Iaquinta, the Italian's first touch to get the ball out of his feet on the edge of the box, was as good as the shot that followed as the ball crashed into the top corner.
At this point I was probably running around my front room with my t-shirt over my head.
Boro saw the game out, but not before Rooney had hit the bar from a full 30 yards in stoppage time. Boro won 3-2, and at the same time handed the mighty Man Utd their first loss of the season. It really doesnt get much better than that. And the range of emotions that game produced were beyond what you should ever expect to feel from a video game. PES at its very best.