I really enjoy the online gameplay when it works. You do get arcade types but the early throes of MLO clip most people's wings considerably. I do worry for D5 players if they end up getting matched with D1-3 players in a few months' time though. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
Got into the Div4 Coach mode knockouts and lost on penalties in the first round. The game itself was pretty damn exciting to watch - Erding had a shot palmed out of the top corner, they had a number of good opportunities and we had a couple of frenzied goalmouth scrambles.
We were on form in the qualies though. Beat a couple of sides with bigger talents just through tactics and a fair bit of confidence on the ball. Shame you didn't like Erding, Jim - Reactions of 88, attack of 81, good physical stature plus Fox-in-the-box and 1-on-1 player cards do a hell of a lot of good, particularly in Coach mode.
Chantome is a genius by the way. £1.5m, not very quick at all but quite agile and technically very good. Great passer of the ball over all distances - Passing card too, needless to say. Everything he does impresses his manager - his debut saw him score a very composed finish with the outside of the right foot into the near corner. Just watching him in coach mode you see him pull off these cunning little turns and touches to create space for one of his signature play-spreaders. The sort of casual Gallic flair I want to develop in BaL.
His name's just completely gone but I sold...erm...Ceydellanos (??) just now. A greek who I think might be fake as there was another player with absolutely identical stats but shorter! - to make room for an upgrade in the same position, Kharja. Not had a game with him yet but already feel a pang of regret as the Greek had decent all-round stats including a fair few yellows. He could pass, had good speed and could carry the ball well, plus he had 82 FK accuracy, 87 shot power and 86 swerve. One of his last acts for me was to score a 28 yard free kick in ML. Not sure why I sold him really!
He's £1m if anyone wants a look; you'll probably have to search for a Greek in the £1m price range who can play CMF or AMF. I only really sold him as he'd got a couple of purple arrows at crucial times and if it wasn't for Iouga I'd have been up a creek. I also wanted to try someone alongside Simons who didn't have an attacking mentality. Kharja is better in most areas, particularly reaction times and acceleration (so better at snapping up loose balls), and has the 1-touch play card which I thought would be useful in the sorts of tight spaces I tend to find myself in. I'll definitely look at snapping him back up once I start signing subs.
To be fair bud, I was pretty happy with him, and your right, his Player Cards are that of an out-and-out finisher. His exit only came off the back of a friendly I had offline with my best mate. He was Man Utd and I chose Lyon, I ended up winning 2-1 in extra time and Bastos scored two amazing goals. One was a tight dribble followed by a 30 yard screamer into the bottom corner, and the other he cut inside about 25 yards out, on his cultured left foot smashed one into the top corner, off the bar then the post and in. After that game I sold Erding and bought Bastos.
Also, I like a certain partnership upfront, usually a strong technical player and then a smaller, agile player with a bit of speed over the first 10 yards and a great touch. Jeda has been superb for me getting a goal a game in every start he has made. I'll come back for Erding when I get some money.
How much did you get for qualifying for the Knockout Stage ?
R2 is also a great way to avoid a sliding tackle by the way. A couple of taps during a dribble and at the right time, makes your player jump in the air to avoid a slide tackle, ala Cristiano. Scored two goals of this last night as a dirty MLO player tried hacking me to death at every opportunity. To be fair, he had the default team with C.Ronaldo. He tried a Rainbow Flick early doors, and it's the first time anyone has tried this against me online. The flick itself is pretty much useless anyway advantage wise, but as soon as I saw it, I took a yellow card as I tried to snap Ronaldo's legs. He then tried again, so I chopped him again. Ronaldo went off injured after less than 25 minutes played. I'm sure my opponent learnt a harsh lesson about Rainbow Flicks and me. After that he tried to kick the shit out of my players, but I managed to jump his tackles more often than not.
I have a couple of great buys that people should have a look at, I'll post them tomorrow once I have their nationalities.
As for the MLO, I love it, and definately not having the same problems that your having Ern, anything but to be honest. I'm loving playing randoms, and have yet to see any glitches or cheap play. I also completely clicked last night with a new defensive tactic that has changed the way I play the game, it is brilliant and with concentration can stop alot of those deadly throughballs.
Ern, just sign up for PEEL and you can play PES fair, click the link on my signature.
+ 
trick where you fake a shot, it was great in pes 6 but in pes 11 the players don't do it, 
+ 
to put the ball in front of the 1st player or 
to loft the ball. While doing that, you also need to press direction button to the 1st player. 
