Totally agree Zee. Also, I hate it when the CPU pressures my defence non-stop. There must be some sort of short distance power sprinting stamina that depletes quickly, which of course should be separate to the other usual stamina bar. I thought they were going to implement this for 2011 but not sure what happened there.
I agree with both you and Zee. Fatigue is huge, and would add a far more tactical element to your play. Do you choose to go flat out early on, hoping to build a lead, but risk inviting pressure later on in the game as the opposition have much higher stamina etc.....
I've said for a long time elsewhere that there should be a secondary stamina bar for sprinting. There should be an overall stamina bar, which goes down through the course of a match with basic player movement and diminishing concentration levels, but also a secondary sprint bar which is very short lived and impacts massively on the overall stamina guage. It should ideally run out after about 40 yards of a flat out sprint, meaning defenders and attackers cannot just charge around non-stop - as the sprint bar runs out, they'll simply stop sprinting, and it then slowly recharges at a low level than when you started. And when it's used at all, it diminishes your overall stamina bar even further. When the sprint bar runs out and you carry on sprinting, it would then radically reduce your overall stamina bar. This will make players choose when to sprint for a ball, when both attacking and defending, and when to conserve energy.
I think this is basically the FIFA stamina guage, but the key difference compared to FIFA is that it should actually do something radical when it reaches zero (FIFA's of course does nothing at all, and lets you carry on sprinting around). Hammering your player's stamina could have a great impact, from not just physical strength and speed, but all stats effectively would drastically reduce to simulate mental tiredness. Hammer Fabregas, or Xavi to the point of exhaustion, then prepare to see their passing stats go down the toilet. As they get mentally and physically tired, so their passing goes all over the place. Do the same for a centre back, prepare to see them caught out of position or mis-time tackles. Hammer the likes of Iniesta, then prepare to see his dribbling and control diminish, and make next to no forward runs at any speed because he's tired. In short, over using sprint both in single player and online should reduce even the best players to useless wrecks, which would make the likes of Messi more akin to the absolute worst ML default players on purple arrows.
As we all know, real football is as much about conserving energy and knowing when to 'burst' into space, which is why the top players in the world are so good at it. I reckon such a simple change on the fatigue system would radically enhance this, as well as bringing a whole new dimension to tactical substitutions. In game modes such as ML too, buying players for their stamina and mental toughness attributes would be more of a factor too. Signing that lightning fast dribbling attacker might not look like the obvious option if you can see before buying him that a few sprints down the wing will see him a devastated wreck unable to get to the ball, but then you'd have the option to buy him as an impact sub, or just use him very sparingly when sprinting.
In many ways I think the new PES is set up to use this system, the concept of slow, tiny movements, taking more touches of the ball rather than powering past players, and playing at a more realistic speed without sprinting is there. All it needs is an extra something, maybe like some of us have suggested, to make that step to becoming a proper simulation of a physical sport.
In short, I think it would be a great idea
