Played more of my Middlesbrough Master League games last night and got my first win, against Everton. Managed to score a goal (it was a Downing backheel while the keeper was lying on the floor, very cheeky), and then the commentator said: "Downing [massive pause because the commentary isn't great] is being man-marked now, he's definitely the danger-man".
At this point I was playing possession football and desperately trying not to concede, but when I looked for him further up the field, there he was, with Darron Gibson chasing him around.
Seeing/hearing that, along with the adaptive AI pinning back their wing-backs in my favourite positions to exploit... It was a real watershed moment, for me. From (PES 2016) decent game underneath layers of frustration, to (PES 2017) potential being realised.
I had a few games with a friend later on in the evening, and after a 0-0 (Liverpool v Everton), he won 4-0 with Sunderland against my West Ham, by making Defoe the centre of what he did. I'd not seen any real thunderbolts before, but he hit one with Defoe that nearly took the net off. Like I said yesterday about the last goal from Bournemouth, it looked just right.
I can't get enough.
The online servers are up now so I'm going to play my first online matches tonight - this is where I get nervous (I'm not a big online guy, but for sales of the game - which means an even better PES next year - the lag needs to be fixed)...