The adaptive offline season 2014-2015 classics challenge

James Beaver said:
It looks like I will have a good gaming week, so starting tomorrow I will be pushing at least a couple of matches each day.
Click to expand...
I'm looking forward to see them :)

For now, I'll drop another match here.
I don't know what's happening with the conversion, sometimes it looks like it stutters with the settings I'm using now. Might consider switching back to the original format (but it would take me ages to upload matches).

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR - ARSENAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a55RGXvd_c4​
Sorry Arsenal fans. Sorry. :COAT:

During a very nice sunny afternoon, Arsenal went visiting Tottenham. What they didn't know is that they were about to attend a one-man show run by mr. Moussa Dembélé.
That's right, Dembélé was just unstoppable today. He received a wonderful ball at minute 13 and scored with a sweet outside foot shot with his left foot. Then he gave shivers to the Arsenal supporters at minute 17 when his shot ended wide, but at the end of the first half he was the quickest to collect a ball that Ospina couldn't retain and made it 2-0.
Before the end of the first half, as soon as he got the ball again, Mertesacker decided to elbow him down, just in case. Asked about that at the end of the match, he answered "you know, you just couldn't foresee what was next when he had the ball so I decided to play it safe". :LMAO:
Arsenal had only one occasion during the whole half and nothing more.

The second half started pretty much in the same way: Dembélé being knoched down, then Dembélé being put one-on-one with Ospina and kicking the ball against the keeper, with Kane trying a pretty impossible long ranger shortly after, which indeed was easy for Ospina to catch.

Then Arsenal started to fight back and that's when I started to suffer on the flanks. They got a penalty and scored it, then another run by Sanchez was terminated right outside the box with another foul.
And shortly after, the unthinkable happened: Lloris messed up and gave Arsenal the chance to score their second goal, a handful of minutes left in the match.

But who cares, earlier in the match Lamela scored to make it 3-1 so I could rejoice anyway as the match ended 3-2. :BLEH:

MATCH: Tottenham Hotspur - Arsenal
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TW
MY TEAM: Tottenham
RESULT: 3-2 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL (higher)

Now I'm set to face Ivory Coast using Ghana. I hope Muntari is out injuted. :FAIL:
 
,----
| MATCH: Tottenham - Arsenal
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Arsenal
| RESULT: draw 0-0
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

The shots were 13-2 in favour of Tottenham. That says it all. I was unable to build any attacks, and I was just waiting for them to score. Awfully lame play from me. Dunno why, I played this match pretty tired. Surprisingly Szczęsny was the man of the match. :)

Probably shouldn't play another match today, but can't resist.
 
Here are three matches in one go. The second one was a goalless draw, for the other two you can see the highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHTiY9lkJ0Y

,----
| MATCH: Cote d'Ivoire - Ghana
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Ghana
| RESULT: win 2-4 on penalties (1-1)
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

,----
| MATCH: PSV - Ajax
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: PSV
| RESULT: draw 0-0
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG6z9RWFqYo

,----
| MATCH: Olympique de Marseille - Olympique Lyonnais
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Olympique de Marseille
| RESULT: loss 1–2
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
`----

The best match of this set, where I had some good chances to equalise - before I needed to take some real risks by radically moving my defensive line up.

A couple more matches today! Great!
 
Wow, I'm looking forward to see them when I get home :)
I have also played two matches (the Ivory Coast vs. Ghana one and the PSV - Ajax one), I plan to upload them as soon as possible :)
 
Onwards and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puESw-q2nCM

... downwards.

,----
| MATCH: Sunderland - Newcastle
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
| MY TEAM: Sunderland
| RESULT: loss 0-2
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
`----

This was an absolutely great thriller even though I lost it. Or maybe partially because of that.

In general I was playing really solid defensive play in the first half. It seems that a bit of sleep does affect PES skills (yesterday played horrible defensive game after only a couple of hours of sleep). Newcastle had one shot in the first half. You can see how that ended. I had some good buildup play before that, and I thought I'd just switch sides for a change... Then the placement of the CB for the header...

I don't know what kind of default tactics these teams had, but this match had speed and absolutely no possession play sh*t by the CPU. Hard core British football all around. I did not get in a lot of shots, but there were a very large number of cases where I almost broke through, just to have the ball stolen from me at the very last minute. As it actually should be.

At the beginning of the second half Newcastle got a few shots, and for a moment I thought I'd lost my defensive mojo again. But then I was able to shut the door again until 84'. At that point I needed to take a calculated risk, and pushed up my defensive line. And, quite realistically, the CPU broke through. To my defense I can say that I pressed the "slide tackle" button multiple times when I controlled the CB, but for some reason nothing happened. Dunno why.

The best match in a long time. And on to the next one.
 
And now for the Manchester derby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uBNICOgPzU

,----
| MATCH: Manchester United - Manchester City
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
| MY TEAM: Manchester City
| RESULT: win 1-2
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
`----

Thank God for Joe Hart. At the beginning of the match the United were breaking through the middle as they pleased, but Joe kept us in the match.
 
The final of the Dutch Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxAvFNEqXHQ

,----
| MATCH: FC Groningen - PEC Zwolle
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
| MY TEAM: PEC Zwolle
| RESULT: win 0-2
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

FC Groningen was the stronger team, but the one-man show by Lam changed everything. (A bit gamey, I think.)
 
Superclásico.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KezwxAkWzMM

,----
| MATCH: Boca Juniors - River Plate
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: River Plate
| RESULT: draw 2-2
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

Even included one clip with no goal. :)

There was some sort of an offense-defense imbalance in this match. I found it impossible to control the CPU attackers: hence the two goals. On the other hand, I had more shots than in most of my matches against superstar.

I found this interesting and thought that maybe this was related to the condition of the players. But no. I replayed the match three times, using default tactics, and in all replays the CPU scored with its first shot.
 
Coppa Italia final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY0RCXksfI8

*aLe: I think I am going to finish this challenge today or tomorrow. Just enjoying it too much. I will then watch your videos (until you finish this as well).

,----
| MATCH: Juventus - Lazio
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Lazio
| RESULT: win 5-7 on penalties (3-3)
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

0-1: Klose does what he is known for. Close range inside the box.

1-1: Cana, my CB, makes a small error in judging trajectory. Pirlo is grateful.

1-2: Corner hassle.

2-2: Brilliant through ball!

3-2: Classic 45 degree stuff.

3-3: Look at the time of the equaliser. :D

I thought Juventus was going to beat me to pulp, but no. I am scoring more goals than ever. I am also letting in a lot of them...

I also had more shots, which was probably the best thing.
 
Is it me or you skipped the Milan derby? :CONFUSE: :D

By the way,
re: the African Cup final > that 1-0 goal, that's what would leave me speechless/screaming (depending on the situation). Struck with power, kept on target... Great effort. I try some of them myself too, but more often than not they hit the fans behind the goal :FAIL:
The 1-1 goal is typical CPU though: shot along the ground, where they know the keeper won't reach.

re: Marseille vs. Lyon > the 1-0, well, probably the way you lost the ball was a little naive, nothing to do about the penalty though. When you challenge an opponent even with the double A (or double X in your case) there's always the chance it'll go that way (you'll see more of that in my CIV-GHA match, I'm editing it right now and I'll upload it in the afternoon). The 2-0 was also typical, when the CPU sees the space it is ruthless at the highest level(s). Nice move on the 2-1 to get rid of your defender. ;)

re: Sunderland vs. Newcastle > What was the keeper doing on the first goal? I would've catched that ball, seriously. And I'm probably the worst keeper ever when it comes to rushing out. About the 2-0, every comment is unnecessary.

re: the Manchester derby > I never thought you would reach that pass for the 1-0 goal to be honest, looked off-target to me (I would've probably let it loose). Great you believed in that ball until the end. About the 2-0 goal, well, great pass on the flank and then a bit of luck in the middle, but it's part of football I guess. Their goal, well, R2 all the way. It's devasting if aimed right.

I'll watch the other ones when I get back home this afternoon :)
 
*aLe said:
Is it me or you skipped the Milan derby?
Click to expand...

I played it, but forgot to report the result, since there was no video.

,----
| MATCH: Inter - Milan
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
| MY TEAM: Milan
| RESULT: draw 0-0
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
`----

Both had good chances. Shots 9-6.

I will return to speculations about my and your matches later. Now I am just going to keep playing while I have the chance (and the flow).

In my defense on what will follow in the rest of this challenge, I would like to state that today I decided to start using right-stick switching in defending. Yesterday I got so fed up with cursor switching that I have to give it a try.

So...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4unhNSvnHc

,----
| MATCH: Arsenal - Aston Villa
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Aston Villa
| RESULT: loss 3-1
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
`----

Unfortunately Konami still has some work to do even with right-stick switching. I have set in my personal settings that the cursor will be switched automatically only when attacking. It doesn't work properly all the time. You can see it in the second goal in the video above. I am trying to right-stick switch to the defender who has the best position, but the program automatically switches to that defender, so my manual switch gives control of the wrong defender.

Otherwise quite an exciting match.
 
French cup final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgcGjrZtFHU

,----
| MATCH: Auxerre - Paris Saint Germain
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
| MY TEAM: Paris Saint Germain
| RESULT: win 3-4 on penalties (0-0)
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

If there is one match in this challenge where the winning team should outperform the losing one by a large margin, it is this one. But I think I mentioned before that sometimes things click in finishing, sometimes they don't. In this match PSG failed to score with shots 2-13 in their favour.

If you are in doubt about whether stats matter when playing against superstar, play this match as PSG. :)
 
Copa del Rey final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4O-gnqcXeM

,----
| MATCH: Athletic Bilbao - Barcelona
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Athletic Bilbao
| RESULT: win 2-1
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

After this experience I have absolutely no doubt that in the long run, manual defensive switching (right-stick switching) is the only way to go against superstar. See that Barcelone shot count: four shots!

Right-stick switching is still very difficult for me, and in the video you can easily see me completely lost at times. But it is the only way to achieve the critical defensive choice: "I want to control exactly that guy right now." You can't see it in the video, but even with 94% pass rate, there were half a dozen critical interceptions by me when Barcelona tried to break through my defense. Actually, in that Barcelona goal I might have been able to stop the break, but messed up choosing the correct defender with the stick (stick push down instead of up). Nice chip by Neymar, though.

Regular cursor switching is simply so broken that in a critical situation you can press L1 a dozen times without getting the right guy to control. Or, because you need to press-press-press, you press one too many times and lose him again.

Defensively by far my most impressive game up to date. And this was only my third match with right-stick switching.

Interesting 1-0 goal. Accidental knuckle shot?
 
I'm back! I'm out of home a lot during these days so I can't upload consistently but I'll try and sneak a couple of videos in from time to time :)

Under a starry sky, Ivory Coast and Ghana fighted until the end for the title.
And I didn't choose the word "fight" randomly, it's actually been a muscular and harsh match with both teams being motivated enough to pretty much kill any opponent that was still able to walk.

I must admit I've been dominated in pretty much every area but, unlike what happened for example with the Copa Sudamericana match, I managed to be cynical (and clinical) enough during the counters to the extent that I got myself ahead 2-0.

Then they got a corner. From the corner, they had a freekick for an arguable call by the referee, from the free kick they got a penalty for absolutely nothing. Talking about being a little biased, are we?

They made it 2-1, but eventually couldn't equalize. Yes my friend, Ghana are Champions of Africa. Despite playing Muntari as a starter (which, I believe, makes this an even bigger achievement). :BOP::BOP::BOP:

MATCH: Ivory Coast - Ghana
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
MY TEAM: Ghana
RESULT: 2-1 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (higher)

Now let's move to Holland, I'll be Ajax Amsterdam and play against PSV Endhiven.
 
*aLe,

we need to skip the third-last match, the final of Portuguese cup. I didn't notice before that the second team (Braga) is not in PES.

However, here is my UCL final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkgLkVLFnrY

,----
| MATCH: Juventus - Barcelona
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: Juventus
| RESULT: win 2-0
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

As the stats at the end suggest, this didn't go as well defensively as the previous one. Barcelona played some surprising, fine, piercing long passes I did not expect. But there were two heroes in this match: Buffon, who was in red condition and made 9 saves, and Tevez, who took care of things at the other end of the pitch. The first goal was a result of spectacular placement and finishing. The second goal is probably my favorite goal of this challenge: nice manual pass-and-move play there.

Interesting: when I use right-stick selection of the defensive player, the passing stats of the CPU are higher than before, because I play the front man less often.

Well what do you know: only one match to go!
 
*aLe said:
It's unlicensed but it's there ;)
http://www.pesmaster.com/bresigne/pes-2015/team/1974/
Click to expand...

Ok, so I will make it my last match.

I should have lost this one: CPU controlled shots by 11-2. They were faster, stronger, better all around - although it was the weaker team!

,----
| MATCH: Vasco da Gama - CR Flamengo
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: CR Flamengo
| RESULT: draw 0-0
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----
 
And this is the other match I was telling you about.
This really shows how Superstar is. :RANT:

I don't really have much to say about this. If you see the video you'll see that I was pretty much unable to string two passes together.
I had a couple of occasions which I threw away because of my poor passing, but what made me really upset was the 1-0 goal. I admit I lost the ball in a dangerous area but really, just look at the keeper.
He follows the ball, he seems about to catch it then he looks the forward in the eyes and says "gentleman, feel free to score as you wish". Abysmal.

The second goal, well, I was pushing too much and I got punished on the counter.

The third goal, well, I don't even need to say much about that (again, my fault for mistiming the tackle yet his forward acted like he knew in advance the direction I was taking) but the match was already virtually over.

MATCH: PSV - Ajax
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: Ajax
RESULT: 3-0 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL (lower)
 
*aLe said:
And this is the other match I was telling you about.
This really shows how Superstar is. :RANT:

PSV - AJAX
Click to expand...

With that intro I had to look at the highlight video immediately. BTW, another greatly edited video, I must say.

Looked like a very exciting match - except for the 2-0 goal. In that goal you can see that the AI (once again) takes the FB out of the game, and therefore opens the lane for the final thrust. And then the classic 45 degree finish.

In the previous challenge we had this guy playing who was brilliant at defending. I noticed that most of the time he was simply correcting mistakes made by the defensive AI. Like keeping the defensive line intact, when the AI was always trying to break the line by moving defenders or midfielders up.

Anyway, here is my last one :( - Portuguese cup final. I will return to your videos and other analyses later. It's been a great experience!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZBr8juc1sI

,----
| MATCH: Sporting CP - SC Braga
| DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
| MY TEAM: SC Braga
| RESULT: win 5-6 on penalties (1-1)
| NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
`----

Another one with the full 120' and penalties.

I was pretty sure I was going to score there in that second clip. You can also see in that second clip that I am doing some extra weird moves with the defender in my box - I guess it's been a long day.

Interestingly enough, all of my OT matches were decided eventually by penalties. Weird. I think it's partially because the players are so tired.

The CPU dominated again, so I was lucky. Superb individual performance by Luiz Carlos, though.
 
*aLe said:
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR - ARSENAL
Click to expand...

Ooh, nice trick there at the very beginning! And a cool finish in the 1-0.

A brilliant delayed pass to split them for the 2-0.

Then after the 2-1 you destroyed all their hope in the great hassle to make it 3-1. The looked like a realistic goal.

But they come back to make it 3-2. This is getting exciting.

And the Spurs survive!

Well that was a thriller. Sorry you had to punish your favourite team.
 
Well it's not my favourite team (I support AC Milan) but actually after reading 'Fever Pitch' by Nick Hornby I developed some form of sympathy for Arsenal. :D

By the way, I managed to play the OM-OL match as long as the Sunderland - Newcastle one. Unfortunately I can't upload videos until the weekend (not at home currently) so we'll still have to wait a little. :)
 
*aLe,

your CIV-GHA.

A very physical match with plenty of tackles.

Dangerous moments from the very beginning.

0-1 goal... That CIV DMF or whoever it was must have partied late on the previous night. :)

0-2: have you practiced finishing lately? Solid scoring in the last two matches.

1-2: Difficult to do much else after the fast free kick into the box.

Another win, and two goals with only five shots. Nice!
 
*aLe said:
re: the African Cup final > that 1-0 goal, that's what would leave me speechless/screaming (depending on the situation). Struck with power, kept on target... Great effort. I try some of them myself too, but more often than not they hit the fans behind the goal.
Click to expand...
Yeah, me too, but in that case I gave the ball some time to settle. Also, I have recently learned to control my power better, so I tend to shoot over much more seldom than before.

re: the Manchester derby > I never thought you would reach that pass for the 1-0 goal to be honest, looked off-target to me (I would've probably let it loose). Great you believed in that ball until the end.
Click to expand...

True that, was surprised that it paid off.

As you've probably noticed by now, I have much less time for things PES right now, but I will gradually go through the messages here in detail.
 
On the other hand, I'm back at home for the weekend so I finally have my internet back.
It always looked slow (upload-wise) to me but man, I missed it in these days. :LMAO:

The OM-OL match is uploading, stay tuned :)
 
OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE - OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XML9NSrTCmw​
Under a pouring rain, we witnessed a couple of interesting plot twists.

The first one is that my controller was out of battery so it powered itself off several times during the first half (you can have an evidnce of this at the beginning of the stoppag time: strangely enough, it looked like the CPU was trying to give me the time to power the controller back on :CONF:).
Apart from that, the first half has been rpetty poor of action.

The second half has been way more interesting though. We started pushing on the throttle but it's Lyon that went up with a wonderful lob. They straight after had the chance to make it 2-0 but luckily enough missed the last pass. I was seriously thinking I was going to lose this.
But they shouldn't have started playing keepball at minute 70. Oh no.
I won a ball back, Gignac looked for Thauvin on the right flank, Thauvin crossed and here came another plot twist: Payet did the worst header in his career, yet it went in. I felt a little embarassed but what really counts is that we then were one-all.
And we were not done there.
Payet got challenged shortly after right out of the box. It didn't look like a foul to me but who cares, Payet scored again with a rocket that hardly even left Lopes the time to dive.

That's how we won against Olympique Lyonnais. :D


MATCH: Olympique de Marseille - Olympique Lyonnais
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
MY TEAM: OM
RESULT: 2-1 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (higher)

Now two BPL matches are awaiting us.
 
This is what happens when you have many chances and you fail to take any of them.

I had a very good first half especially because Newcastle left a lot of open space in the middle for Cattermole to do pretty much everything he wanted, and we went close to the 1-0 goal several times without scoring.

After missing every chance I had, during the second half they decided enough was enough and started closing down every space: they really had me struggling, until we conceded.
I thought De Jong fouled my defender, but it pretty much gets things even with the FK that was given to me during the last match and that resulted in the 2-1 goal.

That's pretty much all, a match that I could have easily won ended with a loss.

MATCH: Sunderland - Newcastle
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: Sunderland
RESULT: 1-0 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL (lower)

Currently moving on to the Manchester derby. Wish me luck! :)
 
MANCHESTER UNITED - MANCHESTER CITY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q4PEAS4Tik​
Another match, probably the best one in the series till now.
Exactly like James said, United pushed on the throttle since the very beginning and it was only thanks to Hart that they didn't score straight away. Yet, during minute 13 Clichy lost a ball in a dangerous area and you can guess the outcome, United scored.
Dzeko managed to score the equalizer shortly after anyway after a nice one-two play.

During the break I decided to put Jovetic in instead of a barely visible Agüero, and that's when the match changed.
United had a huge chance to score the 2-1 goal but the lob by Falcao hit the bar and bounced exactly off the goal line and back into play, then Jovetic decided to carry the Citizens upon his shoulders and to score a wonderful brace (actually both the goals were very similar) to secure a 3-1 win.

MATCH: Manchester United - Manchester City
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
MY TEAM: City
RESULT: 3-1 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (higher)

Next will be the natch I've been waiting for since the start of the challenge.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be AC Milan and I'll face the other team of the city. IO NON HO CUGINI!
 
Let's move on to the Derby della Madonnina. IO NON HO CUGINI!

This is surely the match I was looking forward to the most.
he chance to play it with my team, against their most bitter rivals, at Superstar level nonetheless got me pretty excited.

Too bad the final result was not what I had expected before the match.

It's been a match that resembled closely what happened in the reality, with the match ending in a draw but with In*&r actually deserving a little more. The only thing that reminded me I was playing a football videogame was this: Cerci scored. Yes, that's right, in PES Cerci can score.

I wish him all the luck for the upcoming season as he's a good guy and he deserves it all, yet I must admit he's been barely acceptable during the 14/15 season and I didn't expect him scoring in this match.

Another mention has to go to Diego Lopez, who saved my back a couple of times. Well done buddy.

MATCH: In*&r - AC Milan
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: AC Milan
RESULT: 1-1 DRAW
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (same)
 
*aLe,

your OM-OL. 0-1: Nice move by the CPU, gotta admit.

1-1: Brilliant through ball! How on earth can you place them so well when playing manually? Great goal!

2-1: Quelle vision indeed! Excellent comeback from 0-1.

Started playing Liga Adelante (Spanish 2nd league) at superstar. Best PES 2015 league play so far; have played around 20 matches. Also changed my defensive style once and for all: I now track runs and passing lanes much more often (right-stick switcing), and control the man up front less often. It feels super weird at first, but is very effective: I have had matches where the CPU has had only one shot. Also, the passing percentage of the CPU is typically in the 80s, sometimes even in the 70s.

Will be watching your other matches later.
 
I'm coming back!
At least, I will be back home by friday :LOL:

Hopefully I will be able to get myself on par with uploading and commenting (currently played until Juve - Lazio).
 
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