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The Master League adventures thread

:BY: Beat that then! (it was 6 until the 87th minute to be fair)

Inter beat me 4-0 in the cup semi-final 1st leg, last night. They played like a team possessed, constantly one step ahead and it was so difficult making any sort of effort on goal. I can't see a miracle happening in the 2nd leg :anx:

It look sthen that i will have to concentrate on finishing within the top six of the league. 5th and 6th looks possible, as 4th upwards are quite far away. I'm bobbing about below the European places zone, with a pretty bad goal difference, which could be my downfall come the end of the season. I can only hope to give someone (or two) a good beating before the final day. I really want to get into Europe.
 
i am convinced there are some games in pes2008 where no matter what you do youre gonna get a tonking!

do you guys reckon the goals to shots ratio is higher than in prev versions?
 
For the CPu team???? Definitely yes db...
What i don't like at all is that virtually every free kick against you is a goal....
 
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Slowly getting points there Db.

Well my season looks to be ending in a spectacularly dull fashion. :rant: I haven't won in god knows how long :brick: and i'm pretty sure Europe is out of the question next season :-ll
I was eventually beaten in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, by Inter (who went on to win it). Maybe, just maybe, in a weird Nokami way, perhaps i might be considered for a Uefa cup spot. Who knows. It's just that all other finalists and semi-finalists are currently in the top six of the league. I've finished seventh before in a league and seen the spot awarded to someone from the cup and not me. So i am quite confused these days. I doubt it though.
Either way, i need to add some quality in the off-season (now about 4 games away i think) so that i can compete better next season. :pray:
 
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Still leading the pack, but Lyon is right behind:

Valenciennes FC - Le Mans 2-2
7' Savidan
12' Grafite
45' Savidan
82' Romaric (Grafite)
MOTM: Romaric

Toulouse - Valenciennes FC 3-4
18' Savidan (Audel)
32' Savidan (Belmadi)
37' Sirieix (Emana)
44' Dieuze
51' Audel (Rippert)
76' Elmander (Sirieix)
82' Savidan (Jeovanio)
MOTM: Savidan


Ranking:

1. Valenciennes FC 29 (after 14 matches)
2. Olympique Lyonnais 28
3. RC Lens 24
4. AS St-Etienne 23
5. Olympique Marseille 22
6. Lille OSC 21
7. PSG 21
8. Le Mans UC 21
9. AS Monaco 20
 
This is off-topic, but...

Did anybody see the highlights to the Fiorentina vs Reggina game!?!?

DAMN!

The last goal by Mutu was one MUTHAFUCKIN' stylish goal!!
 
EMPOLI ADD FIREPOWER


After finishing 13th and keeping their top flight status for another season, Empoli have delved into the transfer market to bolster their squad. A decent cup run has seen the Azzurri's warchest sufficiently stocked, endowing the Tuscan minnows with a little bit of spending power of their own.



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Retired goalkeeper Daniele Bassi has been replaced by Vladan Kujovic. The Serbian keeper, who also holds Belgian nationality, joins on a four year deal from Levante. The former Roda JC custodian will vye with Davide Bassi to be the azzurri number one, next season.


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Costa Rican striker Alvaro Saborio has arrived at the Stadio Castellani from Swiss side FC Sion. Nutmeg has been a long term admirer of the Latin hitman and will hope he can fire Empoli up the league table.

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Empoli have also swooped for Australian forward, James Troisi. The Adelaide born youngster, who has an Italian father and Greek mother, joins from Newcastle Utd. Troisi follows in the footsteps of fellow countrymen Mark Bresciano and Vincenzo Grella, who also play in Serie A.
 
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EMPOLI HANDED EURO PLACE

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The Stadio Castellani will play host to European football this season, as Empoli have been awarded a shock Uefa Cup place for the 08/09 campaign. Despite last season's uninspiring performance in the league, finsihing thirteenth, the Tuscan minnows reached the semi-finals in the Coppa Italia. Their presence in the final four was enough to secure a european spot, as all other beaten finalists and semi-finalists had finished within the top six of the league, thus already securing European places themselves.

HELLO TO SUKALO
On the final day of the transfer window Empoli managed to make one further signing. Slovenian midfielder Goran Sukalo inked a two year deal with the azzurri, moving from second tier Bundesliga side TuS Koblenz.

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Second defeat is a costly one but Valenciennes take revenge in cup:

Valenciennes FC- PSG 2-3
12' N'goyi (Digard)
27' Pauleta (Luyindila)
55' Audel (Belmadi)
62' Chelle (own-goal)
81' Bezzaz (Belmadi)
MOTM: Digard

This defeat against PSG was a costly one because Lyon took the lead after that defeat:

1. Olympique Lyonnais 31
2. Valenciennes FC 29


Cup first leg:

PSG - Valenciennes FC 1-3
15' Savidan (Belmadi)
48' Savidan (Kharroubi)
67' Audel
89' Luyindula (N'Goyi)
MOTM: Savidan

Transfers in:

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Yoann Gouffran (SM Caen)

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Steven Defour (Standard)

The first match after the mid-season break is Valenciennes- Lyon...
 
In my on-going quest to get the relative best out of PES2008 (although i think so far, my Strasbourg ML was very good, i just wasn't happy with how i organised the other leagues), i have started a concurrent ML to my Empoli one. I'm going to see which one is more fun.

...so this is what i came up with.


NORDIC SUPERLIGA
The Best of Scandanavia & The Netherlands

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As ever, it has to be a bit of a fantasy league, and in this case i have formed the Nordic Superliga. As it suggests, it features all the Scandanavian teams (all in Div 1) plus Eredivisie teams. Yes, Holland is not technically northern Europe, but therein lies the fantasy element. It's my take on the 'Royal League' (the annual competition in which clubs from the three Scandanavian monarchies, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, participate).

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As i visited to Sweden (Stockholm) towards the end of last year and very much enjoyed it, i have chosen Hammarby. This came about via a lot of club searching (playing exhibition matches to find a team which felt right). Something i often try to do before beginning a ML.

I played the first match of the season last night, versus VVV Venlo. A promising start! My squad is tiny though and therefore i will have to loan in or buy a utility player or two, to combat fatigue.

VVV Venlo 0
Hammarby 1 Davies 22'
 
gerd said:
For the CPu team???? Definitely yes db...
What i don't like at all is that virtually every free kick against you is a goal....
Click to expand...

That's disappointing and unrealistic. But I discovered something interesting. If you press and hold triangle right before the ref whistles, the CPU will give up a direct shot on goal, trying a long ball to the area instead. Very often it works for me! You guys should try it.

Some of you would think this is nonsense, but it looks like triangle makes your keeper anticipate a run for the other side of the goal (just as square makes the wall jump, and circle makes it run towards the ball).
Sometimes when I do this, the CPU would even try and shoot on the keeper's side, just like some players do in reality.
 
Oh and my Sampdoria squad has been successful so far. I just fininished season 2011 as Serie A champions (3rd time in a row), and with the Coppa Italia title against Juve and winning the UEFA Cup (masters cup in ML) against Aston Villa.

My key players are Toldo, Kompany, Matthew Taylor, Marcelo Mattos, Verón and Rafael Sobis (MVP for 2 times in a row).

Just signed Ballack as a free agent :)

I'll give more details here later.
Cheers
 
Hey how do I adjust difficulty in the Master League. When I set the ML up it said I could change it?? But I can't, do I have to wait till the end of the season.??
 
My best win in the Master League was a 8-0 victory over Internacional in the League A Second Division. I was challenging them for the title as well.:DD

Took me a few seasons to have much success though. I took a few 7-0 beatings over the first two seasons.:blush:

Most embarrasing moment though was in the cup last season (when I won the league as well). Won the first leg against Copenhagen 3-0, so I played a reserve team next leg. All was going well, no goals after about 70 minutes. Then Copenhagen scored. Then they got a penalty, and I thought, oh dear, looks like a nervy finish. But my keeper saved it. But then they went on to get two goals in the last ten minutes and took it to extra time. For some reason, I just couldn't touch the ball and my team were all over the place, and they went and got a goal in the second half ot ET. Absolutedly devastating.:((

A better adventure was in the EC QF against Athletico Madrid. Went down 3-0 away from home in the first leg by half time. But somehow I got it back to 3-3, and then won the home leg 4-0. The final against Barca was unreal. I took and early lead, but they really bombarded me after that and got to 3-1 up just after half time. I was really struggling to get out my half, but somehow I scored 2 goals in as many minutes and took it to extra time. Then they took the lead again, but I equalised, and they snuck it just after 105 minutes. Final score 4-5.

EDIT. I'm about 6 or 7 seasons into the campaign, and I'm stuggling to find a real superstar player. My team right now is:

1. Renan (GK)
2. A. Ferdinand (LB)
3. Motta (CD)
4. Zoro (RB)
5. Lindgren (DM)
6. Marchisio (CM)
7. Wijnaldum (CM)
8. Halil Altintop (AM)
9. Arizmendi (CF)
10. Volpato (CF)
11. Pienaar (AM) (captain)

On the bench I've got Roberto Carlos (in his youth), Muntari, M'Bami, Loriot, Fujimoto, Giovinco, Ninis, Jerome, Mitea, Andy Cole (young), and some others.

Its a solid team, with a lot of them being young prospects today. But I can't find a real superstar to spend my cash on. Ronaldinho still looks good, but the best player currently that I can see is Messi (still with Barca), plus a couple of close contenders are Nani and Nihat. But their transfer rating thing is at or near 0 for these players, and I can't get them to budge.

I tried training up some young players. There's been four ones I've taken from really young ages. Larsson joined at 17, but proved useless even for a reseve player and his stats barely go up by 1 each season. Andy Cole on the other hand has been brilliant, he's very similar to Jerome stats-wise and will fill his role once Jerome is too old. He's proved useful as a third-choice striker and scored a lot of nice goals, and his stats have gone up on average by about 6 since he joined. Roberto Carlos looks like becoming another success story. He's still a bit slow and weak in his defensive roles, but he's still useable for them and is already showing his use on the attack, and has come close with some free kicks when on form. Currently I'm working on Rivaldo. He's still a very basic player, but he's scored a couple of goals though its hard to give him the practise he needs when I have so many talented midfielders.

Does anyone know where I can find the classic players? I've been told I've unlocked them but I can't see them...
 
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Paddy,
You will have to win the National Leagues in "League Mode", where you will unlock some Bundesliga players and other classic players of those leagues, but it is quite disappointing really.
But if you mean THE Classic Players like Pelé, Maradona, Van Basten, Beckenbauer... Then you must win the International cup with their countries. If you chose "Classic Players = YES" when setting up your Master League, they should appear. Personally, I hate using or playing against them, so I always turn it off.

I noticed you have Ninis, the 17 yrs old kid, on you squad. He's a starter in my Sampdoria, his abilities grow like nothing I've ever seen, he's a monster! If you played him more, he could be your biggest star in 2 or 3 seasons.

My biggest win so far was 9-0 over Lazio, but the one I'm most proud of is an 8-0 against Milan in San Siro! They didn't have a single shot on my goal, and I can prove it (I took a photo of the stats after the game) :mrgreen:
That was a hell of an achievement, seeing how I'm playing on superstar level.

I still have to win the CL Trophy, but I'm too busy playing GTA4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 at the moment ;)
 
So i haven't played PES for two months. I picked it up today and in the second game, the com scores a "non-goal." A shot, which was actually a cross, hit the side netting, around the outside of the post and it's given :SHOCK: It turned out to be the winning goal too, after i had already levelled at 1-1 (with a man down) against AC Milan, in the San Siro. This wasn't the first time this annoying bug happened either.
I so hope the next PES is better. :-ll
 
So do i my friend.
I'm still enjoying the PSP version though...
With 4 matches to go in my first season with Valenciennes i have 8 points more than Lyon and 11 more than L'OM...
Silverware is possible...
 
I did have a cracking league cup game against Inter Milan yesterday, though.
A thrilling 3-3 draw at home (Empoli). Pozzi grabbed a hat-trick for us (what a guy!). I felt we could have won it. I'll need a 1-0 win in Milan :-pp
 
A draw against Lens and a 2-1 win against were enough to clinch the title with Valenciennes...8 points befor L'OL and 11 points befor L'OM...

Did it with the actual Valenciennes squad and only two transfers: Gouffran from Caen and Steven Defour...

Lost the semi-final of the French cup against later winners AS Monaco.
First leg was a (unusual) 4-1 defeat in Monaco.
The home leg was tough, but i was leading 5-1 when Monaco scored in injury time...

Top scorer in the cup: Pujol 8 goals
Top sorer in Ligue Un: Savidan 17 goals
Top assister: Belmadi (6 assists)
 
I hope the next PES is better too, but I've found fun in this one. I downloaded a Bundesliga patch so I have a clean German master league, and I'm currently enjoying trying to drag Kickers Offenbach out of the second division.

Offenbach has re-united me with Ricardo Sousa, one of my all-time PES favourites from my De Graafschap ML some time ago, although here the enigmatic Portuguese is a bit-part player rather than the fulcrum of the side.

The propensity for CPU teams to bid for my players has helped keep things interesting. I'm standing by my rule where bids from larger clubs must always be accepted, so I have had to cope with several of my key players leaving over the last two seasons. The right boot of Christian Muller managed a hefty 14 assists before he was snapped up by a 1.Bundesliga club, and a 19 year old rising star I had soon headed off to Koln leaving a gaping hole in midfield.

Currently hanging on to third place with about eight games to go, having just gone away to top-of-the-table Mainz 05 with a defensive setup and ground out a valuable draw, which was especially pleasing after not long ago Mainz had dismissed us from the quarter finals of the cup with embarrassing ease.
 
But i bet you still get irritated from certain 'gameplay' elements, no? ;))

Bizarrely, i am having a very industrious and promising second season with Empoli, in Serie A. I have managed to go ten league games unbeaten, including a comeback (2-0 down) against Juventus to draw and a comeback (1-0 down) against Roma to win.

All this has led me to think, have i developed a particular style of play? I have been starting games in defensive mode (the blue mode r button thingy) but also set to counter attack. Sometimes i choose to mark the opposition's key player too. I tend to soak up a lot of the pressure against the bigger sides and hit them on the break, or from set pieces (FKs). I've managed to mould Empoli into one of those dangerous little teams, if you like. For this season, at least.

Very soon i have an Uefa cup tie against Lyon coming up (funny to think we came 13th in the league last season). It reminded me a bit of the calciopoli scandal when Empoli got handed a European spot (going from 10th to 7th place).

Amazingly, i'm in third spot in the league, equal on points with 2nd placed Milan. Juventus are 10 points clear at the top though (it made that 2-2 comeback draw very sweet)

And finally...Nicola Pozzi rules! He scored a lovely winner against Inter, after a signature counter. But he still had it all to do, beating several defenders, breaking into the box with a fake and stroking it past the keeper. He and my Costa Rican hitman, Alvaro Saborio, make quite a pairing up front.
 
Professor Nutmeg said:
But i bet you still get irritated from certain 'gameplay' elements, no? ;))
Click to expand...
Well, it's far from perfect. For a long time, when playing exhibitions during a lengthy period of editing before I started any ML, I found the game very irritating. I tried going back to PES6 a couple of times, briefly.

Now... not so much. Maybe I'm just invested in the ML enough to overlook a lot of it, or have adjusted to some things so that they don't bother me. I haven't had anything as serious as your goal through the sidenetting. The weakness of keepers at their near post sometimes rears its head, but I avoid exploiting it and it's not happening frequently. Most of all, it's still addictive.

Professor Nutmeg said:
All this has led me to think, have i developed a particular style of play? I have been starting games in defensive mode (the blue mode r button thingy)
Click to expand...

Me too :). I've been using Manual ATT/DEF in PES for a while now, I've sometimes taken the defensive approach in previous master leagues, but I've definitely found success with it with Kickers. One of the best away records in the division has been due to protecting my back four with three(!) defensive midfielders and a mentality lower than middle.

I think it's very satisfying to find an ML where a) you consider it tricky enough to cause you to strategise like that and b) that it can make a tangible difference when you do.

Professor Nutmeg said:
And finally...Nicola Pozzi rules! He scored a lovely winner against Inter, after a signature counter.
He and my Costa Rican hitman, Alvaro Saborio, make quite a pairing up front.
Click to expand...

And have any Serie A giants come sniffing around? I suffered another departure yesterday after an exciting finish to the season. We went into the final day in third place, knowing a win against Paderborn at home would guarantee promotion. Dino Topmoller, far and away the player of the year, scored his 14th goal of the season (top of the 2.Bundesliga charts, along with his 6 assists, joint top) to seal a 1-0 win, although in the end a point would have proven enough. Mainz 05, probably the strongest team in the division and in the top two going into the final day, lost their final game and somehow fell to fourth to miss out entirely.

Meanwhile, Dino barely had to time to pose for photographs with his golden boot... before packing his bags for Hanover. Ouch. Could be a long first season against the big boys...
 
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