The Retro-PES Corner

FC United - Season 1 - Mid-season update (WE9LE)

After a good start of 2 wins against 2 bottom teams(Ipswich and Sheffield Wed), we struggle for goal against top teams. Only 5 goals scored from 5 different players. No standout player, a lot of rotation among the team to find the best lineup.
bandicam 2018-05-19 14-12-10-708.jpg
Luckily advanced to D2 Cup semi by a Castolo's header from Minanda's cross. But face league leader Wolves in semi, unsure to play B team or not.

Top Scorer: 1 (Ordaz, Hamsun, Fouque, Dodo, Jaric)
Top Assists: 1 (Hamsun, Fouque, Macca, Ruskin)
Top Rating: 6.3 Minanda, 6.1 Ruskin

Jaric scored a freekick just outside the D and had 2 freekicks come very close to score. Hope he can develop more to become Baines or Alonso.

Transfer (setup the league only with lesser teams in england & europe using geeeeee's 2012/13 OF, so a lot of good player available as free agent. Some very interesting transfer happened in this window.)
In D2, only Wolves and us have no transfer. Ipswich - Zonzi, E.Valencia. Middlesbrough - Bergovic
In D1, what a transfer window for Burnley - Varane, Barkley, Wilshere, Walcott, Huddlestone, Romero
 
@Madmac79 It's really interesting how different players are performing in our saves, some are good across different one's but others are doing well for some and not for others. For instance Castolo is a complete waste of space in my save and I can't wait for him to retire!

The other great thing is how different players evolve, last season Dodo, this season Hamsun has grown to be a huge importance to the team from being a sub last season and so on. Great stuff. Look forward to hearing more from your save.

@wildwind That's a really decent start there :))
 
Mine has changed each season oddly enough as different players have come to the fore. Currently it's 4-3-3

Ivarov
Giersen, Libermann, Stremer, Ruskin
Jaric, Minanda, Dodo
Burchet, Hamsun, Ordaz

Main subs used are Macco and Stein who've come on in every game
 
Jaric and Dodo as holding players?
I didn't think Ordaz had much pace. Will have to check.
 
A 2-1 in midfield, Jaric and Minanda with Dodo in front but if it's a tough game I switch Minanda and Dodo
 
@mattmid: Thank you, it's our first trophy in 3 years of save. Noticed Minanda lifting the trophy? Our captain was El Moubarki (since Stein was out for the final) but 5 min. before full-time I gave Minanda the captain's armband for him to lift the trophy. The things I do for this guy...

@WhoAteMeDinner: So far in 3 seasons I only got one new player, which is Jackson the CB who's now 18 years old. Though he's really young, he's already a very good defender stats-wise.

@Madmac79: From PES5/6 onwards Castolo rarely did anything decent for me. He shined a lot when he was playing alongside Barota but that was it. In my save he can't get minutes at all because there's Ordaz, Hamsun, Burchet and Gutierrez fighting for two spots up front: and Ordaz, Hamsun and Gutierrez are much younger and have much more potential than Castolo.

Let's put it this way: Rui Costa is an imitation of King Minanda, not the other way around! Also, is Jaric inspired by Mihajlovic?

@wildwind: Such a balanced record for your first half-of-season, I like it! You're struggling offensively but managing to remain competitive, which is impressive at this point. What's your plan for the future: will you be keeping the defaults?
 
After the end of Season 3, who's the next default to retire?
The answer is...no one!!! Congratulations Iouga, Zamenhof, Espimas and a few other old f**** who get yet another year! This means we'll play Season 4 with the exact same roster as last season.
The bright side is, Minanda also renewed his contract and is now 39 years old. @mattmid, I promised you he'd be playing with us when he hits the big 40, we're closer to that objective.

The bookmakers are very confused right now regarding our odds for who's the next player to retire: there are 19 ML defaults with just one year left in their contracts, including every player we have who's currently above the age of 30.
Renewing most of these contracts won't be a problem since we have 30.000 PES total and we spend only about 8000 PES on salaries.
 
@miguelfcp Good call! Jaric looks indeed like the blonde alter ego of Mihajlovic.. serbian, left footed, central defender very strong on free kicks.. I think there is no doubt here :) ..

About Castolo, I think they nerfed him (like others) pretty hard after Pes 3, right? I remember too feeling him underpowered from Pes 5 onwards (even if honestly he still pretty much had some place in all my Master League starts with the defaults in any other Pes in which he was in), so I understand if he's underwhelmed to you or to @mattmid , but in this chapter I just feel very comfortable controlling him with his agility, speed and the flexibility/efficiency with which I can use him in all the attacking roles.. I honestly don't think I have another forward with his characteristics.
 
@miguelfcp I am not good as you guys. I set to play at 4*, otherwise I may loss all games and quit.
Of course, I will keep playing and developing defaults for Original Challenge. I never thought about writing my ML journey ever. But I really cannot resist to share FC United's journey after following this enjoyable and addictive thread about the beauty of retroPES.

Totally agree, Jaric = Mihajlovic (with 98 freekick)
.
 
miguelfcp said:
After the end of Season 3, who's the next default to retire?
The answer is...no one!!! Congratulations Iouga, Zamenhof, Espimas and a few other old f**** who get yet another year! This means we'll play Season 4 with the exact same roster as last season.
The bright side is, Minanda also renewed his contract and is now 39 years old. @mattmid, I promised you he'd be playing with us when he hits the big 40, we're closer to that objective.

The bookmakers are very confused right now regarding our odds for who's the next player to retire: there are 19 ML defaults with just one year left in their contracts, including every player we have who's currently above the age of 30.
Renewing most of these contracts won't be a problem since we have 30.000 PES total and we spend only about 8000 PES on salaries.
Click to expand...

I am inspired @miguelfcp by you and @mattmid , and your epic ML campaigns with just the default squad, if you get promoted to Division 1, with just the journeymen, that is Chapeau. :WORSHIP:

So, in response, (I will not attempt same in PES 3 as the default guy's stats are not good enough to get anywhere), in PES 6, they are better I think, and will start that PES 6 ML tomorrow with just default players and keep you posted. :!

Minanda sounds like he is something of a god-like Johnny Giles or Juan Ramon Riquelme in later PES titles, am looking forward to his exploits in my custom edited formation 4 - 2 - 1 - 3.:D
 
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@wildwind: As long as one feels challenged, to me it's not important the level of difficulty.
Oh, I'm glad to see the Originals Challenge becoming a trend around here! Really appreciate your words, I'm proud to see our Corner having a lot of positive activity, with people just gathering around and enjoying playing/discussing retro-PES. Do keep us updated on your journey.

@Madmac79: I'll have to check it out (this is me getting an excuse to fire up PES3 again) but it's a possibility. Back then it was often Castolo + 10 for me out there on the pitch, as he was noticeably the star of the team. It's interesting to see how the stats of the Default team changed over the course of the many PES versions. Younger defaults like Ettori and El Moubarki are two completely different players stats-wise when comparing their 2008 and 2009 "versions", just as an example.

@WhoAteMeDinner: We'll have to quarantine this thread, the Originals Fever is affecting the population!
Looking forward to hear about it. About Minanda, I'll admit that both me and Matt are too generous with him - at least in PES2008 he's far from fantastic at anything else besides his 83 short pass accuracy stat and decent technique. Anyways, a King is a King and King Minanda doesn't need to have a pretty statsheet, he shows his legendary abilities on the pitch.
 
@miguelfcp You are right about Minanda but as you say he seems to show beyond his stats on the pitch. His movement, his positioning, in a game the other day he got back in the six-yard box to intercept a cross that would have been tapped in at the far post where the striker as waiting and I thought where did he come from to get there!? Giersen had been beaten and :) Love it that you made him captain to get the trophy!

You have 30000pts, wow, I was still a little short of covering the wages before last pre-seaons. This season I should just about get over the budget before that, so little by little it's growing but I think I ended on 12400 at the end of last pre-season before wages came out, which were 8000 something.

I have 3 games left in season 3 (no spoilers!) and have had no mention from anyone about retiring so far, so I may go into season 4 with the same 23 players I started with. I'm hoping a few will retire together next season if that's the case, certainly before my crop of good young players start to decline!

Oh and Messi is flying up the over all goalscoring charts at Rapid Wien! In the total goals (since the save began) Teodorczyk (Anderlecht) leads on 60 but Messi who I don't think was signed until season 2 is on 54 already! Also I have confirmed that Rapid Wien are in my Div 1! My favourite player from the central european option file Tavares or Maribor (because it was him I scored that lobbed goal with on those goal clips) is third at 45. Also it would seem Heerenveen who got promoted in Season 1 are doing well as te Vrede who was Div 2 top scorer that year is fourth on 44.


@WhoAteMeDinner Look forward to seeing how you get on, it's great. It's really interesting how your feelings about different players change as things go along. For instance Hamsun in season 1 and even 2 really I didn't think was going to amount to anything then this season he has become the most important player in the team for the system I'm playing and is heading for Player of the Year. Also the ups and downs on the season really add to the immersion, just when you think it's all plain sailing it falls apart and vice versa. If we can get promoted I can only imagine how a 30 game season is going to stretch the squad to breaking point. Hell, even Zamenhof might get a game.
 
Great to see such a vibrant thread about PES 6 (and indeed earlier games). I have done many Master Leagues over the years on PES 6 with many different clubs. However they all tended to be the same ie I'd get some money go out and buy Rooney, C. Ronaldo, Adriano and co and dominate for a few seasons before I got bored. However back in the summer of 2007 I came up with an idea to make it a bit more interesting. Basically I picked Wigan Athletic and enforced a salary cap of 10,000 points. It was one of the most enjoyable MLs I have ever done. Rather than simply going out every End of season window and buying the best rated players I had to be clever about who I bought and and ensuring to stay within the cap - a bit like how a real life small Premier league club would operate.

Has anyone else done something similar?
 
@mattmid: Exactly, he's just an intelligent player out there, which is why playing him at the "Pirlo" position makes sense because he's more often than not in the right place to make an interception or just really well positioned to cut out passing lanes. How he does it, it's beyond me...his defense is 50-something and his teamwork stat is 69 currently, don't remember his response though.

I'm curious to hear about it! Regarding the PES points, our D2 Cup win helped massively...if you add the points we won in every cup round + points won in the final, it's almost enough to pay all salaries at once. That's how important the D2 Cup might be, particularly for guys who are struggling financially in the beginning of their ML saves.

@liam7988: Welcome to our Corner, hope you enjoy it here. Indeed, retro-PES can be a "Pokemon" type of experience where you start a ML save, get a few good players and after a few years you're able to get a gigantic collection of world-class players to fill your squad. When I was younger this was exciting enough, but as you grow older you need something more challenging to keep you engaged.
If you haven't yet, I encourage you to take a look at the first page of the thread, in there we have something called a ML Scenario Vault with dozens of challenges to play out in retro-PES. In one of those challenges, the "NBA franchise", if you choose the Hard Mode you have a salary cap too. I'm going to add your idea there as a standalone, never did anything like it but it must be cool to try it out.

EDIT: Added the "Salary Cap" challenge, as well as the popular new challenge that I named "Generations Mode" (I mistakenly have been calling it a variation of the Originals challenge, but in this one you can't get regens and you can in the Generations one)
 
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@miguelfcp Ah I see. Unfortunately having yet to win a single game in the Cup in three seasons (not even a leg!) I haven't been able to benefit from it. Domzale update coming up shortly and it's an emotional roller coaster of a ride!

I've just put Fouque alongside him on the formations page and without knowing Minanda you wouldn't hesitate to play Fouque ahead of him now. It is getting close in fact but all the while he produces I can't drop him. I might leave him out pre season to see how it goes without him, just use him as a sub.
 
Domzale Season 3 End of Season Update



The second half of the season began with another tough game against Altach. We took the lead after a mistake from their defender. A loose pass was intercepted by Hamsun leaving him clear on goal and he tucked it away nicely. However this time it was the opponents who got the late goal to prevent a win.

A visit to strugglers and last year's heartbreakers Vardar caused no problems this time as we quickly went into a 2-0 lead before seeing the game out fairly comfortably. A home game to Lech Poznan who were again beginning to fall away after a good first half was next. Indeed if the season ended at the half way stage Lech Poznan would have been promoted every season so far. In the end it was a 2-0 win for us with a goal in each half, but they had their chances and with better finishing it could have been a lot tighter.

So with four games to go the table looked like this

4 to go.jpg [/ATTACH]


Next game was against St Polten and yet again I think they are the best team I've played this season and in another real battle with them the spoils are shared. They took the lead, I equalised and then both sides have several chances to grab a winner but neither could find a goal. GA Eagles kept up their incredible season having been down the bottom the first two seasons, whilst Korona kept up the pace as well with a win over Vardar.


With three games to go the table is as tight as ever

3 to go.jpg

With no cup game to play the players get a break before two huge games that could decide the season. First up away to GA Eagles and then at home to Korona. A win against either will leave me at worst having my fate in my own hands for the final game against my nemesis Heracles. Two wins would see us promoted before the last game, whilst two losses could see the Promotion dream all over again or at best needing to beat Heracles and waiting on results elsewhere. It was fair to say this was the biggest game of the season. Even Zamenhof came back from his whale watching trip in Canada for the game, that's how important it was. Indeed their were rumours in the camp that should the side pick up two wins he may even make an appearance against Hercales!


There was a selection dilemma before the game over whether to bring Jaric back into defence or not. The entire back four were rated under 6.0 for the season to date, with Libermann at 5.6 actually the worst of them but leaving him out was unthinkable. However Stein at 6.3 was performing betting when called upon in DM than Jaric at 6.0. So the option was to drop Stremer for Jaric with Stein slotting into midfield. Alternatively I had been thinking about trying Jaric at left back leaving Ruskin as cover and sub for either of Ordaz and Burchet. His pace coming on as sub could be crucial although he'd be unlucky to lose his place. Eventually I decided to leave things as they were.



The game began slowly with both sides nullifying each other before Ordaz slipped in Hamsun who really should have at least tested the keeper, but sent his shot from 10 yards into the stands. GA Eagles quickly replied with a shot of their own going over. Hamsun then got in again and brought a fine save from the Eagles keeper. Burchett got to the rebound but was wide and his cross was blocked. Then in what could only have been a well worked training ground move (right!) an Eagles corner was headed by Libermaan straight at Giersen who was standing on the line. He calmly (right again!) cleared to safety. Then Minanda nonchantly sends a ball over the full back for Burchett, he crosses first time on the volley, Hamsun lunges for it but it's just out of his reach and defender clears at the far post. Eagles then go very close to taking the lead. The ball is played through to Hendricks who blasts the ball past Ivarov but it's offside! The replays show it to be very close with his leg just offside when the pass was played. Then Eagles get in again this time though a fine save from Ivarov thwarts them before Stremer hacks clear. Hamsun then plays a nice ball to Burchet but he drags his shot well wide. Hamsun then works his own chance but a great save from the keeper prevents the goal. Then Eagles break and work a cross into the box where it's met and sent back across goal into the far corner. 1-0 Eagles! Then disaster! With time running out an overhit pass by Eagles leads to a mix up in our box. With Ruskin coming back for it Ivarov also comes out, it gets to him first and his clearance hits Ruskin right in the knee cannoning back towards goal. Ruskin chases after it but despite a desperate slide can't reach it and it rolls into the net. HT 2-0 GA Eagles.

A tight first half is torn wide open in the last five minutes to put Eagles in the driving seat. Further bad news elsewhere find Korona also leading. Burchet who's already fading is replaced by Stein. Jaric moving to left back and Ruskin going out to the right wing.


The second half began with three Hamsun shots all well saved as it appeared that De Gea had a spare weekend and had offered to play in goal for GA Eagles! They were trying to keep the ball and it got a bit scrappy for a while, then as 70 minutes came, thoughts turned to subbing the tiring Minanda. However he signalled to the bench that he was fine and a minute later recieved a ball 35 yards out, he prodded it forward and with a defender coming across to challenge he unleashed a drive, beating the keeper and ripping into the net. MINANDA! The crowd went wild as he ran into the goal to fetch the ball, gesturing to his team mates that they could salvage this. In a frantic finale the keeper made another good save but their defence held strong and there was no way through. FT 2-1


A first defeat of the season in a huge six pointer and despite a goal of the season contender and MOM performnace from Minanda it wasn't enough to salvage anything from the game. Korona won 2-0 to make things worse. As Hercales win as well to keep them involved the table looks like this with 2 games to go. Korona now an absolute must win game.

Table with 2 games to go

2 to go.jpg

The game is tight early on before an incredible double save by the Korona keeper. First he saved from Hamsun in a one-on-one and then got up to deny Ordaz with the rebound. Then on minute Hamsun gets in another shot that's again saved well by the keeper, the defender hacks the loose ball away but Ruskin gets in quickly to steal it and hits a low drive from the edge of the box, the keeper dives but it beats his outstretched hand before hitting the post and trickling across the line! 1-0! Ruskin's first of the season! A couple of headers from Hamsun that he couldn't do much with and a couple of minor scares at the back including a blocked clearance that just floated over the head of a striker with the goal at his mercy but the first half ends 1-0.

The Second half was the most tense game of football I've ever played on PES! Chances were at a premium and when I did get one their keeper pulled off another great save. They are a very big physical side and on 81 minutes they won a corner and sure enough got on the end of it with the equaliser. Hamsun's goals have dried up at the wrong moment and a combination of poor finishing and great goalkeeping stopped us from getting that all important second goal. The season at least goes to the final game though but it's out of my hands now. In one bit of good news GA Eagles can only draw away to Lech Poznan. In really bad news Heracles win and get themselves level on points with us. Now if if Korona and GA Eagles (who incredibly are due to play each other) draw and I win I could be promoted on goal difference but if one of them wins their game and Heracles win they could be promoted instead! I can't believe it has come down to a game against Hercales for the second season running.

Table going into last game

1 to go.jpg
 
Domzale Season 3 End Of Season update Part 2

Ordaz picked up a second yellow of the season againt Korona and will have to sit out the final game. Ruskin will move up with Jaric moving to left back and Stein into midfield. There's a few tired legs about, Hamsun is also looking tired but with Ordaz suspended he'll have to get through it.

A packed crowd at Heracles welcomes one of the team's onto the pitch. It's not long before they are booing as on 5 minutes, Hamsun finds himself in some space and launches a drive into the net beyond the keeper's reach! What a start! Another tense and tight game ensued before yet again I was undone with a corner. It seems as if the opponents know to avoide Libermann and then they have every chance of winning the header. HT 1-1

All other games are 0-0 at HT. Again with 45 minutes of the season left a victory will gain promotion if scores stay the same. Whether they will is irrelevant if we can't find a winner.


With Fouque on for a tired Minanda he has the chance to score almost immediately as Hamsun slips him in only for him to blaze it over. Then Heracles get in at the back post and it's 2-1. Heracles then produce 15 minutes of pressure as they look for a third with Domzale barely able to put two passes together before giving it away again. Then a ball is worked out to Burchet, his cross evades Hamsun but Ruskin is arriving at the corner of the six yard box on the far post. He gets there first and sweeps in a shot that nestles in the far corner!! 2-2! Jaric fires in a cross which Hamsun throws a leg at and (genuinely!) goes over the roof of the stand! Then another Heracles attack on 76 minutes and they are in front again. 3-2. Domzale pile forward and a chance goes begging as Fouque fires a shot just over when he should have done better. Heracls then dawdle around on the ball killing time and frustration sets in as Domzale begin to fly into tackles desperate to get the ball back. It's all in vain though as the ref blows to end the game and the Domzale players once again end the season sunk to their knees in disappointment.

Final Score: Korona 1-1 GA Eagles. With news that Heracles are winning Korona and GA Eagles see out a draw.


Desperatley disppointing end to the season again. In truth it was a game too far and Heracles were better all over the pitch than my players. Ultimatley not winning either of the games against the top two in the run in cost promotion though. So, another good season on the whole, unbeaten for 11 games but none of it quite enough to get that promotion. As if to rub it in the draw between the top 2 even keeps Heracles in division 2 again!

Final Table

final.jpg


Six teams within 5 points again. One of the most disappointing parts is that two relegated teams finished beneath me so I was beaten by teams I'd finished above last season. The question going into pre-season is whether to persevere with the 4-3-3 or not. It's been very good attacking wise as you would expect but I've been continually exposed down the wings and with a lack of height at the back thats proven costly from crosses and corners. The manager hints to the older players about it being time to put their feet up and then sees Zamnehof in the corner with his feet up anyway.


Altach win the cup with a 2-1 win against Heracles

A Messi inspired Rapid Wien win the European Championship

Sturm Graz and Lokeren are relegated into Div 2.


Div 2 Top Scorer Hamsun

Div 2 Top Assists Armenteros (Heracles)

Div 2 Player Of The Year Jozwiak (Poznan)


Domzale Awards

Top Scorers Hamsun 8, Ordaz 4, Burchet 3, Dodo, Ruskin, Minanda, Macco 2

Top Assists Burchet 3, Hamsun, Ordaz 2

Player Of The Season Dodo 6.5

Young Player Of The Season Hamsun 6.3



Player development.


Hamsun had a great season although he faded a little at the end while Ordaz did a good enough job out wide with 4 goals and 2 assists. Burchet contributed well enough again with 3 goals and 3 assists. Dodo added some goals to his game and Ruskin got two in the last two games when pushed further forward which looks an option for next season. Jaric played well enough at left back as well when that happened as well. Minanda played his part still turning in a 6.2 average rating.

At the back Libermann still won a lot but had the lowest rating in the squad at 5.6 with CB partner Stremer on 5.7. With nobody retiring it looks like the defence is going to be hard work again without a change in partnership.


Overall improvement stat points since the start.

Ruskin +7
Jaric +7
Dodo +7
Fouque +7
Macco +6
Ordaz +6
Hamsun +5
Lothar +4
Stein +4
Libermann +4
Giersen +3
Burchet +1

Ivarov has improved his important stats while Minanda has held his passing and technique. Espimas has managed to stay as he was. All the rest have dropped by 1-3.


Contract News

News that they're all up for at least another season is met with a heavy heart by the manager (and the physio). It is also found that secretly Ceciu is a bit of a comedian as he asks for a 2yr extension. In other hilarious news Zamnehof asks for another 2 years as well (and gets them :DD ) but only at 252. Minanda asks for a year but for a pay increase of 30. It's initially lowered to see, but if he insists he will get it.

No less than 13 contracts are offered! Over half the squad. If this lot all retire at once there won't be enough newgens to replace them :LOL:


Zamenhof signs his deal and jets off to Australia to put his feet up after another hard season.
 
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@mattmid: How can you not love this thread with these kinds of stories? Just amazing stuff, drama right until the very end.
The more I learn about football, the more I believe the key for success is a solid defense, and though you had the best offense of the league your defense was way behind Eagles and Korona's. That's the real challenge here, because it's nearly impossible to do it with the defaults. Even harder for you, because no one retired yet and you'll have to move forward with the same roster for next season.

Now Zamenhof with a 2-year contract? That guy keeps getting away with it, unbelievable! Have you seen my post about my Minanda? He's 39 and just renewed for one more year.
Regarding Fouque, he develops his stats like a maniac. For the first years of the save I barely played him - yet he still developed nicely - but I gave him more minutes and now he's indeed an interesting player: 95 shot power stands out, but has 80+ in passing acc., 75 attack...ideally I'd play both Minanda and Fouque at the same time, if you could pull it off it'd be interesting to see. At times I used Minanda as a CMF and Fouque as an AMF; also Minanda as AMF and Fouque as SS behind Gutierrez/Ordaz, but didn't see enough of it to make up my mind. I
 
@miguelfcp Yes I meant to mention that about Minanda, let's hope he can play into his forties! That would be brilliant if he could. I had to laugh when I saw Zamenhof wanted 2 years but he's become such a fun figure in the save that I gave it to him straight away.

It's amazing how it really gets to you, the last two season's have in hindsight been really good but because of the way they both panned out they've felt disappointing missing out both times by not winning in the final game. It's going to be a real fight if and when I get to Div 1 even with some new talent I think because it's double the games and once you start having to use the depths of the squad it gets ugly quickly!

The make up of the squad is frustrating because it's very hard to get the best team on the pitch without leaving yourself short in some area. I could go with 3 CB's but I don't really like Stremer, Ceicu or Valeny as an option back there, I didn't like having to play Stremer this season although he was ok but no more than that. I'm leaning towards Jaric at left back now and wondering whether to go with a sort of 4-4-2 but have one side as an AM rather than a SM. Ruskin on the left and one of Minanda/Fouque on the right. WIth Dodo and Stein in the middle. I could put Dodo and Minanda but that may put too much on Minanda. Then at the same time I'm looking at Fouque stats and thinking him and Hamsun could be quite a pairing but then what to do with Ordaz if I go with that. Then Burchet keeps producing too, particularly seeing as he rarely gets beyond 60 minutes if I want to have any chance of him starting the next game. Then of course there's Macco as well who has improved massively. What I need is someone to retire and find a dominant young centre back in the newgens to come straight in alongside Libermann. Too many questions and too many answers as well! Got to love it!

You're right about a strong defence and maybe I should go with the 3 at the back with wing backs.

I'm going to try a couple of different things in pre season and see how it goes I think.

Maybe the Metz way is the way to go :LOL::BLINK: Bore myself to promotion with 7 1-0's and 7 0-0's :D
 
Has anyone had their players called up for international duty? It always seemed random to me.
 
@mattmid: You know, that variation of the 4-4-2 with one AMF "disguised" as a SMF is one of my favourite tactics. I however chose to keep the 3-5-2 because I wanted a challenge, I rarely ever play with a back-3 so I thought this could be a great way to learn more about the formation itself. One of my ideas for the future of the save is to make the Libero cool again, but first I'd have to get a regen/newgen that would fit that role.
Fouque as a "AMF disguised as SMF" would be interesting to see though, hee'd be able to cut inside and explore his powerful long-ranger more often. Tied up with a Dodo-Stein midfield you'd have a balanced strategy there.
I was lucky to get a CB right after Huylens retired, and quite a cheap guy he was (was valued at 245 PES or something back then). He's now 19 and has just hit the 80 def. stat, has +80 in balance, stamina, speed, acceleration, and has a balanced statsheet overall.

Metz? Please don't! Your story so far has been so exciting...no one deserves to face a 5-4-1! No one!

@Titch: Not yet, but I've seen Poland's NT manager a few times in our stadium watching ML United matches. Someone should tell him Zamenhof won't ever play here...
 
@Titch Have you seen my players play? :LOL: No, nothing yet. Minanda is still available though if Portugal come sniffing.

@miguelfcp There's been some interesting signings going on in pre season thought. PSV have just added Willian and Suarez to their squad :BLINK: Fortunately I'll only ever meet those if I get into Europe which while a great goal to have is some years off yet I think and no more than a pipe dream at the moment. They'll probably be long since retired. It's interesting seeing the free agents being signed because I can't remember now who I added to them. I know I added the Barcelona and Real Madrid squads and I seem to recall perhaps 3-4 Premier teams players. I've seen a couple of West Ham players signed so I must have done them and presumably Chelsea as well seeing as Willian's just been signed.

That CB sounds like just the player I could do with. I've just played a couple of pre season games using that 4-4-2 and Fouque did have one blast which was well saved, that's certainly some shot he has on him. His stats are good but I've yet to see the best of him, need to find where that is. Hamsun's spot is found and I am tempted to try Fouque up there with him perhaps as an SS seeing as his passing is so good and a few of those thunderbolts up close could come in handy. Of course that means leaving out Ordaz then.

That would be interesting if you could find a libero new/regen. With three at the back now back in fashion it wouldn't surprise me if that role reappeared in football again. It tends to go in cycles, re inventing the wheel. You only have to look at some videos of Ajax in the early 70's to see pressing is nothing new!

It's looking like I should have about 7-8000 in the bank after wages come out at the end of the season so things are starting to look up there. Salary is now down to 8697.
 
ML United - Season 4 - Mid-season update

Our evolution as a team has been impressive: we began this journey as a non-competitive bunch of semi-amateurs and now look at us, champions of the D2 Cup and for the second season in a row fighting until the very end for promotion. Season 4 is the season where I admit that our main objective is to get either the 1st or 2nd places of the league, anything below that will be a disappointment.

Since no one retired, the same roster from last year returns for this new season. So the question is: how do you turn this team into a top-2 side with the same exact players from the previous year, when we ended 5th?

Well, changes had to be made. Minanda is 39 and last season he showed signs of decay, not stats-wise where he's still able to maintain his statsheet pretty much unchanged, but particularly regarding his impact in our game. I tend to focus a lot on producing quality counter-attacks to explore the space our opponent leaves in the back, and Fouque is a much better fit for this style of play. Moreover, Fouque's developing like a maniac and at this point he's just too good to be on the bench: 75 attack, +80 passing stats, 95 shot power...I'm not one of those people who relies too much on stats, as we all know retro-PES is fertile on examples of players who tend to play much better than what their statsheet would suggest - Minanda is one of them - but it's time to give Fouque a chance to see how he behaves out there.

Besides this change, a change of mindset: after the first 7 matches of the league (this is, until the winter transfer period) we HAVE to be 1st. I don't care how we do it, I don't care how many goals we score or concede, I don't care if Ivarov's our top scorer. This would allow us to be on the driver's seat for the remainder of the league's fixtures, instead of what happened the previous two seasons where we always were dependant on our rivals' results. This is the winning mindset this team needs right now for us to establish ourselves as real contenders for the D1.

First match, at home against newly relegated Rangers. A tough one, we were 2-2 until the last minute when Darcheville scored the 2-3, clinching a win for them...not the way I wanted to kick this season off.
Now...unleash the rage! 6 more fixtures until the winter break...5 wins! On the 7th fixture we were facing Strasbourg at home, we were 1st with 15 points and they were 2nd with 10...a win here would get us an even more comfortable position before we played the second half of the season. Just like our Rangers matchup, we were 2-2 right up until the last 5 minutes when a stupid Ivarov mistake got them the 2-3 (actually I was to blame: had a freekick in my box, pressed X without looking properly so the ball ended up at the feet of the striker...I'm an idiot).

Though we lost that one, we accomplish our mid-season objective and we're 1st.

1st - ML United - 15 points - 5W/ 0D/ 2L - 20 goals scored / 9 conceded (best offense - next best team has 10 goals...- 4th best defense)
2nd - Strasbourg - 13 points
3rd - Rangers - 12
4th - Rosenborg - 11
5th - Nancy - 9

Top Scorer: Ordaz (7), Gutierrez (6)
Assists: Gutierrez (4) Abessadeki (Strasbourg, 4)

Our offense is absolutely devastating right now. We have as many wins in just half a season as we had in the whole of D2 last season, and we've already surpassed our scoring record from Season 3 which was 17. Will we be able to keep this powerful offensive machine running or will we pull off a "late-season-3" to disappoint our fans? The stakes are high, the football we've been playing is attractive and effective...it's Do or Die time for ML United.

D2 Cup: vs. Horrible Heracles, we won 1-4 on the first leg (was 0-4 at halftime...) and 2-1 on the home leg, advancing to the semi-finals where we'll face Rosenborg (we lost the Season 2 D2 Cup final against them, also they were promoted to the D1 that year).

....Sad news....Minanda, 39 years old, is retiring by the end of Season 4!
 
@miguelfcp Could this be the season for ML United? It's looking great so far, particularly with 5 wins. Looking back at my last season in the end there were too many draws, just a couple of those 7 turned into wins would have been enough. I wish my Heracles were as bad as yours, I am yet to beat them I think. I'm also not happy that Lokeren have come back down as they won the league with 29pts when they went up, don't need them reproducing that kind of form.

Looking at the points I think another 4 wins might do it. It's fairly tight so teams will take points off each other you would think.

Minanda seems to have taken the news he is no longer a regular badly and decided to bow out gracefully. Who knows, perhaps he'll be able to pocket a League/Cup double medal haul in his final season.

Those button moments are frustrating, that own goal I scored kicking it against Ruskin was completely my fault and in the end it cost me a point against GA Eagles and gave them 2 extra in the process.

I hope the second half goes as well and it's a promotion story for the second half update. A word of caution, not that you need one, I thought my promotion was in the bag with 3 to play and somehow managed to get 1 point from 9.
 
@mattmid So sad to hear Domzale missing out promotion. However, you are best attack with your golden boot winner Hamsun. Can we swap him for a season?
Really enjoy how tight and competitive of D2 can be. Any teams have a good run for last few games and can be promoted. That's the good to setup our save with lesser teams only, make ML to be more fun and unpredictable, also with some very interesting transfers among lesser teams.

@miguelfcp With your attacking mindset as Pep, ML United transform to ManCity this season. Best attack with solid defense. Can I put my mortgage on ML United's promotion? What is the odd now?

Any plan on celebrate your sad news. Will you try to win the double for your great to lift 2 more trophys?
What position are you looking to strength your squad?
 
Last edited:
Arellano: (my Minanda for the last 15 years in PES 2 and 3):
Almost always league top assist award each season, like Minanda, his stats are not world beating and in PES 3 and 2, they are a bit lower than the numbers below. He takes an in-swiniging corner, (with some limited input from the caveman button basher), that is almost undefendable. :BAND:

Attack: 75
Defence: 42
Balance: 75
Stamina: 78
Top Speed: 87
Acceleration: 88
Response: 76
Agility: 86
Dribble Accuracy: 84
Dribble Speed: 87
Short Pass Accuracy: 73
Short Pass Speed: 73
Long Pass Accuracy: 73
Long Pass Speed: 75
Shot Accuracy: 74
Shot Power: 80
Shot Technique: 77
Free Kick Accuracy: 70
Curling: 77
Header: 70
Jump: 76
Technique: 83
Aggression: 86
Mentality: 72
Keeper Skills: 50
Teamwork: 71
 
WhoAteMeDinner said:
Arellano: (my Minanda for the last 15 years in PES 2 and 3):
Almost always league top assist award each season, like Minanda, his stats are not world beating and in PES 3 and 2, they are a bit lower than the numbers below. He takes an in-swiniging corner, (with some limited input from the caveman button basher), that is almost undefendable. :BAND:

Attack: 75
Defence: 42
Balance: 75
Stamina: 78
Top Speed: 87
Acceleration: 88
Response: 76
Agility: 86
Dribble Accuracy: 84
Dribble Speed: 87
Short Pass Accuracy: 73
Short Pass Speed: 73
Long Pass Accuracy: 73
Long Pass Speed: 75
Shot Accuracy: 74
Shot Power: 80
Shot Technique: 77
Free Kick Accuracy: 70
Curling: 77
Header: 70
Jump: 76
Technique: 83
Aggression: 86
Mentality: 72
Keeper Skills: 50
Teamwork: 71
Click to expand...
good times when stats actually really matter :)
 
@WhoAteMeDinner Any chance of regenning him to appear in my save? :) He looks a hell of a player, the Jay-Jay Okocha of the Bolton team with goals on top.


@wildwind It really is a Division where you never quite know what's going to happen. As I mentioned in one of my updates if the season ended at halfway Lech Poznan would have won promotion every season, but each year they have fallen away. The last two season's 5 or 6 have been battling it out for the top two spots which is making for a very exciting end to the season. I'm just hoping for a few retirements this season otherwise all my best young players are going to be on the decline by the time I get to sign any new/regens and I'll be in the same situation again. In an ideal world I'd get promotion and have about 5-6 retire at once so I can build a team to try to stay up from the new players and the best of the others.
 
FC United - Season 1 - End of Season update

Not a good season on attack. No goal scored in 2nd half of season!!!
However, we keep 4 clean sheets (0-0 draw), including at home vs. champion Wolves. Those draws are quite tense. We create some half chances but no one can put them on target......
Worst in attack and 5th in defense.
!TABLE.JPG

For cup semi, loss to double winner Wolves 0-2(H) & 0-0(A)

Top Scorer: 1 (Ordaz, Hamsun, Fouque, Dodo, Jaric)
Top Assists: 1 (Hamsun, Fouque, Macca, Ruskin)
Top Rating: 6.1 Minanda, 6 (Dodo, Stein)
Promotion: Wolves & Blackburn
Relegation: Crystal Palace & Nottingham Forest
Lineup.JPG
Ivarov perform well and made some crucial saves to get us draws, only missing 1 game (2nd leg of cup semi)
Our defensive unit 3 CB are quite settle and work very well together. Although Valeny is 33 but still quick with good header which is crucial for our defense as his heading skill is 2nd best of defender. Plus our defensive mind central midfields Stein + Dodo form a good foundation to develop further.
We are still searching the best way on attack. Keep on trying different players on different positions. Our no.9 is certainly Hamsun. His physical strength and holdup play is very good. Wish he can be his Domzale's brother get the golden boot soon.
We will keep on using our formation 3412 next season.

Transfer: No retire, No transfer (pray for our great Zamenhof can do us a favour next season, i.e.the only player didn't on the pitch this season)

Season 2 Objectives:
- avoid bottom of D2 and WEFA ranking
- improve attack to score goals in double figure and keep positive GD
 
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