It's ages since I did an update on my current ML. To remind anyone who is interested, it's PES 5, my team is called Hurricanes and I shall resume where I left off in 2008, the fourth year of my playthrough.
I finished my last post in early 2008 saying Huylens was scoring with decent regularity despite my team's rocky form. Well, things went downhill from there. I still won some games, but struggled a lot and my scoring record in the second half of the season was atrocious. I mainly stuck with Huylens up front, sometimes giving other strikers a start in his place, but nothing seemed to work. Huylens played some good games in terms of passing and setting others up, and I was still getting a decent number of wins, but he went at least 15 games (in a 30 game season) without scoring. I barely got any goals out of my other strikers either, with the modest handful of goals I was getting coming from midfielders. Having won the UEFA cup in 2007, I reached the knockout phase of the CL only to go out at the first hurdle. I did manage to reach the final of the D1 cup, but after a good start against Ajax they got their act together and beat me 3-1.
My shaky form fell off a cliff in the last few games, meaning I finished 5th. I believe it was Ajax who won the league this season. Juve took the CL, but I forget who won the Uefa Cup. Huylens was my top scorer this year, finishing with 6 but remarkably being joined on the same number by an impressive Espimas. The league top scorer was Farfan of PSV, with 17.
2009
2009 went a little better; Huylens ended as top scorer in the league with a modest 12, the same as a few other strikers, but my overall GS (Goals Scored) was better and the Hurricanes recorded their best tally yet of 45 league goals. Hamsun, an infrequent starter, actually accrued 9 due to a good early season spurt of form that he failed to maintain (though to be fair to him I continued to favour Huylens, and the latter had more opportunities to shine). I progressed as far as the semis in the D1 cup (Bayern won it against PSG), but for the first time I didn't get past the qualifying group for the CL (which was won by Arsenal against Juve). That was, perhaps, a blessing in disguise, as I went on to lift the UEFA cup for the second time. I had a thrilling semi-final with Roma, in which I came back from a 3-1 away defeat to thrash them 5-0 in the second leg, a fantastic occasion in which Ximilez scored his first ever hat trick for me (I don't usually score with him, and that is probably the only hat trick I have ever achieved with him in any PES game!). I then went on to comfortably beat Newcastle 3-0 in the final. They had a few moments, with Brian Laudrup and Owen up front having some close efforts, but I dominated most of the game and when Laudrup was visibly slowing late on, I knew I had it in the bag. The final goal came in the last ten minutes, sealing victory. Two of the goals came from Macco on the right wing.
Ordaz was the top scorer in both the D1 cup and the Uefa cup. The league top scorer was, as I said, Huylens. The league title itself was taken by PSV ahead of Bayern, who edged past me late on after I again struggled with poor performances, though I couldn't have caught PSV. I finished third, then.
This was Minanda's last season; he managed 20 goals, 21 assists in 128 appearances. Having scored 6 league goals in both 2006 and 2007, he only managed 3 in each of the two subsequent years, suffering from the lack of confidence and form that plagued the whole team.
2010
Over the summer I also let Iouga go rather than renew his contract, having become increasingly frustrated with his performances in the DMF position. I didn't however buy direct replacements for either him or Minanda, preferring to buy Virota (Austrian full back, I believe he starts for one of the few fictional teams in the game) to provide the ageing Valeny with extra cover.
I drew my opening game 0-0 with a decent performance against Bayern, who had been looking less powerful in recent seasons yet still a top club. I was not displeased, given my bad end to the previous year, but wanted to reinvigorate the side. I tweaked the midfield a little bit, moving the DMF over to the right slightly, almost directly behind my CM who would now be instructed to move to either the left or right as he saw fit when on the attack. I also gave attacking directional movement instructions to my AMF and the LWF (who I had also tucked in a bit closer to my CF). This seemed to have the desired effect, giving me more dynamic movement and variety in midfield, allowing me to string moves together and trouble opposing defences more often.
I started getting better and better in the first half the season, getting into first place after half a dozen matches while my opponents couldn't seem to get a run of wins going. Newly promoted FC Utrecht ruffled feathers by winning their first four league games, but promptly failed to win another game for the next 19 weeks of play, plummeting down the table in the process. I had a wonderful victory over Ajax about eight games in; when we were both promoted at the end of 2005, Ajax went on to struggle a bit in their first top flight year, but from 2007 onward they became contenders first for European slots and then the title itself, and almost always beat me in our encounters. Even when I took the lead, they would usually surge back and rapidly smash in 2 or 3 goals with their 4-3-3 formation. Rosales was a key player, pacy and skilful I just couldn't deal with him. This time, however, I started scoring, and didn't stop! It ended 5-2, with their goals coming quite late. It was the first of two hat-tricks this season for Huylens. Rosales, incidentally, only came on late as a sub.
All was not perfect, however. I failed to qualify for the main CL group stage for the second year running, unbelievably. A lack of goals was the issue, and I narrowly missed out on points I was expecting to get. Nonetheless, I was upbeat at the halfway stage, having knocked Borussia Dortmund out of the cup in an enjoyable first round meeting (I took them lightly in the second leg, having won the first 2-0, and they beat me 4-3 on home turf with some smashing goals from both sides) and I found myself at the top of the table, five points ahead of Monaco. Monaco, Rhone, Bayern, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon and PSV were all looking like possible contenders at this stage of the season, all of us seesawing a bit with each unexpected draw or defeat. I perhaps became a bit complacent at this point as I was a bit more consistent than the rest, and had followed up the triumph over Ajax with a 5-0 trouncing of Rhone a few weeks later.
I ignored the opportunity to buy more talent over the Christmas break, and forged on with the title in my sights. I beat Bayern 1-0 with a Valeny header from a corner, before drawing with lowly FC Porto. However, I beat PSV for the second time this season (1-0 and 2-1), and had some more good results, including a 5-1 win over PSG. That proved to be the high point of my season, however. In the last 10 games, I won four, lost four and drew two. Over the same period, PSV won every single game. The inconsistency that had buffered me all season was gone, at least for PSV and Monaco who also came good late on, and I again flopped late on, finishing third, PSV taking the title ahead of Monaco. I feel pretty deflated, having felt I was destined to win the title this year.
I was knocked out of the D1 cup QF in extra time by Ajax due to late goals from Rosenberg, who scored all 3 against me over the two legs. I had been 2-1 up until the 90th minute of the second leg, and rued missed chances in a game I had had the best of. The final was won by Rhone against Bayern. I then lost against Bayern in the UEFA cup semis 4-3 on aggregate. In the first leg I was very clumsy, and my players seemed determined not to understand which way to run which didn't help. Bayern were on fire, and won 3-0. It could have been more, but I was lucky. I rallied in the second half but couldn't get an away goal. In the second leg I was brilliant, especially early on, with young Roby Baggio netting a hat-trick in the first half. Sadly, I lost possession late in the game and they scored, meaning I would have needed another two to go through. They went on to lose their second final of the year, 2-0 to Real Madrid. Ordaz finished top scorer in both the D1 cup and UEFA cup, though with just 3 goals in one and 4 in the other (level with Baggio), it felt only a modest achievement. That said, the Spaniard has accrued an impressive 20 goals in all European competition over the last four seasons, and 12 in the domestic cups over the last six.
The CL was won by Chelsea against Barcelona. In the other leagues, AC Milan won by about 14 points clear of Roma. Barcelona won ahead of Real Betis by a couple of points, Madrid not far behind in third. In England, Man Utd took the title from Chelsea on goal difference. Chelsea had won it the year before, and this season Man Utd had been barely in the top half of the table a third of the way through the year, so it was astonishing to see them win it. Chelsea did however win their domestic cup, as did Real Madrid and AC Milan.
In our league, Bayern didn't even qualify for Europe, finishing a place short. Rhone, D1 cup champions, did a little better and were sixth. Fourth and fifth were Sporting Lisbon and Ajax.
Zamenhof, a regular backup for Ivarov along with Martyn, my English signing from years back, retired this year. He had made over 60 appearances, and served me well. Despite the disappointment in failing to win the title, there was a bright note; Huylens was top scorer once more, with a fantastic 21 goals in the league. 39 years of age and setting records both for himself and the league, he certainly knew where the goal was this term. My other players were not so prolific, though Ximilez scored another hat-trick this year and ended with 5 league goals. I couldn't get much out of my other midfielders, but they played well for the most part, though I was dismayed that Espimas was almost anonymous this season. Usually a powerhouse of positivity and energy in midfield, he failed to score this season and barely scored in 2009 either. Ostwaut, still only young, has generally failed to live up to the promise of his early years when I use him. I was very happy though with Dodo (who took over Iouga's DMF slot), Machado, Gabi, Jairzinho (who I use as a fill-in for both the AMF and WF positions) and of course Baggio who continues to become more influential whenever I feature him. Burchet and Barcao performed well, particularly the former, though the Aussie didnt score this year in the league and Barcao only scored once in the same competition.
Just dreaming!!!
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Oh and Angel Gomes, another one from the youth file!
