Sports fan seeking 10,000 foot overview on soccer/futbol

[CrabApple]

Hello all!

I am a big sports fan (love NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL), but I haven't been able to get into soccer. Just recently I had a few extra dollars and wanted to try a new sports game so I picked up PES 2010.

I've had a lot of fun playing it...my first impressions of the game are great.

What I don't understand, though, is the strategy, the stats, the tactics, the off-season "ML" stuff.

I was wondering if somebody could give me a general overview about the intracies of soccer:

* lineup strategies
* formation/tactic strategies
* Ratings and evaluating players (overview of what they mean)

... and anything else you can think of.

Just so that when I play the franchise mode I have some idea of what my goals are ... and what players i should try to acquire.

Hope this isn't asking too much ... any information .. even if it's links to other websites or articles that might help me get started would be much appreciated.

This game is so much fun ... it has stimulated my interest in soccer. Just call me an eager student of the game

 

[Lucius]

Woo...that's kind of asking a lot. Not as much as trying to explain American Football to someone not familiar with it, but there's a ton of nuances.

My suggestion is to watch the sport. I'm assuming you're an American. MLS conference playoffs are Friday (ESPN) and Saturday (FSC) night and ESPN typically shows an English Premier League game Saturday mornings. There's also ways to watch relatively crappy streams on the internet (but for those of with no other options we'll take it).

The overall strategy and tactics varies incredibly depending on the personnel the teams have available, and sometimes who the teams are playing.

As far as offseason Master League stuff, unless things have changed (will be playing PES2010 for the first time tonight) your only real options are training and signing/releasing players. Training you can either just pick to have a specific set of stats increase, or all your stats increase, but not as quickly as a specific set would. Transfers, that's really up to you. It's definitely going to depend on what type of formation you want to employ, but I generally like to have two players for each position on the field (that is, four center backs and four outside backs if I play a 4-4-2).

I also start ML with the crappy imaginary players as opposed to real players (don't know what the option is called). Generally I'll play a very defensive 5-4-1 with a sweeper or 4-5-1 at first to squeeze out ties and a few wins, but once I get enough good players I prefer to play a 4-4-2.

I've found the most important pickups in Master League are to get a good goalkeeper and forward first, followed by a good center back. After that I'll start following up with the midfield, more defenders, and more forwards. I also generally try to get young and upcoming or unheard of talent and develop it, rather than just buying a C. Ronaldo or F. Torres. But that's just personal preference. Doing it that way though, I find that once you get a solid starting lineup with a few good backups you really don't have to do much in the transfer market after that because you should have a good team and everyone should be relatively young, or at least not old, so no one is retiring.

 

[CrabApple]

Thank you ... that's very helpful. I like the idea of starting with a crappy team in franchise modes in other video games and building them up .. so that's something I'll certainly do here. Thanks again for your response.

If anybody has anything else to add, please chime in.

 

[Barry]

When I first properly watched some NBA basketball few years back I was kind of overwhelmed. I had no idea of the rules and how they were applied, which position was which and who all these players were.

Few years later I dare say I got a good grasp on the why & how but it took me awhile and quite a lot of watching. In due time you'll get the hang of it, I still am clueless on MLB and NFL :faceplm:

By the way, which teams do you support in the MLB/NHL/NBA/NFL?

 

[CrabApple]

When I first properly watched some NBA basketball few years back I was kind of overwhelmed. I had no idea of the rules and how they were applied, which position was which and who all these players were.

Few years later I dare say I got a good grasp on the why & how but it took me awhile and quite a lot of watching. In due time you'll get the hang of it, I still am clueless on MLB and NFL :faceplm:

By the way, which teams do you support in the MLB/NHL/NBA/NFL?

yea, i tried looking at the ratings and positions, etc. and was overwhelmed by everything. I see a lot of abbreviations .. formations .. tactics .. and other strategy-alignments that I'm simply clueless about. I was hoping there was a website .. or a member with a lot of patience could just kind of give me a general overview about the positions and what they mean ... or tell me which formations i should used based on the strengths of my player personnel (which lucius touched on).

Anyway.. my favorite teams I follow (I love the general management/off-season stuff in these leagues too):

NFL: Dallas Cowboys
MLB: Oakland Athletics
NBA: Los Angeles Lakers
NHL: Los Angeles Kings

I'm from Los Angeles, CA in USA

 

[danzine]

start out as either real madrid, barcelona, inter milan or manchester united this the top teams and it will be easier for you to understand the game better

try sticking to the default formation of each team
or if you want to experiment try playing some exhibitions matches and change about
your formations

after a 2 seasons you will get the hang of it


edit.

MJ >Bird >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>duncan >>>> kobe

 

[Barry]

Cool, good stuff. I'm a Boston man myself though!

The Wikipedia article on Association football is pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football_positions

Any specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

[CrabApple]

thanks for the advice danzine ... my stick skills aren't bad .. i'm already pretty competitive .. i get really lost though when the game tells me i need to make transfers .. or i got trade messages .. or i when i have to change the lineups and what not. I'm just completely lost. The game-manual is very vague and assumes I know more than I do.

Cool, good stuff. I'm a Boston man myself though!

The Wikipedia article on Association football is pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football_positions

Any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Awesome links with great information -- it speeds up the learning curve.

 

[BloodyYank]

I second Barry's suggestion of checking out the Wikipedia article on Association Football. I was pretty much in the same boat as you, CrabApple, and that article gave me a nice overview of the sport. And if you scroll down to the "see also" links, you will find articles that give in-depth descriptions of all the positions and formations, as well as some of the strategic philosophy behind them.

 

[Rasmus]

Think it's cool you want to learn the art of playing PES. Thumbs up mate

Regarding the Master League, i suggest you start with a level such as "regular". Remembering tha difficulty can be changed after each season, you may do it when you get better eventually.

Concerning the transfers - I suggest you do them yourself (not leaving it entirely to the scout to handle) Try loan transfers, and aquiring young players in the first seasons to have more success with your negotiations.

Will check this thread regularly to see if you have more questions.

- Please post letting us know how you're doing in your league

 

[Stormrider]

Ok no problem. I'll try my best to Americanize everything so it's easier for you to understand.

GK - Goal keeper or goalie. For stats, high gk skills is a priority, followed in order of importance by defense, response, and height.

CB - Center Back. Also called center halves. You should know what they do.

RB/LB - Right/Left back. Also called full backs or side backs. They defend the flanks (the sides) and also occasionally attack down the flanks.

DMF - Defensive Midfielder. Pretty self explanatory. Usually guys who are big and strong who prefer defense over offense.

CMF - Central Midfielder. Balanced box to box type players who are usually jack of all trades master of none. Typically guys with high stamina and good vision and passing.

RWB/LWB - Right/Left Wing Back. Not a very common position. They're like RB/LB but more attack minded. You can only have either wing backs or side backs in your formation, never both.

RMF/LMF - Right/Left Midfielder. Balanced players that attack down the flanks. Typically guys who are fast or a good crosser (high pass into the box) or both.

AMF - Attacking Midfielder. Also called the playmaker. These guys are just like point guards in the NBA. Usually very skillful guys with very good passing and vision.

WF - Wing Forward. Like your side midfielders but they mostly attack and do very little defending. Typically guys who are very fast and very skillful.

SS - Support/Shadow Striker. They're like a hybrid of AMF and CF.

CF - Center Forward/Striker. These are your main goal scorers.

Now for formations, the most common one is the balanced 4-4-2. The 1st number is the amount of defenders, 2nd midfielders, 3rd strikers so you won't be confused from now on. The 4-3-3 is a very attack minded formation that focuses on speedy wing play. The 4-5-1 is a defensive formation that focuses on crowding the midfield giving your opponents less space to pass and move about.

For strategies I'll just talk about the 2 most common ones.

Counter Attack - Using this strategy is like trying to gain odd man rushes in the NHL. It's a fairly defensive strategy used against attack minded opponents. You wait for the opposition to make a mistake then send the ball upfield for an odd man rush.

Pressing - This is just like double teaming in the NBA. Good strategy to steal the ball but if fails they have more space to pass to. Using it also tires your players faster.

If you need a detailed explanation of the vast amount of stats just go to edit mode and edit the first player you see. Now go to player abilities and scroll through each one for info. Just cancel everything when you're done cuz you don't want to accidentally change their stats. If there's anything else feel free to ask.

 

[CrabApple]

Thank you for the thorough feedback ... I spent several hours reading the wikipedia links earlier this evening and am a lot more familiar with the positions the formations the statistics and even some of the best players in world soccer at their respective positions.

Then I read the awesome breakdown and tips stormrider provided and feel VERY confident in my ability to manage a team in Master League now.

Thank you all for the concerted effort and help. Much appreciated. I plan to stick around ... this community is fantastic!

 

[Stormrider]

No problem now go kick some ass lol. I guess you'll be following footy now so I'll give you a great American site that I frequent. They twist just about every story they post but they do an amazing job of tracking all kinds of player and team statistics.

www.soccernet.com

 

[CrabApple]

Yes ... I can't wait for World Cup 2010. Thanks for the link .. please post any other recommendations if you have them.

Anybody have an opinion on Football Manager 2010 ... it looks pretty interesting and I'm thinking of buying it.

 

[hywelkidd]

Yes ... I can't wait for World Cup 2010. Thanks for the link .. please post any other recommendations if you have them.

Anybody have an opinion on Football Manager 2010 ... it looks pretty interesting and I'm thinking of buying it.

I have played the demo of it and it's a much better game than FM2009 (which was amazing btw). However, with FM you need to have a good understanding of tactics, formations, etc so you may struggle with it at first if you haven't watched much football, but with a bit of practice you should be managing a winning team in no time.