I start part two with my first Europa League tie. The group is Vitesse, Real Sociedad and Malmo. As I am just trying to bed players into the squad I started the likes of Lukaku, Alisson, Holding, Kluivert and Mkhitaryan in attacking midfield to try get them used to the team and system. I SIM’d the game as I’m not too bothered about the Europa League, but again got a positive result with a 1-3 win away to Sociedad.
Next up is a home match against Leicester. This is a chance to put my best XI on the field and start building a chemistry between them. I have went with the following lineup. Alisson (GK), Kolasinac (LB), Koulibaly (CB), Ajer (CB), Toure (RB), Tolisso (CM), Goretzka (CM), Ozil (CAM), Balde (LW), Williams (RW), Poulsen (ST). 4-3-3. Below are the highlights from my 3-2 win, which at 3-0 should have been a lot more comfortable. (Music will be added to future videos).
Next up is another home game against Brighton. That’s four home and one away game so far, so I’m going to have a lot of away fixtures coming soon. Since I was happy with the first sixty minutes of the last game I’m keeping the same lineup except handing Asensio his first start in place of Ozil. The lineup is as follows. Alisson (GK), Kolasinac (LB), Koulibaly (CB), Ajer (CB), Toure (RB), Tolisso (CM), Goretzka (CM), Asensio (CAM), Balde (LW), Williams (RW), Poulsen (ST). 4-3-3. Below are the highlights.
The following match is back in the Europa League. I’m going to continue skipping these games unless I get deep into the competition. I started with this lineup; Alisson (GK), Lukaku (LB), Fosu-Mensah (CB), Mustafi (CB), Bellerin (RB), Xhaka (CM), Tielemans (CM), Asensio (CAM), Bergwijn (LW), Kluivert (RW), Lacazette (ST). Unfortunately it ended in a 1-1 draw, which isn’t overly surprising given it’s the first team that XI had played together. It leaves us joint top of the group with Vitesse on four points.
The sign of a good first full month of fixtures? SIX players made it into the team of the month.
Last up in part two of this series is an away matches with Wolves. In the summer they lost top player Diogo Jota and are sitting in 17th place, only outside of the bottom three by virtue of goals scored. My lineup for this fixture is; Alisson (GK), Kolasinac (LB), Koulibaly (CB), Ajer (CB), Toure (RB), Tolisso (CM), Goretzka (CM), Ozil (CAM), Balde (LW), Williams (RW), Poulsen (ST). Below are the highlights.
What a game! That’s one of the most open matches of PES I have ever played. I can see both why Wolves are in the bottom three in terms of points, yet outside of it due to goals scored. They play some excellent football in the final third but their defence is all over the place. The game ended 3-0 with Poulsen getting a hat-trick. In the highlights something got messed up and at the end of the 74th minute clip Poulsen actually sticks that shot in the net after it cuts away. I play these master league campaigns on Top Player difficulty and I have never seen defensive errors like I just saw in that last match. Coming out of it though, Poulsen is looking great and Koulibaly is definitely the rock Arsenal have needed.
That’ll do me for part two. We end this part one point clear at the top of the league. The table is below.
Hit me up on Twitter with feedback and thoughts. I’ll be back soon with part three.
VdZe