Game Log | PES 2021 – 001 🎮⚽
I started playing PES 2021 in the middle of 2021. I was a like a year late because I was still having fun with PES 2019. I did give PES 2020 a try, but it had too many glaring issues that I couldn't get past. PES 2021 on the other hand, which is really like a patch plus a roster update applied to PES 2020, is a much improved game. So much so that I actually stopped playing PES 2019 to really give it a try.
For my first Master League season in PES 2021, I decided to play Manchester United and used the club lineup. This meant that I had the players that were really part of United's roster at that point in time. That didn't last though as I quickly made changes to the lineup to better suit my play style.
So for my first Master League season with Manchester United, I decided to replace H. Maguirre with K. Manolas as my main CB. Honestly, H. Maguirre in this game is just too slow. If a speedy opposing player gets past him, there's no way he is catching up. And when you have a slow CB playing against fast wingers from elite teams like Liverpool and Manchester City, there's just no room for error. Manolas on the other hand is an awesome defender. Strong enough and fast enough to play against elite strikers in the game.
I also got Kostic to play LMF. This was because I was trying to play my preferred 4-4-2 diamond formation. And in that formation, I was playing Rashford at LMF, which he was having trouble with. Actually, I was having trouble with Rashford at LMF. With Kostic at LMF, that allowed me to move Rashford to SS, where he was much more of a threat and was less prone to getting injured.
With those changes in place, my 4-4-2 diamond formation was starting to become quite effective. Screenshot below shows what my formation and lineup looked like during the 2020-2021 Season.
An interesting thing I noticed in PES 2021, is that most if not all of my players who have an overall rating of 80 and above, were tired from being picked to play for their national squad. The only exception was Martial (I guess France has too many choices when it comes to strikers.) All of my players that had an overall rating below 80, didn't participate in international matches.
So, this tells me, that if I want to avoid having a lineup full of tired players after international games, I need to mix it up and make sure I have some decent players who have an overall rating below 80.
Finally beat Manchester City in PES 2021. The two changes I made were to change “Defensive Containment” to Wide, and to push the Defensive Line further back. Those two changes seemed to decrease the occurrence of their wingers getting behind my defense.
