Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2010 Guide Part 4: Defending
PES 2010 Guide Part 4
Pro Evolution Soccer (often called Pro Evo or PES as shorthand) is a widely acclaimed and regarded franchise known for its meticulous statistician approach to the soccer genre and impervious realism. This overwhelming smorgasbord of data can be daunting for the reverent newcomer. Hopefully this series of short guides to some of the games intricacies can help overcome this entry level frustration or could even be used to further solidify the existing players neat skills.
Attacking is almost easy when juxtaposed with defending in PES2010. For most newcomers to the series and even for the more seasoned stalwart, defending is never easy, with the AI and especially real players providing a never ending stream of woe, hurt and goals against your often vulnerable defence. To alleviate some of these problems, we can use tactics like well times pressurizing and knowing when to bring the keeper out from his goalmouth.
PES 2010 Defending Tips
Being able to successfully tackle, either by sliding or pressure, is integral to any decent defensive stratagem and is the first thing that should be mastered. The AI of PES2010 often relies on stupefying and redundant passing tactics, whereby their whole play is designed around frustrating you as opposed to actually create chances., which can often limit your options insofar as defensive practice.
Although we’ll disseminate ourselves from player vs player action for now, because any adequate PES2010 player will invariably take you to the proverbial cleaners if your defensive skills still need work.
Slide Tackling in PES 2010
Knowing when to slide in or push a controlled player forward for an interception is a hard skill to master, but as a general applicable rule, try to hold your defence into a reasonable state or line while only hunting for tackles and coming forward to win 50-50‘s with your midfielders. This is doubly effective when you have one or two good defensive midfielders (Nigel De Jong being a supreme example) in your team with the enforcer or deep sitting skill cards.
A crucial element of trying to win the ball back or shoring up defensively is comes from not only keeping this flat back 4 shape but also finding the right times to use the oft advantageous pressure buttons. To put pressure on the man in possession, you hold the A button (X on PS3) which puts your player into a tussle against the opposing player, if he has a better Body Balance attribute he will probably win the ball.
To have a second player, not under your direct control, pressure the man in possession you need to hold the X button (Square on PS3). This is a great way to blindside both AI and human players alike, due to the unexpected doubling up while marking players attacking you. Although it can sometimes result in a freekick being given away, due to the over-zealous pressuring from your players, it is a good method to break up the play and make the AI or other humans think twice about where to pass next.
Pressuring and Keeping Woes
Finally, for pressuring at least, as mentioned in the tactics guide (part 2 of this series) we can set a Strategy called Pressure in the Game Plan screen before the match. When doing this, a simple LT+B (L2+Square on PS3) will activate this strategy, meaning players will close the opposition down far quicker and will likely cause more mistakes from the team in possession. The obvious downside to this is the fact stamina gauges for every player, especially in the engine room area of the pitch, will drain quicker and they will tire by the end of the game forcing substitutions.
Another good idea is to figure out not only how to manual your keeper (although probably out of the reach of this guide) but to time bringing him off his line when needed, to either catch crosses, block one-on-ones or intercept dangerous through balls.This is done by holding the Y button (Triangle on PS3, I think we’ve established these now!), making the keeper step forward and claim the ball.
PES 2010 Defence
There are some damaging hazards to this, hence its a hard to master technique, insofar as the AI spastically losing all modicum or inherent ability as soon as you start to depress the button. Many times have I seen the goalie do some rather ridiculous and mind boggling spat of stupidity that gave away a goal, all because his AI was abandoned when I pressed Y. So I implore the reader of this guide to use it with caution, for a decent application however, its always good to catch human players off guard when they think their clean through on goal.
Now we’ve angled our way towards competitive play, I would suggest honing the skills you’ve learned against the AI (preferably on top player). By this time you should have a bustling Master League on the go, with a couple of successful seasons invested, before stepping up to the player vs player world of PES2010. What awaits you after that is the deeply enthralling multiplayer aspect of PES 2010. Awaiting us however, is the next and final part of this Pro Evo 2010 guide series.
This post is part of the series: PES 2010 Guide Series
A series of articles designed to guide players through the Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 edition and give them a few tips & tricks to help them beat both human and AI opponents alike.
