------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pro Evolution Soccer 6: Master League Original player's Guide: Written By: Robert "Robbie B" Blowes; 9th November 2006. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: To quick-skip to an area use CTRL-F and the number or the full-capped names. Table Of Contents: 1.0) Introduction 2.0) Original Player's Database 2.1) Goalkeepers (IVAROV/ZAMENHOF/LOTHAR) 2.2) Defenders (JARIC/STREMER/GIERSEN/RUSKIN/LIBERMANN/CECIU/VALENY) 2.3) Midfield (MINANDA/ESPIMAS/XIMELEZ/FOUQUE/MACCO/DODO/IOUGA/STEIN) 2.4) Strikers (CASTOLO/ORDAZ/HAMSUN/HUYLENS/BURCHET) 2.5) Overall best players/positions 3.0) Formations and Suggestions 4.0) Version History and Outro. _______________________________________________________________________________ 1.0) Introduction: Welcome to the Master League; Original player's guide. This guide has been written to show the abilities of the Original Players that you will be given when taking on Master League mode in Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (unless you skimp out and play with real players/create your own team). Basically if you're interested in some advice on how to handle your first couple of seasons with the craptactular players you're given, or if you just want to see how far you can actually take them in successive seasons then this is the guide for you. I will not be including controls or players you should buy, this isn't a Master League guide per se but a guide centered around the players you start out with! _______________________________________________________________________________ 2.0) Original Player's Database: If you start up Master League with the Original Players mode selected you will be given 23 rag-tag players, a mixture of old and new. Those of you who have played PES5 will know who's retired and who the replacements are. Here we shall look over the players we are given. I will highlight their abilities and advice on using them using the layout below: EXAMPLE LAYOUT -------------------- Name: Obvious Enough? PrPos: Primary Position SePos: Secondary Position(s) Age: Obvious... Inj: Their Injury rating from A-C (A being better) Abil: Their current potential from 1-100 the higher the better... Futr: Their future (Rising/Steady/Declining)**** FPot: Their future potential if they can improve. Yrs: How many years they can give you before their skills decline. Abilities and notes: Everything else. --------------------- **** - This is obvious from the development section in Master League and should need no explanation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1) Goalkeepers Name: IVAROV PrPos: Goalkeeper SePos: None Age: 30 Inj: A Abil: 77 Futr: Steady FPot: n/a Yrs: 3 Abilities and notes: Ivarov is your token goalkeeper and the best of the three you're given. His response and Jumping stats are already in the 80's and he has a decent keeper skill stat of 75. Not really much to say, he's reliable enough but his skills will start to drop once he reaches 33 years of age, that gives you 3 years to replace him. Name: ZAMENHOF PrPos: Goalkeeper SePos: None Age: 32 Inj: A Abil: 71 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Abilities and notes: Zamenhof is the second of goalkeepers given to you. His only notable stat is Balance which, is in the 70's. Otherwise a keeper stat of 72 is his only claim to fame. His skills will steadily detoriate the moment you get him so you may as well shift him into the reserves and get rid of him ASAP. Name: LOTHAR PrPos: Goalkeeper SePos: None Age: 22 Inj: A Abil: 70 Futr: Rising FPot: 74 Yrs: 2 Abilities and notes: Lothar has a nice Response stat in the 80's but his keeper skills are dead at a mere 67. The fact he'll only improve by four points OVERALL and then DECLINE quite steadily at the ripe old age of 24 makes him a pointless long-term member of the team. He doesn't hold a candle to Ivarov in terms of ability and Ivarov simply outlasts him in terms of talent anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2) Defenders Name: JARIC PrPos: Centre-Back SePos: Defensive-Midfielder Age: 20 Inj: B Abil: 73 Futr: Rising FPot: 83 Yrs: 7 Abilities and notes: Jaric is your best defender and should generally be used as a Center back. His claim to fame however is his impressive free-kick abilities, he's literally a David Beckham when it comes to long passes and shots from freekicks. Use him for freekicks and corners where possible, but be careful of his injury rating. Name: STREMER PrPos: Centre Back SePos: none Age: 28 Inj: A Abil: 66 Futr: Steady FPot: n/a Yrs: 1 Star: Marking Abilities and notes: In the old days Stremer and Ceciu were a good team-up in the back of defence. Thesedays Stremer isn't worth your time, even if he has a marking star. His abilities will drop quite quickly once he's 29 so he's not a long-term player to keep in your plans. Name: GIERSEN PrPos: Side-Back SePos: Wing-back Age: 21 Inj: A Abil: 70 Futr: Rising FPot: 74.5 Yrs: 6 Abilities and notes: Giersen has been improved since PES5 where his overall ability rose by ONE measly point. This time they creep up by four and half. Technique remains his biggest strength although you'd NEVER realise it... Talent drops once he's 27. Name: RUSKIN PrPos: Sideback SePos: Wingback, Side-midfield Age: 20 Inj: A Abil: 71 Futr: Rising FPot: 76 Yrs: 8 Star: SIDE Abilities and notes: Ruskin is the opposite of Giersen, left footed, quick, good dribbler of the ball and with TONS of stamina. Your only left-back if you choose to use him there, you may be surprise to hear Ruskin has been downgraded since PES5 (he used to hit a potential of 80, now he barely hits 76) so it's debatable when- ever he's as good as he could have been. Also notice the SIDE star means he will move to the wings/flanks when not in possession of the ball, so unless it's your intention keep him in the wide positions. Name: LIBERMANN PrPos: Centre-back SePos: none Age: 24 Inj: A Abil: 64 Futr: Rising FPot: 68 Yrs: 6 Star: Long-Throw. Abilities and notes: Libermann plain sucks in my opinion, his only strengths is his balance and his height. Those of you who are having trouble with heading may want to use him but he really doesn't deserve a place on the bench... Also been given the Long-Throw star although it's not worth including him JUST for that... Name: CECIU PrPos: Centre-Back SePos: None Age: 32 Inj: A Abil: 66 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Star: Marking Abilities and notes: Quite good in the old days, however he's not going to get a look in against the other defenders of the team. Decent Balance stat and a Marking star to boot but if you want players like him use Stremer instead, at least he has a year left in the tank. Name: VALENY PrPos: Centre-back SePos: Side-Back Age: 32 Inj: A Abil: 70 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Star: Covering Abilities and notes: Valeny used to plain rock. Then came PES5 and he plain sucked. In this game though he's been given quite the upgrade, he's quite fast with good stamina decent SHOT POWER and even JUMPING ability. You can easily use him as a side back ahead of Giersen or pair him with Jaric in the middle for a solid combo. Covering star doubles his worth as a defender imo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3) Midfield Name: MINANDA PrPos: Attacking Midfield SePos: Support Striker Age: 35 Inj: A Abil: 75 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Star: Playmaker/Outside Abilities and notes: Minanda just won't retire. His technique, shot accuracy, freekick ability and short passing skills all remain high enough that combined with his playmaker star (players will make a run when he's in possession) he remains the best attacking midfield player in the team. How long he'll be usable however is a completely different matter altogether you could probably get one or two seasons out of him. Name: ESPIMAS PrPos: Side-Midfield SePos: n/a Age: 33 Inj: A Abil: 73 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Stars: M-Shot. Abilities and notes: Espimas is lethal if used on the right-flank and given chances to shoot, especially from laid-off freekicks. He's still speedy and has decent stamina, the debate here is whenever to use him ahead of the younger improving Macco? Name: XIMELEZ PrPos: Side-Midfield SePos: none Age: 30 Inj: A Abil: 72 Futr: Steady FPot: n/a Yrs: 3 Star: Dribbling Abilities and notes: Ximelez has been around forever, he still has three years left in the tank and has decent dribbling and long-passing stats. Only really useful for crosses so I find. Also his star does NOTHING for you. Once he declines he does it in style though, Ximelez's gradient is awful you'll struggle to even keep it steady. Name: FOUQUE PrPos: Attacking Midfield SePos: Support Striker, Centre Forward Age: 23 Inj: A Abil: 69 Futr: Rising FPot: 80 Yrs: 5 Star: M-Shot Abilities and notes: Finally another youngster who hit's above 80 in potential. Fouque is a BEAST when it comes to pelting in the ball from the half-way line. His shot power is insane and can certainly hit the 90's if he gets enough games. Sadly you may find that Fouque is a one-trick pony there, also once he reaches his max potential he'll drop steadily back to 70... Name: MACCO PrPos: Side-Midfield SePos: Winger Age: 26 Inj: A Abil: 72 Futr: Rising FPot: 80 Yrs: 4 Star: Dribbling Abilities and notes: The welsh-wizard of the right-wing actually hits 80 potential in this game. He has good stamina, speed and dribbling abilities and his short-passing makes him a literal opposite of Ximelez in terms of abilities. Macco will last you well into his 30's if you're lucky, dribbling star does nothing for you though. Name: DODO PrPos: Defensive Midfield SePos: Centre Midfield Age: 21 Inj: A Abil: 69 Futr: Rising FPot: 75 Yrs: 8 Abilities and notes: Dodo is vanilla all round. Stamina is decent enough and he's your only CMF... I'm struggling to even think of something to say about him... -_-;; Name: IOUGA PrPos: Defensive Midfield SePos: None Age: 33 Inj: A Abil: 68 Futr: Declining FPot: n/a Yrs: 0 Abilities and notes: Nice shot power, nice balance ability but even Dodo surpasses him. Not really worth a look-in to be honest unless you like using players who's abilities steadily decline... Name: STEIN PrPos: Defensive Midfield SePos: Centre-Back Age: 25 Inj: B Abil: 68 Futr: Rising FPot: 74 Yrs: 10 Star: Sliding Abilities and notes: Stein is WEIRD. Decent Stamina and balance and a Sliding star makes him perfect for the DMF role giving him a slight advantage over Dodo. However he's far and away your second-best defender, which puts you in a bit of a decision making time if you use two at the back... Also his abilities don't drop until he's 35 giving you years of service so you can better spend your money on strikers and stuff... -_- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4) Strikers Name: CASTOLO PrPos: Centre Forward SePos: Side Midfield Age: 31 Inj: A Abil: 77 Futr: Declining/Steady/Declining FPot: 75 Yrs: 0 or 4 Abilities and notes: Castolo got a new hairstyle and a does the Jackson crotch-clutch-in-yo-face celebration that doesn't get him fined for "improper conduct". PES5 ruined him, PES6 gives him an over-haul. He's super-fast now, can dribble, has good response, shot power and if you can believe it HEADING... They stole his "reaction" star though, not that he needs it anymore. Castolo's abilities decline for one year but then steadies out until he's 36 so you may find you want to keep him around until then. His talents will go off the chart in terms of being crap though once he hits 37 years of age so either flog him then or hope he retires... Name: ORDAZ PrPos: Centre Forward SePos: None Age: 21 Inj: A Abil: 72 Futr: Rising FPot: 80 Yrs: 4 Star: Scoring Abilities and notes: In PES5 the "duo" of slimline Ordaz (owen) and Hamsun (Crouch) appeared. Ordaz being the better of the two imo. PES6 seems to have swapped them around anyway, Ordaz is a good five inches shorter than Hamsun but his HEADING is insane... He's also got a decent shot acc, however he's a sickler for big impacts and once he reaches his maximum potential he decides to become crap again... Name: Hamsun PrPos: Centre Forward SePos: Attacking Midfield Age: 21 Inj: B Abil: 72 Futr: Rising FPot: 80 Yrs: 12 Star: Post-Player Abilities and notes: Hamsun being tall and bulky you'd expect, would be awesome for headers. He's not, he sucks, leave the heading to Ordaz. Hamsun has surprisingly good dribble and technique and even balance. Play the ball to his feet, also feel free to plan AROUND him because he will reach 80 overall and actually STAYS there for a good five or so years, in fact he'll remain in the 80's until he's 33 giving you TWELVE years to use him, unlike Ordaz who disappears after four... =\ Name: HUYLENS PrPos: Centre-Forward SePos: None Age: 35 Inj: A Abil: 74 Futr: Steady FPot: n/a Yrs: 1 Star: Scoring Abilities and notes: Huylens is a BEAST at putting the ball in the top corner from miles away, try it and see for yourself. It's not so much his power but his accuracy there! Decent jumping, response and speed gives him some advantage up front however he's only good for one full season. As soon as he hits 36 his abilities take a nose-dive big time... Name: BURCHET PrPos: Winger SePos: None Age: 29 Inj: A Abil: 73 Futr: Rising FPot: 74 Yrs: 1 Star: Reaction Abilities and notes: Burchet is famous for being called bird-sh.. by the commentators in previous PES's or at least it sounded like that. His greatest asset is his insane speed (it's in the 90's) but that's all there is to him. Once he hits his 30's his abilities drop faster than anything so don't plan on keeping him around. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5) Overall Best Players. Well that was the overview now on to the "best players for each position." First up in Goal we have Ivarov, Zamenhof and Lothar. Personally I feel Ivarov wipes the floor with them all, but several players seem to have a thing for Lothar. Statistically though, Ivarov = wins. Defence wise is the main concern to think about. A lot of PES players feel that a 3 man defence is harder to split with through balls. This is true however in PES6 through balls seem to have been hit quite harshly and no longer have the ability to split through a defence at will. They are more difficult to pull off, personally I find the AI in PES6 tends to try more lofted balls over the top instead of through balls now. For that reason alone you may wish to run a sweeper-system, although no one in the original team can play that role normally. Jaric is clearly your best defender, Stein is another good one. Everyone else though don't really seem to make the grade. Ruskin, Giersen and Valeny are the only defenders who can play side-back/wing-back roles so they will always be getting a place in the team unless you play with a backline of 3 players. Over in midfield you're spoilt for choice, I prefer an AMF with two wingers and a CMF instead of a DMF... However it's up to you to use the players for each position. The wingers are easy enough to choose from, Ximelez, Espimas and Macco are easily your best choices, Burchet can also be used in this position. Ruskin is a valid replacement for Ximelez if you play a 3-5-2 formation or a varient of it. Defensive midfield, Dodo and Stein are your best choices, while in attacking midfield you may wish to rotate both Minanda and Fouque early on then stick with Fouque once he improves. Strikers is the hardest of choices to make. Castolo stomps on the entire lot in terms of raw ability, Hamsun is the best long-term choice while Ordaz and Huylens both have something to offer... BEST POSITIONS: Gk: Ivarov/Lothar/Zamenhof SB: Ruskin/Giersen/Valeny CB: Jaric/Stein/Valeny/Libermann/Stremer/Ceciu WB: Ruskin/Giersen SMF: Macco/Ruskin/Castolo/Espimas/Ximelez* DMF: Stein/Dodo/Iouga CMF: Dodo AMF: Minanda/Fouque/Hamsun FC: Castolo/Hamsun/Ordaz/Huylens/Fouque *Ximelez only rates this low in terms of potential, he's not that bad overall. Players you should keep hold of include: Jaric - 83 overall! Fouque - 80 Overall Macco - 80 Overall Ordaz - 80 Overall Hamsun - 80 Overall (comes free with Ordaz) >_> _______________________________________________________________________________ 3.0) Formations _______________________________________________________________________________ In PES6 the Original team can be used in almost any formation you'd like. Want to use wingers? You can, want to use a 3-5-2 with two DMF's? You can. The WEAKNESS of the Original team is depth. For example you have only one left back, only TWO wingers and so on. You also have to contend with a team where the youngsters are getting better but the older established players already suck and are getting WORSE! As I mentioned earlier in this guide, some PES veterans have claimed a 3 man backline is safer to defend against through balls (true) however with the fact that through balls are substationally harder to pull off even for the AI you can quite easily play a 4 man backline without any serious difficulties. The main thing to watch out for is lofted balls so a sweeper system may be your more safer option if you have trouble with defending. Whatever you choose, Jaric and Stein are arguably the BEST centre backs and should easily be your first choices. Valeny is another good choice, even if his abilities are in decline, you could hold them off with good performances to change his decline to a steady line on the overall potential graph (difficult). In midfield a flat four line is rather static, I've noticed that side-midfield players don't tend to run forwards so much as they did in PES5 and you may find that the side-backs are your only crossing options in counter-attacks. A good idea is to play the diamond four, allowing you a defensive or central midfield player usually Dodo, with an attacking midfielder in the "hole" (minanda and fouque are good choices). Side-midfield players are easy to choose if you want speed and dribble options go for Macco and Ximelez or even Ruskin if you use a 3man defence line. Espimas is a viable choice on the wings if you want a slower more patient and thus less-dribble heavy wing choice, he is a threat from wide if you're confident with your shooting, as is Fouque both players have the M-Shot ability and should be used for those freekicks that are EXTREMELY close to goal. Speaking of freekicks, Minanda is a decent choice however Jaric should easily surpass him and should be used for S-range freekicks and corners. Be wary of using Jaric however as he IS a defender so you will easily find yourself one man short at the back if you mess up. Practice a lot so you can pull freekicks off with ease. Up front a decent 2 man strike-force is advisable, however you can easily get away with THREE. Castolo, Ordaz, Hamsun and Huylens all have something to offer remember that ORDAZ is the man for headers, Huylens for long range shots, Castolo and Hamsun for speed and dribble, although Hamsun is easily the best at holding up the ball. Burchet is your only real choice as a Winger to be honest if you use the winger system. You can easily play three up front with one lone-striker and two in support, both Fouque and Minanda can play in those positions, handy for quick counter-attacks if you are confident in your defence. Formations is really up to your personal preference. New players are advised to start out with a basic 4-4-2 but advanced pros can easily skip on to a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 formation. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ 4.0) End. PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 6 MASTER LEAGUE ORIGINAL PLAYERS GUIDE: Version 1.0 Contributions to be sent to: THEFOLLOWER44 at hotmail dot com. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. This guide can only be seen on www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com If found at any other site, please notify the owner of this FAQ; Sites are warned that to produce this FAQ in any shape or form is copyright infringement and legal action will be taken if the situation is not resolved immediately or amicably. The FAQ is copyright Robert Blowes 2009.