Winning Eleven 9

My favorite store, EBGames.com, is offering free 3-day air shipping for the Xbox, PS2 and PSP versions for WE9:

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/groups/dailydeal/DD-0131-WorldSoc cer.asp

PS.  That coupon code expires tomorrow (2/1).

I have the imported PC version so that makes it bearable.  The one thing I don't understand is that in the PC version the American National team player's names aren't correct.  Did they lose that license or something?

I haven't played with the US team since the CG league on PES3.  Actually, no - I did last about 2 minutes with them on PES4 before I shook my head and gave up, but I've not checked them on 5 at all.  I'll do some digging around, see if the licence is gone or what.

Oh, and Kevin - just buy the bloody game on launch day, mate.  Have I ever led you astray before?

Cheers,
Adam

Originally posted by Ted_L Hey Adam or anyone else that knows.  Is the 2 star difficulty the one with even players or is it 3 star?  Do you know what I mean?  That their stats are there stats and no advantage is given to the player or the cpu.  I think it is 3 star, but I just want to confirm.Also just curious what player settings most of you use on your controller full auto switch, the default auto switch, manual switch, or fix?  I always find the cpu too switch happy on me at default, but I also get myself in trouble on manual because I will pull my players out of position too often.

I'd imagine 4 stars would be the answer to your first question, but I'm not
sure I believe there are ratings boosts/nerfs among difficulty levels. But
what do I know?

As to the switching, I go back and forth. I used to be all manual all the
time. But I found in WE8 that my defending was better with full auto
switching, since it causes me to lay off the turbo when defending, and
play defense more passively and positionally, only attacking the ball when
the opportunity was clear. I've found that a more 'shepherd-like'
defensive style, even in the box, is the most successful tactic. Stands to
reason, as it is the way it works in real life: stay between the ball and the
goal, and let your opponent play the ball right to you with a bad pass or
an attempt to run by you. Shepherd him into a double team/trap, or the
boundaries of the pitch, and force him to go where he'd rather not. With
manual switching, I would get guys too far out of position, and also
spend more time and energy switching than defending. Since that mini-
breakthrough, I've gone back and forth with the switching options and
have settled pretty far towards auto-switch, though I still manually switch
quite often.