A look at the different statistics and trends you can gain from the often underused Track Record option.
While the sport is not really an exact science, there has been a meteoric rise in the use, and popularity, of stats in football. From how many passes Xavi does in a particular match to the amount of shots Manchester United have faced so far this season there now seems to be a recorded number for every aspect of the world’s number one sport.
Stats can often surprise us, like the fact that Swansea city made more passes away at Manchester City than their high spending counterparts. They can also often cement certain ideas we have about a particular player or team such as that 11 of Christoper Samba’s 15 goals for Blackburn Rovers have been headers.
Statistical analysis is something that has always been in the PES series. Shots, fouls, possession and corners are recorded stats that have always been viewable at both half and full time. However, with the advent of PES on current generation (multi-format) consoles Seabass and his team decided to take statistical analysis a little further giving players the option to track all their accumulated stats.
So I’ve decided to see if the stats collected in PES 2012 can be used in the same way as real life and see if Konami’s recorded stats reflect the PES player you think you are. I’ve also been keen to see if those stats can tell us anything about the how the game plays in comparison to real life.
What do your PES stats say about you?
The following stats were recorded playing the game on both Professional (around 30%) and Top Player (70%) difficulties. About half of the matches were played in exhibition mode while the other half were played in Master League and the cup competitions of Asia, America and Europe. I generally play against teams who are better than the team I’ve picked or are of similar ability such as Barcelona vs. Real Madrid or me as Udinese vs. Internazionale.
Here are mine….
70 – The amount of games I’ve played so far.
27/28/15 – The number of wins, losses and draws I’ve had. While it’s not a terrible record, given the fact that the majority of my matches have been played on Top Player which is brutally clinical at times, I’d like to think that my winning win ratio of 38.57% will be higher in another 70 match’s time.
92 – Is the amount of goals I’ve scored and conceded which gives me an average of 1.31 goals scored and conceded per match.
640 – The amount of shots I’ve had against the opposition meaning I’m having, on average, 9.14 shots per match. My 92 goals give me a 14.37% shot to goal conversion rate. While this rate is poor I’d like to think that it’s because it’s so difficult to master one of the hardest parts of the game – the shooting.
470 – The number of shots the COM has taken against which mean it takes only 6.71 shots per match. This gives it a much better conversion rate of 19.14% which is much better than my record but isn’t surprising. It also backs up the idea that Top Player is hard, maybe not in terms of possession – but when it comes to scoring goals it’s lethal. Hence I have a miserable rating of C when it comes to defending.
2 – How many penalties I’ve been awarded giving me a ratio of 0.02 per game. In 70 games this stat does seem low and probably is when compared to real life.
35 – Is the amount of cards I’ve received, which when separated is 31 yellow and 4 red cards. I’m not an overly passive player, and I do like to put a good crunching tackle in on an opposing attacker, but like the number of penalties this stat is a little low compared to real life where you can expect to see 4 or 5 cards shown in any one match. In contrast I have a per game ratio of 0.44 for yellow cards and 0.05 for red cards, However, given the fact that this is a video game made to be enjoyed and not real life maybe it’s better if there are fewer cards. Plus there is also the fact that I currently have a rating of S for fairplay.
62% – This is the average amount of possession i’m having in match. While it is a Barcelona type possession stat and while possession is something I look to dominate (the lowest possession stat I’ve had being 51%) whether playing against the COM or a human, I feel it is a frustrating stat. Keeping hold of possession seems to be something the COM never does. Whether I am up against Barcelona, Stoke, Lyon or Ghana the COM always tries to get to goal quickly and effectively. While different teams do attack in different ways; for example Colombia will often try a long ball from defence for Falcao to win in the air and Lyon will try quick passes down the wings, they all seem too direct. Even teams who are know for their possession football play in to direct of a manner too. To sum up, my best ever possession stat for a half was 77%-23% which was Villarreal vs. Barcelona.
34 – The number of hours I’ve spent so far playing PES 2012.
Do you have a better winning ratio than me? Had more penalties? Or have an even better possession average? Tell us in the forums, get involved and let everybody see if your PES stats are the best out there and what they say about how you play the game.
