Thulani Serero

[PES Stats Database]

Small but physically capable midfielder. Used to be a CMF/AMF hybrid but seems to have no problem adapting to a more defense-minded position on the midfield. Has a pretty crazy workraid and works hard for the team. Doesn't have much in the way of a proper attacking treat, but is very good at balancing the play and breaking up attacks.

[mcmattie]

Could use an update.

My set for him:

Spoiler: show

TECHNIQUE
Attack: 75
Defence: 44
Header Accuracy: 63
Dribble Accuracy: 85
Short Pass Accuracy: 83
Short Pass Speed: 76
Long Pass Accuracy: 75
Long Pass Speed: 70
Shot Accuracy: 71
Place Kicking: 65
Swerve: 74
Ball Control: 85
Goal Keeping Skills: 50
Weak Foot Accuracy: 6
Weak Foot Frequency: 6
SPEED
Response: 82
Explosive Power: 90
Dribble Speed: 83
Top Speed: 85
PHYSICAL
Body Balance: 72
Stamina: 84
Kicking Power: 73
Jump: 80
Injury Tolerance: B
RESISTANCE
Attack Awareness: 3
Defence Awareness: 2
Form: 4
Tenacity: 75
Teamwork: 77

P01 - Classic No.10
P03 - Trickster
P05 - Mazing Run
S07 - Shoulder Feint Skills
S08 - Turning Skills
S09 - Roulette Skills
S10 - Flip Flap Skills
S13 - Step On Skills
S20 - Double Touch

OLD STATS:
Acceleration: 88
Shot Technique: 72
Aggression: 83

SPECIAL ABILITIES:
★ Dribbling
★ Tactical Dribble
★ Reaction

[Roy]

LOL. no. That set is ridiculous. He's definitely not that fast, not even close. And he's barely a good passer, let alone yellows...

[Fides]

I would agree with a slight raise on his RESP, TW and his ATT (all +1 or 2). Apart from that I think the OP is still accurate.

[Fides]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2014 ... al-quality

Interesting article about him. I dont think I agree on the mazing card by the way.

[Fides]

I feel his teamplay / positioning in the midfield is better then 81. His ATT might be even lower because his prowess in attack is pretty minimal for such a technical and smart player.

[Roy]

I feel his teamplay / positioning in the midfield is better then 81. His ATT might be even lower because his prowess in attack is pretty minimal for such a technical and smart player.

True. True. I also feel his dribbling is a point or two better than this, and his AGI is possibly low oranges. And maybe I underrated his TECH a bit, not sure.

[Fides]

I would say his DA is fine at these numbers, its more his BC/TECH thats very good (85/86). He is quite comfortbale with recieving sloppiest passes on the most awkward positions on the pitch, despite he should always be aware of being pushed over.

It's a pity he doenst have a good shot or that he isnt an outstanding passer. If he had one of those abilities he would be top class material.

[Roy]

Updated him to reflect how much of a machine he's been, while also making his weak points more obvious.

It's obvious he's a very limited player, he can't really pass (I lowered him, can't even recall when I last saw him deliver a good long pass, and his short passing is just meh), his vision is incredibly limited and he's completely predictable, and he also lacks a lot of impact (lowered ATT a bit).

But on the other hand, his physicality is quite something. He's really explosive and insanely agile, and his stamina is also quite admireable, he runs and runs and never fucking stops throughout the match, seriously, his movement is crazy for an AMF. He's more of a CMF imo. I also lowered most of his attacking stats to reflect how wasteful/timid he is, he's a menace on the ball, but never really manages to create danger all that well, his shooting is pretty bad (misses a lot of easy chances, yesterday was no exception, he's done that before) and his overall lack of vision limits his attacking play, which is quite disappointing because he's an absolute beast on the ball, due to his swiftness and insane agility.

Perhaps I overdid him here and there, but I really think he's been one of Ajax's consistently better players throughout the season so far, even if he's absolutely awful once he needs to be dangerous.

[Fides]

In general I agree with you on this update. I would probably keep his DA a bit lower and his TECH a bit higher (83&85 instead of 84).

[Fides]

This weekend he played as a '6' (DM/CM) and we could see that his passing is indeed this poor. Looses the ball way to easily to play in that position.

[Fides]

I was quite surprised when I saw he wins 59% of his duels. He also has more tackles and interceptions then for example El Ahmadi and Clasie.

[Roy]

I was quite surprised when I saw he wins 59% of his duels. He also has more tackles and interceptions then for example El Ahmadi and Clasie.

Doesn't surprise me to be honest, he's a maniac when it comes to tackling, his actual tackling isn't very good and he rarely shows it, but he's insanely aggressive in his attempts to win the ball from an opponent, hence the high RES.

[Fides]

The thing is that with the DEF (and BB) in the current set it will be pretty hard to steal any ball I think.

Experimenting with a higher DEF might be an idea.

[Roy]

Since nobody really cares about him and I'm sick of continuously posting I'm gonna merge my former posts:

Nov 24:

Updated him a bit.

Dec 7:

Have to say that the odd long pass he gives is actually pretty accurate, as in moreso than his short passes.

Dec 20:

Updated him to fit his new role.

Dec 31:

I'm amazed by him, he's currently by far my favorite Ajax player and he's impressed me far more than Schöne and basically anyone else from Ajax. He seems to be perfectly aware what his shortcomings are now that he's playing this new DMF/CMF hybrid. It's a bit hard to pinpoint him to a certain position as he generally seems to be a DMF with a more balanced role than most (or rather, a CMF/AMF hybrid playing DMF) and he doesn't seem to be all-out defending as much as Zimling is or Poulsen was. But I'll come out right now and say he's more useful than both could ever wish to be. This little guy here, he's one of the most important players Ajax have right now, he's not anything special in terms of raw defending, but his responsiveness and determination to give his all everytime he has a chance to intercept or dispossess helps the team a shitton. His movement is fucking crazily good, he's almost always in the right place at the right time, much like Blind, but less refined and much more raw and abrasive. He's all over the midfield, he's a complete boss and he can neutralize attacks all by himself, and that's saying something coming from a player who used to be a fairly attack-minded AMF/CMF hybrid basically half a year ago.

He's obviously limited, he's a shit shooter, his passing is retarded and he doesn't really seem to know how to create danger, but he's an emperor on the midfield. He's in complete control of the game, not through awesome tackling or endless stamina, but he's ALWAYS there when you need him, his DEF is only 65, but I feel he's been Ajax's most successful tackler by quite a margin lately, his tackling isn't very impressive, but he's a complete beast coming into challenges, and he doesn't seem to be halted even a bit by his lack of body strength or pure tackling skills. To reflect all this, I've raised his RES (could possibly be even higher), raised his MENT, lowered his AGG, and I wanna have his position changed to DMF, he's not a CMF like Klaassen or whatever, he's much more into balancing the play rather than focusing on attacking like most Ajax CMF's do. His general playing style is that of a DMF, but his skillset seems to be more fitted for a CMF, so I want the mods to discuss this.

I want to increase his DEF now. He's still not on general DMF levels of tackling but he's edging really close. Yes 75% of his success rates come from his RES and aggression, but his actual tackling has improved far more than I originally thought. At the moment he's probably ATT 72 DEF 70.

EDIT. Oh and he should be DMF.

I've also reverted his height and weight back to what they really are cause there's no way in hell he's 1.72m or 68kg. Believe me, the guy has basically the same build as me and I am 1.96m and I weigh 72kg. There's no way he's only 4kg's lighter than me, no way at all. And he's tiny, he's either this or perhaps a couple of cm's taller, but there's no way he's even close to 1.72m.

[mcmattie]

I think his Def is fine at 65, a very good value for him. He still acts more like a CM than a DM to me. DEF awareness can be 3 though.
Height is about 168 cm?

[Roy]

Small update.

Left DEF awareness as it is for now, I'm not sure whether he deserves 3 for either. He's balanced, like incredibly so. He doesn't attack nearly as much as he used to but I don't feel he drops back to defend more than he simply stays on the midfield to balance the play.

[Roy]

Tweaked his ATT and DEF a little bit.

[Roy]

I was thinking the following; what to do with his DEF? I really think it should be quite a bit higher. We seamlessly give decent-tackling DMF's 70's for DEF which are overall not nearly as impressive at tackling as Thulani is. I mean, fuck, we gave Gudelj 70 for DEF but we see him struggling with tackles almost every match. Thulani was rock-fucking-solid last season. If we were to rate DEF purely, and PURELY by tackling only, he should be on greens. Even then, saying we do not, he should still be on low 70's at least. Last time I checked he was a complete fucking monster at tackling. Had one of the highest success rates of the entire team, which honestly says a lot considering he's a CMF. To me, currently, he's easily a DEF>ATT player.

If nobody objects I'll update him to 73 within a few days.

EDIT: Updated him but went ahead with 72.