Lack of Confidence

Is there any way I can give a player a boost in confidence before a match?

The only way I know how is to say I have Faith in their ability at the Pre-Match team talk. It would be useful if I could say to them while not in a match that I believe they are a good player and can overcome this blip in form or something.

On a side note, this lack in confidence thing happens far too often for me. When a player joins my club they score freely for 4/5 matches then dry up. Can predict it like the rising of the sun, so annoying!

I don't think there's anything you can really do before a match, but I think teamtalks are generally the key to keeping morale up. My players very rarely go below "okay", unless we're on a bad losing streak.

I almost never use the "I have faith" option. At the start, its always "You can win today" unless its a team far superior to us, then its the bottom "Pressure is off" option, regardless of whether we're home or away. I occasionally try "For the fans" if its a local derby or cup game, but have never noticed any difference.

Halftime, if we're one goal ahead, its encourage, level "you can win", losing "I want to see more", 2-0 up I say nothing.

Full time, its always "Well done" for a win, delighted for any players who have been exceptional, sympathise for a draw or defeat that they were a bit unlucky with, and disappointed for a defeat and poor performance. Angry when they've been awful, or lost to a team we should have beaten easily.

I also ignore anything my assistant says about how the players react to this. As far as I'm concerned, they never have a bad reaction, and we almost always punch above our weight, so it works.

I tend to play slightly differently to the general team talk guide rules, but I think they are definately a good guide for getting to grips with the system.

For example today I was 2-0 up at half time at home against weak opposition and my Captain was playing a 6.9 from Central Midfield. My Left Back I had signed 3 months ago and formed a good relationship with was also playing a 6.9 rating. My choice was tear into both of them with "angry" while I told my best performers to not let their performance drop and the rest of my team that I had faith in them. The result was a 5-0 win with my Captain setting up two goals in the second half.

As daft as it may sound I find the key to teamtalks and interaction in general is to try and get inside the players heads. If a player is under performing because he has for some reason decided not to show up then rip into them and let them know whether at halftime or through the media that you wont stand for it. On the other hand if you need to "put an arm around" certain players then do so. If you can work out why they are performing as they are and what is bothering them then you can take the right steps to fix it. In short figure out what the problem is, and use the right method of communicating to fix it. Your particular problem may take a long period of time of careful interaction to solve, but keep at it and discover how a player reacts to what criticism in what situation. If you figure him out and can't ever lift him out of his misery then you have a dud and should sell him.

Well I just played bottom of the league Bolton and thrashed them 1-5. The striker in question got 2 goals after I said I had faith in him. Seemed to do the trick but odds are its cause I was playing a poor team. I'll see if he can keep the forum up against Liverpool now. Probably not lol.

Team talk makesd a hugE difference. At the sraRT of a game when ever I say "for the fans" outside a derby or cup game it makes no difference. When I say "for the fans" for an important cup game or derby it has a good effect, but not great. When I say "I expect a win", regardless of what game it is most of the time I win.

At half time time in one game against Tottenham for some biZzare reason I lost 3 penalties and was 3-0 down at half time. 3 of my best players got an everage rating of 4.8. I was not pleased so I substituted them 3 and told my players "I expect nothing less than a win". The final result was 3-3 away from home in the FA cup 5th round. And Tottenham are not a bad team at all and very tough to beat.