Players "looking complacent"

Just wondered peoples actions if their players look complacent during a game, or get the feedback that they looked over confident during the warm up. How do you combat it or is it just their personality and there is nothing you can do about it?

If you lose a game, the overconfidence goes away quickly.

Could try subbing the worst affected.

Say you expect a performance at team talk and they can have a brilliant game. Depends on their personality though. Or, as an alternative, say to the whole team "I expect a Win"

Always say "expect a performance" during team talk to individuals that your assman has marked as being overconfident or cocky during warmup. I've never seen any bad results to this move (not any good either). But it certainly avoids any demotivation events to happen.

If you lose a game, the overconfidence goes away quickly.

Sadly not, actually, I've seen overconfidence be a problem for three successive 0-1 defeats, all in matches I fully expected us to win.

One thing to note is, if you're starting to see overconfidence building, and can get to it before its impacting your performance on the pitch, there are some specific anti-overconfidence team talks.

In particular, the post-match "Warn against overconfidence in next match" and half-time "Warn against over-confidence" when 1-0 up do specifically address this problem.

I find them to be counter-productive most of the rest of the time, so use with caution - and I was quite frustrated not to have them in my toolkit when I needed them (that run of 0-1 defeats).

The post-match one seems to be the most useful, especially at fighting the "champagne hangover" or "trap game". For example .. Morale is Superb across the board; you've just done a fantastic 2-1 away win against Chelsea for your fifth straight win; and you know that your next match is at home against 20th-placed Southampton. "Warn against complacency" is contextually a better bet than telling the lads your "Pleased" or "Delighted" with their performance .. even if you would normally use pleased or delighted at that time-frame, for that important of a win.

You can also address it in press conferences - e.g., pre-match against Southampton, "Your team won a stunning victory against Chelsea last time out. How might that affect the team for this game?" You might try answering "I'm worried it could have a negative effect," with the subtext being "I think we're in danger of becoming overconfident."

(This is why, when posters complain "Oh, I re-played this match against Southampton twenty times and no matter what team-talk I gave, what tactic I used, etc, I just couldn't seem to buy a win ..." I say that they're failing to consider the issue in context, such as team-talks and press conferences from previous matches.)

You may also be able to address over-confidence via specific player interactions. For example, I helped break out of that 0-1, 0-1, 0-1 slump by targeting my overconfident captain and telling him that his performances (6.8, 6.9, 6.8) were merely "Average". It ticked him off ... as I'd hoped ... being a Determined personality, he went out and got me a goal and an assist and a 7.7 in the next match, and his performance inspired that lads to a 3-1 victory.

So, its definitely something you can look at addressing.

If you're interested in more information, please find the article "Communication and Psychological Warfare" over in Tactics and Training Tips.