Unsettling Managers Before a Game

Does this actually have an effect on your performance or the other teams performance?

In 08 as the Man Utd Manager I often spoke about managers before the game saying that we would kick their butts and that they're going down with the current manager in charge lol. It was funny sparking off a war of words leading up to the end of the season, especially if there was a tight title race lol.

But I never really noticed if it made a difference as I was at a big club at the time so winning was pretty much a given. I never tried it at the lower clubs as I used to manage them as the person I generally am. Kind and respectful to other people etc whereas at Utd I was a badass lol but I'm tempted now to start speaking about managers before a game to try and unsettle their team as I've just blown a few big games and think that perhaps I may need to look down another route for success lol.

It can work but it can also badly impact upon your own players So it can backfire badly if you aren't aware of how your players can react and how to counteract the effects. (eg if you say the opponent is rubbish, then it can make some of your players complacent which may mean giving them a rocket to get them to perform but that might mean upsetting them so that their morale suffers meaning that you then need to find a way to restore their morale meaning that they may get even more complacent for the next match meaning you have to give them an even bigger rocket which may hit their morale even worse and may start making them dislike you... etc. etc. etc).

Not really played with it much in 09 myself, but I'd recommend SFraser's stickied post on motivation in the Tactics forum as a good basic groundwork on how the system functions.

"Previous/Next Opposition Comment

A minefield of negativity that I personally avoid like the plague. I have very rarely if ever managed to produce a positive response from my own team and demoralise the opposition by using this feature, so I no longer try."

Nuff said lol

"Previous/Next Opposition Comment

A minefield of negativity that I personally avoid like the plague. I have very rarely if ever managed to produce a positive response from my own team and demoralise the opposition by using this feature, so I no longer try."

Nuff said lol

I've only just started to play with it again (first time with 09 over the past month so not sure how much has changed since 05 (?) when I last played with it in detail). But, for critical games, the negatives may be outweighed by the positives.

For the very top teams (SFraser plays mainly with Manchester United IIRC - which invalidates none of his observations but may allow a slightly different case to be advanced), it may well be something which may not be worth the risk for minimal potential benefits. For smaller teams, it can be a useful tool if you can catch the 'mood' of your squad while also eg lulling the opponent into complacency by softsoaping them before the match. To give one example, one of my biggest achievements was to knock out Premier League Blackburn in the League Cup with a Bury (league 2) which barely avoided relegation the previous season. I softsoaped them with compliments about how they should hammer us, which suited most of my team, but lulled their key players to sleep. I won 3-1 because key players for them didn't rise to the occasion. In my latest Bognor game, half the squad hates me praising other managers, the other half believe it's a great idea. I may well shape the squad so that the personalities within it are more in unison to how I manage this side of the game, or I could just leave it and apply it when the damage to my players is unimportant for the benefits I get from others in the squad or the damage done to opposition players.

In long term games, I tend to have scouted key players for the opposition and see how they respond to situations (it's reported for players on your shortlist) such as being praised or criticised by opponent managers before the match. I keep notes on players about their reactions so it gives me a rough idea on whether or not it's worth to make a comment on a 'dangerman'.

So it's perhaps a slightly more important tool for teams which aren't all powerful for whom maintaining motivation and morale is sufficient to obtain good performances. For weaker teams, players playing well according to their abilities may not be sufficient and you need to find other ways to even things up on the pitch.

If you have a professional squad, they can get really ****y when you start insulting everyone, so I play nice. But IIRC when I have ambitious squads they quite like my rubbishing the other team.

Not sure I've got that right, but main point is that you should be very aware of your squad's personality.

I never use this feature in FM09 anymore. I used to use it to quite good effect in previous FM's but it has always backfired for me in this version so I simply don't use it anymore.