Do players get nervous from rotating your squad?

Well the main question is pretty obvious from the title, but I'll give you a more detailed explanation.

I'm managing Chelsea at the moment, second season, and I've noticed that during matches, when I open the "Chelsea Motivation" window, a lot of players are "Playing Nervously". Of course, this could have several reasons, but I think this is the most plausible explanation and I wanted your judgement:

During the first season of my reign at Chelsea, I had a very distinctive 1st 11, meaning that I did not use a lot of different players. I think only 15 players played more than +/- 15 games. This gave me 2 major problems:

1. Even after tuning down training intensivity and resting the players regularly, most of the players of my 1st 11 had difficulties reaching over a fitness level of 94%, which meant that I had to substitute players a lot and very early in the game.

2. A lot of players were unhappy that they played so few games.

So when I started the second season, I made sure during the transfer window that I had 2 players for every position. Then, before the season started, I divided my squad into 2 11's with quality divided equally over those 2 11's. So now I switch between those two 11's every 2 or 3 games, depending on how busy the fixture list is. Result- and fitness-wise this has done miracles for me. I'm about halfway through my second season and both the results and fitness levels are much better than in my first season.

However, as I said before, in both 11's there are always players that are "Playing Nervously". And it's always the same ones. Like Didier Drogba and Alex for example. Does that mean some players are not fit for a rotating squad system? Because, according to my own little research, it doesn't matter what the squad status is. I have key players and backups that play nervously in both 11's. And it affects their performance a lot. Although it does not affect the team's results and performances (yet), it worries me. Should I just go back to my old system of having a clear distinction between one 1st 11 and the rest?

PS: I forgot to mention that the team morale is also excellent now, and the players have a perfect understanding of each other. In comparison to the first season, when only 15 players were happy and the rest was unhappy.

Any thoughts on this one?

PS 2: I'm always surprised by the way about how much squad rotation affects football players IRL. If you look at American sports like basketball and baseball (but mostly basketball), because they play so many games nobody really has a certain spot in the starting team, yet you never hear anybody complaining. Not to mention of course that in basketball you can substitute endlessly.

I think you should definently stick with squad rotation as long as your team performances aren't suffering. They might be playing nervously for many reasons, such as team talks. Take note of whoever is playing nervously and check their reactions to the team talk after the game. Also at half time try to take any pressure of them with your team talks. However this may not be the reason it could be other things such as comments made to the media that affect confidence or morale, so try changing some of these things to see if you get different reactions from your players.

I don'y think squad rotation would make players nervous as long as their squad status is clearly defined.

I laughed at PS 2, did you know they released a PS 3 as well?

for me (Spur in season 4), I didnt have alot of nervous issue despite having 2 main player for every position and a few youngers to rotate in for a few position for less important match, it might be the team talk and other media talk you used.

However people getting unhappy about lack of appearance start to happen here and there tho

I'd agree that team talks and other media comments (talking them up too much in press conferences?) are likely to be the major issue. Also, your new recruits may have some poor hidden personality attributes such as ability to handle pressure.

Thanks for the help.

I guess I will be doing my team talks and press conferences by myself again then. My ass man does them at the moment.

Back tot the drawing board!

Do media comments, interactions and press conferences affect players - even though they're not tagged as PR? I sometimes notice players morale drop down a notch or two because I praise another manager even though only 1 or 2 has a PR tag on them.

Yes, i4n37, as you note. Also, I often use the PR icon to affect my squad selection and pre-match team-talk. If the player's response is negative or he seems complacent, he gets dropped. If it boosts his confidence or determination he's more likely to get picked, with an 'I expect a performance' from him.

Oh, interesting, andy. I had a similar thought, but my take on it was:

The PR / positive response means he's already inspired, so I don't risk anything more than vanilla -- he gets whatever the team is getting.

Do you find that combining "I expect a performance" with the PR or positive reaction works well for you?

In response to the O.P., I find that squad rotation gets interpreted as "competition for places"; with a Professional / Determined squad, that tends to be very motivating. I can imagine other personality types might feel like they're in danger of getting dropped for even an average performance.

Beyond that, I think its just personality. I've definitely got one striker who needs "No Pressure" as an individual team-talk or he goes in the tank.

I'm not a great analyst to be fair, Amaroq. From memory, I think that the comment rarely results in a particularly special performance, and the player never seems to be listening to that team-talk. I think I'll go your way.

Little OT cameo - I hardly ever get 'angry', but i did just that with Ronaldo for a 5.5 performance at half-time. 2nd half he played a blinder, setting up the come-back goal and netting the winner. Result! Big risk with that prima donna, but it worked.

You on-topic point - I find that too. I have a very professional and determined squad. I get very little complaint from them about rotation. The grumbles come from reserves who are back-up players but still complain. They tend to be moved on.

Don't you think if the media focuses on a player and he likes it, the team talk should be "You have faith"? I mean, if you state your confidence on him in the press conference, telling him exactly that might fire him up.

OT - On FM09 (tbh I only started playing on 9.3.0), I find that getting to the extreme in team-talk pays off more often now. I keep getting "Didn't seem to be listening" or "Nothing specific noted" that I went "Angry" on Carlos Tevez for a 6.3 half-time performance (he's on a goalless streak). Fired-up and scored a hattrick. Maybe it works on other options too - press conferences, player/manager interactions, etc.