The half time team talk - Lord AI Manager Almighty

OK, loving FM09 but this really is beyond a joke now.

If I play well & set up a "match winning" lead by half time, the AI team always comes out inspired and "wins" the 2nd half. It has reached he somewhat stupid stage whereby I try to not to "have the game won" by halftime but rather put myself in a good position upon which I can build in the 2nd half (and my HT talks are ineffectual but clearly I have talent in this area as my pre-match talks are very very effective, I dont turn into a clown during those 45 mins you know!). Of course most managers IRL would rally their team at HT, that is their job, but in FM09 their superhuman powers of inspiration, whoever they may be (whether Sour Alex Ferguson or Phil Brown, and every step of the evolutionary scale inbetween!), are frankly ridiculous. The ultimate example being winning clearly by HT then adding a quick goal in the 2nd half, a suitably fired up AI team will not buckle at this point as indeed most real teams would but will come out and turn the match stats around apparantly regardless.

"Football Manager simulation"? - I love the game but seriously I have played more realistic "Football Management Simulations" on the Amiga and in Arcades with a coin slot on the side!!!.

SI, sort it out please, it is spoiling a very very good game!

I take it this has cost you lol???

Agree completely though, the team talks can be too over sensitive. I fell there needs to be an option to keep things the same, "keep it up" for example. God forbid you tell your team your "pleased" at half time, it will guarantee you wont be saying pleased at full time.

I take it this has cost you lol???

Agree completely though, the team talks can be too over sensitive. I fell there needs to be an option to keep things the same, "keep it up" for example. God forbid you tell your team your "pleased" at half time, it will guarantee you wont be saying pleased at full time.

LOL yeah it was a defeat which "inspired"(!) my Post but it has been noticable for many, many matches. It seems almost impossible to kill a game off at HT. Conversely I had a match where the Ass Man chose the talk (generally he is good I think) but my star striker was having s "6.1" game in the middle of a good form run so when I saw the "Go out there and prove a point" teamtalk for him (had never noticed that one before) I duly selected it and he had a stormer of a 2nd half, won us the match. Again I have to note that it was not a game we were winning easily by half time, those matches ALWAYS spell trouble in the 2nd half.

I don't understand this sort of complains.

I very often find myself in 2-0 lead at HT, with no other useful option left for team talk, so I have to go with much-criticised "pleased". However I very rarely lose games in 2nd half. So I have to say that it's your tactics and selection of players.

As experienced FM manager you're obviously noticed, that if you manage to give effective team talk at half time and afterwards you review its effect, you see that there are 1-2, max 3 players who are fired-up or motivated by your team talk and if you watch the game you see that those are the players that eventually turn things around, score or at least create moments in opposition end.

So - if it seems you're losing your lead, you have to:

1) sub somebody in HT, so you can give your substitution "expect performance" talk. I've found it fairly useful, as he's very often "motivated" after that.

2) turn attention to opp. players with high determination. Those are most likely the ones to initiate comeback and you have to neutralize them in defence. Perhaps give your wingback more defensive orders against this kind of winger, perhaps try to control the ball more, lower a bit of tempo etc.

Say nothing at half time. I tend to give a few individual team-talks in the situation you describe. A "pleased" to the goal scorers, a "have faith" to anyone playing nervously, a "disappointed or prove a point" to anyone on low rating but most of the team gets nothing and it works pretty well.

If you are winning comfortably at HT and are being caught by the AI comeback, you need to counter that tactic in some way- if you know it is coming then change your formation/tactic for 15 mins till the storm has passed.

The phenomenon does exist, but so do several ways of countering it.

Another thing I've noticed about team talks is that the AI manager hardly ever gets them wrong and his side always come out "fired up" or "playing with confidence". Meanwhile the success rate for us with an actual pulse is much lower, hit or miss on team talks for us really.

If you are winning comfortably at HT and are being caught by the AI comeback, you need to counter that tactic in some way- if you know it is coming then change your formation/tactic for 15 mins till the storm has passed.

The phenomenon does exist, but so do several ways of countering it.

I really am asking for the "phenomenon" to be removed, thats the point. You can blame my players or my tactics as Draakon has if you like but surely if I got it right both on the pitch and in the dressing room for the start of the match, I should not consatntly have to be 2nd best in the 2nd half unless the team talks model is faulty - again as I indicated in my OP. I understand that team talks are very important but as far as I am aware the "product" is called "Football Manager", not "Coaches Motivational Speach Simulator". To be honest if the rest of the game wasnt so good I would be far less annoyed by this particular and somewhat overly effecting problem.

njrocky got it about right in his previous Post.

I cannot say I experience this a lot of times. I often have a close lead at half-time and much more often than not I manage to either defend it or even score more in the second half. The other way around I have good success with HT team talks when trailing.

That leads to my assumption that it must actually be down to your team-talk choices more than a wonder AI which I don't see.

Maybe it would be worth giving that guide on team talks a look.

My choice when one or two goals up is to warn against complancency, and for my team it works as I said.

edit: Of course, in the course of the second half I also remove farrows, play narrower, slower, shorter passing and use more time-wasting when defending a narrow lead, but I hold that to be self-evident and I trust you to not blame team-talks for something which is caused by unrelated stuff.

tigerhgrrrrrr, what kind of players do you have in your team? I can tell on my own behalf that I tend to choose players with high determination, so they keep fighting when I'm behind after 1st half and they respond very well to harsh team-talk when they play poorly in 1st half.

Therefore I've managed to turn things around for myself several times with HT team talk.

Now, why shouldn't opp. team do the same when they have determined players who are ready to come back 2nd half and fight til the end? Because these sort of comebacks doesn't happen ALWAYS, they happen sometimes, and I think (or at least I'd like to think) that it's somehow connected to opp. players and opp. manager attributes.

So are things in real life as well - there are teams and players who are well-known by their determination (Liverpool, ManU) and their opponent should be very aware that 2-0 lead in HT doesn't guarantee victory quite yet.

Never say "Pleased" at HT unless you are 2+ goals up or against a weak team. Chances are you won't score the rest of the game.

I had a game last week against a crap team for a UEFA Cup qualifier. 4-0 up at HT (ripping the poor sods apart) so I praised them and we didn't score again!

(my standard responses, which may or may not be good. I don't know)

- I only say 'pleased' if we're 2 goals up against a rubbish team at home or 3 goals up against anybody anwhere.

- All other times we're leading I 'warn against complacency'.

- Having said that, just to mix it up a bit I sometimes 'encourage' them even if they're winning. I go for this if we're 1-0 up having not played well.

- I never ever leave the team talk blank if we're winning ; never tried that. I do occasionally leave it blank if we're getting tonked.

One aspect of the team talk I've never understood is "for the fans". It just seems like a variation of "you can win today" to me and I'm often unsure as to when to use it.

Saw a wonderful thread the other day which I'd seriously recommend reading regarding this

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=3847848#post3847848

Just a few thoughts to add (Some already mentioned).

1) None is a valid and useful team talk (Think of more as "Same again lads")

2) If the opposition change tactics and you don't counter the change its your own fault, not the AI.

3) I've finally found a use for the "Pleased" team talk. Using when you are the underdog but winning at HT gives your team confidence to push on.

4) Don't use the same team talk all the time.

I often use "For the fans!" if the odds are slightly in my favour and my assistant says that my players are looking complacent. Usually works fine.