Those times when you have to go back to basics

I've been spending alot of time managing England of late, and flitting back and forth from my non-league save but decided today to have a go with Liverpool. I've never managed them before but decided early on that I'd try and keep the first team squad together, focusing on building up the youth with some wonderkids to blend in as Carragher and Gerrard won't be around forever.

Pre-season, absolutely fine. Thumped Parma 10-1 away, a few other decent results and we finished on a 6-0 away win at Wrexham. No signs whatsoever that I'd be languishing in 16th place with 1 win to my name after just 7 games. It was when we lost 2-1 to Fulham at Anfield that I decided it was me doing something wrong rather than the players; we had 22 shots on goal, 11 on target and scored early on in the game. Fulham had 2 shots, one on target, and got both theirs in injury time at the end of the game.

I gave the players a right bollocking, despite average scores of 7, because my style is to shout at those that don't perform and compliment those that do. Torres has had me biting all the way, he's yet to score in a competitive match and is always getting 6's, whilst babel has been much better.

I had a Champions League match against Celtic at home as our next game, so instead of putting pressure on the players by encouraging or expecting a win, and telling the press we'd stuff the opposition, I instead played down a victory and told the players to relax and let the result come to them.

I've been doing the above for the past 8 games, in which we're unbeaten. My only theory is that Liverpool players (and a few extra signings such as Defour and Lloris) need to have their hands held through each game instead of being barked at - the point of this post being that maybe these team-talk guides on here only work for certain players with certain attitudes?

I've been spending alot of time managing England of late, and flitting back and forth from my non-league save but decided today to have a go with Liverpool. I've never managed them before but decided early on that I'd try and keep the first team squad together, focusing on building up the youth with some wonderkids to blend in as Carragher and Gerrard won't be around forever.

Pre-season, absolutely fine. Thumped Parma 10-1 away, a few other decent results and we finished on a 6-0 away win at Wrexham. No signs whatsoever that I'd be languishing in 16th place with 1 win to my name after just 7 games. It was when we lost 2-1 to Fulham at Anfield that I decided it was me doing something wrong rather than the players; we had 22 shots on goal, 11 on target and scored early on in the game. Fulham had 2 shots, one on target, and got both theirs in injury time at the end of the game.

I gave the players a right bollocking, despite average scores of 7, because my style is to shout at those that don't perform and compliment those that do. Torres has had me biting all the way, he's yet to score in a competitive match and is always getting 6's, whilst babel has been much better.

I had a Champions League match against Celtic at home as our next game, so instead of putting pressure on the players by encouraging or expecting a win, and telling the press we'd stuff the opposition, I instead played down a victory and told the players to relax and let the result come to them.

I've been doing the above for the past 8 games, in which we're unbeaten. My only theory is that Liverpool players (and a few extra signings such as Defour and Lloris) need to have their hands held through each game instead of being barked at - the point of this post being that maybe these team-talk guides on here only work for certain players with certain attitudes?

Which team talk guide do you use?

Wolfsong's?

Have a look at the FM Britain website and the training bible.

I use the same approach you normally do, get on players backs, and it works really well with my Arsenal team

Yeah I've always followed Wolfsong's advice and it has always worked with every single club and country that I've managed, but it's fallen flat with Liverpool. Just played another two games since making this topic and we've scored 3 in each, conceding none. Torres certainly seems alot happier, he still hasn't scored but he's getting loads of chances each game and he even got an 8 rating.