Guarding against complacency

How do you do this? i generally do well against similar teams, but struggle against lower teams, as pointed out by my coaches.

How do you guard against it?

(sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

Putting your players under pressure to perform generally helps.

I usually tell the team before playing a smaller opponent "I expect a win". This puts pressure on them which, for the top players, usually leads to them becoming motivated and performing well. At half time, if we aren't performing as we should be I usually say "disappointed" or any variant of "where's the passion, lads?".

^ i Agree, i expect to win is the one i usually use at the start. Then if were still struggling i'll say 'you can win today' or 'dissapointed' to certain individuals who arent doing that well, usually works.

Cheers gents

I found that if you are leading 1:0 at HT but miss some chances it's good to say "disappointed" anyway It works!

When there's over confidence i use the 'I expect a win' at the beginning and the 'Don't get complacent' team talk at half time.

I play as Ajax and have long experience of playing against weaker teams in Eredivisie, who can still stun you when you're team is too relaxed.

First of all, I have fairly ambitious/determined team. I never sign anyone with determination less than 10.

My team talk is mostly depending on pre-mach odds.

1) When I'm slight favourite, especially when playing away, I use "for the fans". It seems to be most neutral team-talk when you're in the middle of winning streak and everybody have very good/supreme morale. It doesn't give any real effect, but has no bad effect either. Using "expect win" at away games might be too pressuring for some players and they get nervous even when they should be comfortable winners.

2) When playing at home with good odds (1-2 or better) use "expect win".

3) When your assman reports that player X seems overconfident or cocky, always say "expect performance" to him.

Half-time. Depends on score.

3-0 or better you can allow to be pleased, but never be pleased with complacent player.

2-0 best to say nothing. Leading more than 2 goals means automatically "expect performance" to all subs (they can still get complacent though). You can be disappointed with few players that are at 6.5 or lower rating.

1-0 don't get careless (when game itself is fairly even and opponents have had some chances too)

1-0 for the fans (when dominating)

draw - disappointed

0-1/1-2 - want to see more

down by 2 goals or more - angry/embarrassed (really helps)

I play as Ajax and have long experience of playing against weaker teams in Eredivisie, who can still stun you when you're team is too relaxed.

First of all, I have fairly ambitious/determined team. I never sign anyone with determination less than 10.

My team talk is mostly depending on pre-mach odds.

1) When I'm slight favourite, especially when playing away, I use "for the fans". It seems to be most neutral team-talk when you're in the middle of winning streak and everybody have very good/supreme morale. It doesn't give any real effect, but has no bad effect either. Using "expect win" at away games might be too pressuring for some players and they get nervous even when they should be comfortable winners.

2) When playing at home with good odds (1-2 or better) use "expect win".

3) When your assman reports that player X seems overconfident or cocky, always say "expect performance" to him.

Half-time. Depends on score.

3-0 or better you can allow to be pleased, but never be pleased with complacent player.

2-0 best to say nothing. Leading more than 2 goals means automatically "expect performance" to all subs (they can still get complacent though). You can be disappointed with few players that are at 6.5 or lower rating.

1-0 don't get careless (when game itself is fairly even and opponents have had some chances too)

1-0 for the fans (when dominating)

draw - disappointed

0-1/1-2 - want to see more

down by 2 goals or more - angry/embarrassed (really helps)

interesting ideas, not sure its as complicated(wrong word i think but anyway) as that, but if im struggling i might give them a go. I've never had much luck with 'for the fans' though.

For the fans is a neutral teamtalk. It doesn't give positive effects but it doesn't give negative effects either. After the match you can check your asst man for team talk feedback to understand how your teamtalk affected your team.

To add to Draakon's post. Morale and recent form affects the teamtalk as well. If they are obviously having poor morale (probably after a string of losses). I expect a win could be too taxing on them even though you are the clear favourites.

The teamtalk "You can win today" is a double edged sword. Usually you use it when you are pretty even, or underdogs but with good morale and good recent form, or clear favourites with poor morale and poor recent form. But what it does is that usually it will motivate a bunch of players like probably 3-5 of them but sometimes 1 or 2 of them will be un-motivated. It wouldn't be such an issue if you have those high determination and high influence players around because they tend to keep such negative emotions in check to prevent spreading throughout the team.

Morale directly affects team talk.

I use "for fans" very often, because usually I'm winning and morale is 'excellent' or 'couldn't be any better'.

So, even when "for the fans" is neutral team talk, as Brose correctly noted, it doesn't have to give any positive effect because high morale is positive effect it without team talk. Many of my players are 'motivated' with 'for the fans' team talk (even when my assman feedback says that nothing specific noted).

So, high morale itself is a weapon and you just have to avoid disrupting it with your team talk.

On the other hand, when you are not playing against complete outsider, "expect win" might still add unnecessary pressure. Some players (even when you have just 2-3 of 11) will get 'nervous' because pressure and it might backfire (costly mistakes, wasted chances) even if some of your team are more motivated. But to be clear once more - I've never seen any bad effect of 'for the fans' team-talk, so it's pretty safe way to handle your team.

It is wise, however, to pick up some players who you knew that will react well to "expect performance" team-talk and use it for them individually. Of course use "expect performance" when player is overconfident according your assman. But using "expect win" for the whole team can bring more trouble than benefit.

Cheers again, thats very very helpful

Complacency is always my biggest problem in FM. Recently I've been trying to use the dreaded press conferences to bad mouth my payers before a game.

Too early to say if it works or not...