complacent against weaker teams and overrawed against bigger teams

is what im seeing every team meeting with my ass man, results seem to suggest this, playing as sunderland won 5 on the trot and was sitting third, then play man u in league cup who had their reserves out. i lost 2-0 with my first team, then played liverpool and lost 6-2 although i had a man sent off, then played preston who are bottom of the league and lose 3-1. how do i solve this problem? media and team talks obviously arent the answer!!!

Well it not really something you can solve easily, as a lot of it is dependent on hidden stats of your players.

If your players generally are bad at handling pressure and playing in big matches they will do poorly against strong teams. On the other hand if your players are slackers and have low proffesionalism, consistency etc... they won't give 100% (or even close to it) against weak opponents.

Try different team talks and see how players react. Some might need "no pressure", others might need a warning (expect performance) and so on...

Other way is getting in some new players

I get the same.

Not sure what to do. They always tell me they are over awed but waht can I do about that?

That's not a good combination of personality traits. Complacent + overrawed = underachievement normally

Sarmatian's got it pretty right.

Try giving them the hair dryer treatment against lower rep teams, "I expect a performance!" even away from home. Also take note of the Ass man's pre match talk to see if anyone is over confident or looking shaky and respond accordingly. Against higher rep teams say "no pressure!"

I also watch squad motivation on the widget in the match view to see who is misbehaving so I can utilize the half time team talk better.

Take a look at who responds positively to these team talks after the match and write down who is affected so you can push them with that teamtalk more often.

I was getting the same feedback from my ass man about being complacent against weaker teams and overawed against higher rep teams so I took those steps and now my team is no longer neither overawed or complacent, which is a relief!

use the motivation widget to see what the players are doing. If they have 'looking complacent' (against a weaker side) give them a rollicking at half time, if they have playing nervously (against a bigger side) tell them there is no pressure on them

This is something that gets me... on the rare occasion you can get the team talk at the -end- of a match telling them not to get complacent in the next match.

But when a match starts, even when you asst man tells you the side looks complacent, you can't tell them to lock down and focus... you can tell them you expect a win, but that just adds pressure, just want them to focus and play determined.

The lack of appropriate team talk options and the whining from negative talks just kills the entire concept. Sick of my team coming off a 4+ goal win, having superb morale and then getting their asses handed to them because they play like crap against the worst team in the league.

If thats the case, your team talks should take a change.

Against teams with higher reputation, not rivals and odds favor them, tell them they can win this match!

For teams with lower reputation and odds favor you, tell them expect a win.

Don't follow this rule 100% but it tends to work for me the majority of times.

I have the impression that the pre-match press conference also has an effect on complacency/nervousness of the match.

There's always a question (if you're on a winning streak) about complacency and I always answer it by choosing the "We'll have to be wary of complacency" option (something to that effect).

I also generally use "For the fans" for home matches and "Wish luck" for away matches and "Expect to pick up where you left off" where possible.

I've found this combination of press conference and teamtalk to minimize instances of my team being complacent pre-match.

This is something that gets me... on the rare occasion you can get the team talk at the -end- of a match telling them not to get complacent in the next match.

But when a match starts, even when you asst man tells you the side looks complacent, you can't tell them to lock down and focus... you can tell them you expect a win, but that just adds pressure, just want them to focus and play determined.

The lack of appropriate team talk options and the whining from negative talks just kills the entire concept. Sick of my team coming off a 4+ goal win, having superb morale and then getting their asses handed to them because they play like crap against the worst team in the league.

I like to think of it in a sort of a scale:

complacent----------------------motivated----------------------------feeling pressure.

So in a sense, if you get a lot of players who look complacent, using expect a win or expect a performance will yield result, in a sense, they will get their behind down and start working. If they are feeling pressure, you can get a result with "no pressure".

Of course, you must take into account that bigger team usually means better players, so there is no 100% sure way to get your players to play good every time. If Barcelone give 50%, they will usually beat Albacete who gave 100%...

Do you do your own press conferences? Once you get on a winning streak it becomes vital to tell the press that you don't fancy your chances in the next match (or alternative wording) if you're playing a lower rep team.

Also, don't forget that your opposition's playing are just as susceptible to the complacency/overawed issues as your team. Use the dangerman press talk and talk about their manager before the game. The new interfeace seems to make the media a bit more user friendly this year and I've had more success using it than ever before. Like the time I declared my interest in Gabby Agbonlahor because Villa were playing Chelsea in their next game. He scored both goals in a 2-1 win for Villa