Talking to unhappy players - worthwhile at all?

A question that bothers me is what to do with unhappy players.

There were quite a few players who were unhappy about not getting enough first team football. Which is fully understandable as of course no player wants to be on the bench or even in the stands on matchdays.

But whenever I then made use of the option to hold a conversation with these guys, I could only promise them first team football (which I didn't want as these guys were not playing for a reason) or tell them that they are just not in the team right now and that I'm going to play them when I see fit. With the first being no real option, I always opted for the latter. However, every time I did that, the morale of the player went down with every answer I gave to him. Eventually I just didn't talk to the unhappy players anymore as I knew that any conversation would only make things worse.

How are you handling this? Have to found a way to talk to your unhappy players without making them promises or harming their morale even more?

Would love to learn about a more successful approach than mine.

Jave you tried telling them to prove themselves in training? Alternatively, telling them you will play them but they will need to prove themselves helps keep their level of performance up when they DO play

Jave you tried telling them to prove themselves in training? Alternatively, telling them you will play them but they will need to prove themselves helps keep their level of performance up when they DO play

I've never used the prove in training option as I never bother to check who is performing well in training. This is mainly, because I cannot see this anyway and I have neither so far seen a connection between performance in training and match performance. The latter I so far only connected to player quality, tactics and morale.

Do you think I should change this?

Not sure. I As for the aspect of proving themselves in training... I don't actually check that myself either; I just use it to keep them sweet and stop the moaning for a while

Wooooo 900th post!!

When my first choice defensive midfielder who had played in every game of the season except when he was injured complained about not getting enough football his morale shot up when I promised to give him a chance and carried on picking him for every game.

That probably doesn't help much.

A question that bothers me is what to do with unhappy players.

There were quite a few players who were unhappy about not getting enough first team football. Which is fully understandable as of course no player wants to be on the bench or even in the stands on matchdays.

But whenever I then made use of the option to hold a conversation with these guys, I could only promise them first team football (which I didn't want as these guys were not playing for a reason) or tell them that they are just not in the team right now and that I'm going to play them when I see fit. With the first being no real option, I always opted for the latter. However, every time I did that, the morale of the player went down with every answer I gave to him. Eventually I just didn't talk to the unhappy players anymore as I knew that any conversation would only make things worse.

How are you handling this? Have to found a way to talk to your unhappy players without making them promises or harming their morale even more?

Would love to learn about a more successful approach than mine.

I did not bother speaking to a player of mine who was unhappy. I moved him to the First Team Squad without any intention of playing him. I'm going to ship him out tonight as I am two days away from the mid season window. As you say, some of the options are just a bit frustrating. One of my Youths is developing quite nicely. As such I wanted to chat with him regarding this, but ofc, the option is greyed out. It should at least be something like "Sorry Boss, I don't want to talk about that at the moment" as an option rather than being told by the game what you can talk about imo.

I find these conversations quite annoying at times too. I mean prove yourself in training? Most of the guys not getting there game for me are almost 30 and are unlikely to improve in training. Also, I can't phyiscally go to the training ground and watch them so that pretty much renders that option useless. I always end up saying I'll let them go in the next transfer window even though most are vital back-up due to the large amount of injuries i encounter. It seems like back-up just isnt an option in my team - they either want to play or leave despite accepting a squad status as "Back-up"

It's extremely annoying that there isn't an option to say "You are in the first team plans, but right now, the guy in your position is playing brilliantly and I'm not prepared to drop somebody in form."

I confess I haven't noticed the "Prove yourself in training" option this year, but will look for it next time this comes up. Is it only available with one or two tones?

I used the "prove yourself" option and was met with "I accept the challenge!". I think it was Modric @ Spurs, although he was moaning for an improved contract. His morale changed to superb.