Morale & Confidence

It's probably a bad idea trying to make a suggestion on the forums atm, but i'll try anyway.

I was having a look at my assistant manager feedback on 09 last night, and noticed that he felt a couple of my plaers were "over confident" about the friendly. I thought it was a nice addition, but tbh could have done with this info before I picked my team, and it got me thinking that it would be nice to have a confidence attribute as well as a morale attribute.

A player can have superb morale and be in great form, but lack confidence going into a match, in the same way a player can have low morale, but be high in confidence going into a match.

Morale and confidence are two very different things, and IMO that should be represented in the game. The factors that affect both attributes are very different also, a player could love life at his current club and this will boost his morale, but he may be apprehensive about the next game agaisnt his former club and this would affect his confidence.

ATM this is represented in a way, with the PR symbol, but this only shows certain players confidence and is limited in what it says.

I don't take much notice of morale when picking my team, but I would definately take notice of confidence.

Future addition or waste of time?

Anyone?

I've always wondered about confidence and morale in the game, I've always wondered if confidence varies and is effected by different things, or if it's simply linked to moral. Does a players confidence currently have an effect on how they perform in game?

If not, perhaps it should?

I take too much notice of morale when picking my team and I think it has too big an impact on the game so splitting some of that impact off into a separate "Confidence" attribute wouldn't be bad.

I always find it silly that when a player has very poor morale because he isn't getting first team football that his morale doesn't change in the slightest when you do actually select him. Depending on the cause of poor morale (e.g. the case I mentioned) the player should automatically get a morale boost when he is picked in the team because it is an opportunity to show he is worthy of a first team spot - that is something that could maybe come across as confidence though...some players would jump at the chance and be confident despite their more long-term low morale at a lack of first team football, others would be bricking it at having to prove themselves and risk not being selected again for ages.

As a slight aside I think you should be able to tell a player he will definitely be in the team for the next match - in this way a player in the above situation could then get a morale boost before the game preperations. I have very rarely seen a player with Poor Morale play well so if someone is out of my team they tend to stay out of it because if I select them for a match they play appallingly because of their morale and their morale doesn't rise much either and I can't afford to just keep playing him until his morale does improve (I know professionalism affects this, but still...morale has too big an effect so would benefit from being split into morale and confidence)

Does a players confidence currently have an effect on how they perform in game?

If not, perhaps it should?

I'm not sure about previous versions, but it appears to have an effect in 09. In the two games my asistant brought over confidence to my attention, the players performed particularly badly.

I thought confidence was in the game but hidden as it directly transposes across to a players form. (might be wrong though)

I'm sure in older versions of FM/CM (can't remember which year) there was a form display. This was changed to show a players previous match ratings..

I do think confidence should be hidden and it needs to be alluded to in assistant manager training reports and the like.

I think morale should be visible, but if left at a low level for a while it should affect confidence (which is hidden). But the assistant manager should suggest in a weekly training report that "Joe Bloggs is showing a lack of confidence at the moment" even though his Morale might be high (due to new contract, good friends at the club, enjoying the team, was out on the booze last night...etc.)

The other thing with morale is that you should have a direct method of attempting to improve it. In FM08 you could not interact with the player in any way to improve his morale if he hadn't been in the team and if he had been in the team you could just praise (presumably not applicable in most cases) or criticise him for his performances and hope he wouldn't get in even more of a strop!

I'm not sure about previous versions, but it appears to have an effect in 09. In the two games my asistant brought over confidence to my attention, the players performed particularly badly.

Interesting, I've always thought that confidence should play a part in a players performances, particularly striker. But I've not seen enough evidence of it in previous games to believe it actually happened and wasn't simply down the the players morale.

If it's having more of an effect in '09 then that's excellent news, and something I'll be keeping an eye out for. And if it does have an effect than I feel the game would definitely benifit from shown a players confidence level, perhaps in a similar way as it currently shows morale.

EDIT: Totally agree with Glamdrings comments above as well. If confidence is playing a part then you should be able to attempt to directly improve it. You can improve a players moral through media interaction but I can't think of a direct way to affect confidence.

You can improve morale by putting a bottle of ketchup on the table of the training ground canteen. At least, that's wot 'Arry's done at Spurs

But seriously, there's some excellent suggestions here - knowing a player's state of confidence before a game and basing an individual pre-game talk on that knowledge, and means of improving an individual's morale ('Arry's arm around the shoulder and quiet word of assurance that he's on the team-sheet for the next game)

I do think confidence should be hidden and it needs to be alluded to in assistant manager training reports and the like.

I don't like the idea that I would have to rely on my assistants or coaches to be able to tell if a players confidence is high or not, they shouldn't be privvy to any more information than me as manager unless it's something they deal directly with.

I agree with glamdring as well, not only should we have the ability to manipulate confidence, but we should have more of an impact on player morale as well.

Bump.

101010

It's probably a bad idea trying to make a suggestion on the forums atm, but i'll try anyway.

I was having a look at my assistant manager feedback on 09 last night, and noticed that he felt a couple of my plaers were "over confident" about the friendly. I thought it was a nice addition, but tbh could have done with this info before I picked my team, and it got me thinking that it would be nice to have a confidence attribute as well as a morale attribute.

A player can have superb morale and be in great form, but lack confidence going into a match, in the same way a player can have low morale, but be high in confidence going into a match.

Morale and confidence are two very different things, and IMO that should be represented in the game. The factors that affect both attributes are very different also, a player could love life at his current club and this will boost his morale, but he may be apprehensive about the next game agaisnt his former club and this would affect his confidence.

ATM this is represented in a way, with the PR symbol, but this only shows certain players confidence and is limited in what it says.

I don't take much notice of morale when picking my team, but I would definately take notice of confidence.

Future addition or waste of time?

I like this idea tbh, but just as an extension to this, I think FM09 perhaps places too much weighting on confidence/morale. When I've got poor morale, say after conceeding a last second winner, I know I'm not going to win the next few games. I'd like to see this toned down a little bit.