Has praising a player ever backfired?

well, it has for me! my spanish striker at newcastle, xisco, finally got into form. He played 14 league games without finding the net, and then scores 3 goals in 2 games, with 2 man of matches. So to as an encouragement i publicly praised his efforts, only for him to be 'bemused by my comments', saying that my praises was strange because personally he thought he had been sh*t.

And now because of that the cheeky bastartd is taking liberties, playing like he used to. and playing like he used to, there will be no need for further praises

hehe i just sell xisco in the 2nd season tbh, he never plays well.

he can be okey as an target man, like a poor man's heskey. But he doesn't score any goals, even less then heskey.

You have propably noticed, we dont get any transfer budget at st.james. and even the take over didn't change things at all, so unless i find a good free transfer i will have to stick with him

The individual player praising covers the last 5 matches that they've played, I would only use "Delighted" if they have been playing brilliantly for all 5 matches.

Yeh, if you praise a player who hasn't earned it, he loses respect for you and may well play complacently after that. Furthermore, the rest of the squad might not appreciate your praise later on either.

There's generally 5 levels of player interaction, can't remember the exact wording but its basically "Very Good", "Good", "Average", "Crap", "Really Crap" - I've sometimes made the mistake of clicking the "Very Good" box when maybe "Good" would have been more appropriate, then I get a player reaction of something like "Doesn't think he has to work too hard to impress his manager"

Having said that, I've rarely seen this have a noticeable adverse effect on a player's form, so who knows.

Yeah maby i was a bit too hasty praising him just after 3 good games, but i really did thought that he earned his praise, as he did in those 3 games about 300% for me then he did in his first 14 games alltogether.

But like i said he wont be praised again. ever. (if players can sulk managers can sulk too

I had an AMC score 2 goals in a game, which made it 5 goals in 5 games with an average rating of 8. I praised him and he thought I gave out praise too easily. I don't bother praising players anymore, except in press conferences.

managing boro, justin hoyte had been playing very well so i praised him. in the next match he made a mistake which lead to the other team winning. he got a confidence problem and told the press he was undeserving of the praise. then he began looking nervous brfore games and the assisstant manager told me that hoyte was having problems due to not feeling worthy of a place in such a managers team .

Not had a player backfire, but the whole team did. Playing first season with League 2 side Lincoln we get drawn against Leeds in the FA cup. Leeds was in superb form and was walking away with the League 1 title and was on a winning streak. I feel quiet pessimistic going into the game but my team is putting in a great effort and pulling off a draw. In the rematch my team goes 2 goals down before halftime, but they somehow manage to pull those two back in the second half. In the later parts of the second half my DC gets a red card and we are down to 10 men. Despite that we are holding them off through extra time and the game goes to penalties. After like 9 penalties each Leeds manages to grab the win. After the game I told the press I was happy with my teams performance and a handful of players decided the game wasn't a good one and the morale went down the drain. My team went on a losing streak from there.

Yeah maby i was a bit too hasty praising him just after 3 good games, but i really did thought that he earned his praise, as he did in those 3 games about 300% for me then he did in his first 14 games alltogether.

But like i said he wont be praised again. ever. (if players can sulk managers can sulk too

Your comment (player interaction) to him depends on his personality type. You can find my player interaction study called Brief Guide To Improving Team Morale in TT & T.

Once you figure out your player interactions, they can make a big difference, especially if you start to slump and want to try and get out of it quicker.

I only praise or criticise when the morale is below 'good'. I know that in FM 07 the 'form' you're commenting on is only the last 2, maybe 3, games.