Winning by 2 at half-time, what to say?

What do you say?

None - to all my players.

Pleased to all players.

Pleased to all.

In fact I always give my teamtalks as a whole thing. The result is all that counts.

Nothing to 7s, occasionally have faith to 8s, disappointing/angry to 6s.

Never use "don't let your performance drop" because Murphy's Law dictates your 7s will become 6s and one of your 8s will make a mistake leading to an opposition goal.

Depends who I'm playing against . But Normally "pleased"

Saying nothing usually works best for me.

If "Pleased" = "Didn't seem to be listening", yet "Nothing" = mostly "Nothing specific noted" and a couple of "Angered", surely you'd want your players to be angered, as opposed to bored/meh....

(team) pleased

I always thought the have fiath was for people not playing well, why would you say it to an 8?

Pleased to most, disappointed to those under 6.0, you have faith to those above 8.0 and substitutes. If a player's doing poorly I may take him off.

I always thought the have fiath was for people not playing well, why would you say it to an 8?

I think the exact same. I usually use it to those (pre-game) not performing recently or (half-time) who are getting a below 6 but usually do well

Dont expect your performance to drop

Is it proved that anything you actually say will affect the outcome of the game??

Is it proved that anything you actually say will affect the outcome of the game??

Yep. Be up by three and tell them you are angry, see how they do.

A determined squad doesn't need a comment to keep their morale. If otherwise (less determined\low self asteem) I'd say I have faith and hope they do as well.

Depends... Home or Away?

Home - dont drop

Away - pleased

Goal scorers given "have faith"?

Your serious?

I only give that to strikers who have either a morale prob or those that havnt scored for a while.

Can anybody answer who is best given "have faith" please? (sorry if its off topic)

I'll give an individual comment depending on the individual. Depends how well they are playing, not just by their rating but by generally how well they have performed in my eyes during the 45 minutes, have they the defenders looked solid at the back, have the midfield passed well, have the strikers got into and taken opportunities. And how well have they played compared to their normal ability, are they putting in a standard shift or are they looking better than normal.

I also take into account whether we're home or away, who we're against, what the pre-match odds were the competition we're in and what position in the table we're in.

^

Wow. You do really just telling them to try harder if you're losing, or that you're happy if you're winning, is enough?

They've made the game have all these features and factors, might as well take them into consideration.

Micro-management gives a higher percentage chance of getting the right results.

I tend to do that as well. It does look like a lot written down but brains are somewhat quicker to process information than hands are to type a summary of ones thoughts

It's one of the great frustrating things about FM that coming in at half time leading 1-0 is preferable to coming in leading 2-0.

A lot like the press conferences, the language used in half time team talks can be somewhat confusing.

There should only be three basic team settings (and no option for nothing - what manager says nothing at half time?!) I reckon.

- Encourage (uses: team playing well, you'd like to see more of the same, stick to the game plan, this may backfire if they've been playing terribly).

- Inspire/Motivate (uses: you want to push them further but not them not tear them a new one, this may backfire if they've been playing well or don't take pressure well).

- Hairdryer (uses: when team is 4-0 down to low quality opposition or an absolute shambles, 50/50 chance of team picking up their performance after half time depending on squad personality perhaps).

Using these with tweaked individual options (gently encourage or 'hairdryer' a specific under-performing player) may make it a little more fun and less like guess work?

Pleased

101010

Depends... Home or Away?

Home - dont drop

Away - pleased

I generally agree with this in terms of general teamtalks.

In my old FM08 Teamtalks guide, I recommended saying pleased in both scenarios. However, in Fm09 the "don't let your performance drop" option has been made very effective at home and especially when you are heavy favourites and morale is high. Likely effect: a few players "seemed motivated" "gained focus". If not used right, occassionally you get "seemed confused, angered".

To minimise the chance of getting the latter, I would do individual teamtalks on youngsters which played well or players who scored: e.g. "You have faith" or individual "pleased".

A new addition in Fm09 is that your assistant occassionally mentions whether the team or some players look 'cocky' or 'over-confident', if that happens, make sure you use the "Don't let..." option or say to them individually that you 'expect a performance' (pre-match).

Also, if you want to elect to say "pleased", which is also a good option either home or away, say "none" to players below 6.5 rating, so they know that you are pleased with the team generally but not their inidivudal performances. Likely effect: players with the general 'pleased' 'does not seem to be listening', the players with 'none' 'nothing particular noted'; but 90% of the times you see an improvement in the rating for the players with 'none'.

say nothing, leave things as they are. I only use half time team talks if my team plays crap and that seems to work ok for me

Are you up 2-0 away against AC Milan or at home against Stoke? Was performance bad and you scored 2 flukes or did you dominate and hammer them?

depends on ur team.

if ur a big team like the big 4, then do not drop performance. usually makes 1 or 2 of ur defenders more foccussed which is rly good. then at 60 mins ill narrow formation and slow down tempo if its 2-0 or more.

Goal scorers given "have faith"?

Your serious?

I only give that to strikers who have either a morale prob or those that havnt scored for a while.

Can anybody answer who is best given "have faith" please? (sorry if its off topic)

If at half time your striker or midfielder has scored a goal, put 'have faith' and they tend to perform even better second half. Check the team talk feedback after...sometimes it says 'inspired' or something like that.

Pleased.

Only if the performance was actually bad then 'Don't get complacent'.

> 8.0 delighted

< 6.0 disappointed

I look to see if there is a statement that doesn't appear every game and use that if possible, if it's the usual one of Anger, Disappointment, Pleased, Thrilled or Don't expect Performance to drop then I choose the latter or sometimes just say nothing.

depends what you said pre-match, if you say "expect a win" then nothing, if you said "good luck" then tell them you're pleased

Just none.

It depends on the opposition...

For example, in the UEFA Cup, I(Man City), drew NK Dinamo, and the first leg took place in Croatia.

I was only slightly out-favoured, but unliklier to win nonetheless.

I put out a mix of experience and youths, and was leading 4-0 at HT.

To those who had scored, I said Thrilled.

To the youngsters, I said thrilled.

To the rest who were playing well, pleased.

To anybody exceeding 7.5, thrilled.

However, if I were losing, I would've said 'I have Faith' to the more attacking players, and if possible, 'Prove a Point' to them.

The rest would've got 'Sympathise', if applicable. Otherwise, 'I want to see more from you!'.

If I'm heavily out-favoured, for example If I was at the Camp Nou against Barcelona, then I would tell them 'Good Luck', and 'No Pressure!' to the youths...

Common sense most of the time. It just depends on who I'm against...

I say "Don't expect performance to drop" but i then say pleased to the players doing well, players not doing so well maybe "you have faith" and if they still play bad - get them off.

I use the 'dont let your performance drop' option. I dont think saying nothing really helps as I've noticed that players seem to get a bit pi**ed with me and say they are worried about a lack of managerial disipline.

Well, i'm not using pleased again. Was 0-2 up at half time, 12 shots against their 0 shots.

Half-time i say pleased and i play sh*t and lose 4-2. Fecking joke.

Happened again. Was 3-0 this time and used pleased. Lost 3-4. AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

It's your tactics.

Pleased being tantamount to asking them to sit back and relax, it's small wonder so many are having issues with so called 'miracle ai-cheat comebacks'.

Personally, I prefer to keep 'em on their toes and tell them not to drop performance, with a few individual back pats or selective buck up your idea's in between.

Pleased being tantamount to asking them to sit back and relax, it's small wonder so many are having issues with so called 'miracle ai-cheat comebacks'.

Personally, I prefer to keep 'em on their toes and tell them not to drop performance, with a few individual back pats or selective buck up your idea's in between.

I agree with Indi. I generally find saying "Pleased" leads to complacency in the second half. 2-0 up, I will generally use "Don't let your performance drop" with one or two individual talks for either underperformers or those playing exceptionally well.

I also use the notes reminder system, for players that react badly to certain team talks and may give them an individual talk when necessary.

It one hundred percent relates to how I expected to do at the beginning of the match.

If I'm 2-0 up alongside a dominant performance in a game I expect to win, then 'None'

If I'm 2-0 in a game I expect to win, but the team's playing badly and lucky to have such a lead, then 'Don't let your performance drop'

If I'm 2-0 up in a game I expect to be close, then 'Pleased'

If I'm 2-0 up in a game I expect to lose, then 'Delighted'

team nothing

anyone under 6.6 disappointed

It depends on a few factors such as the type of opposition, how the game is panning out, home or away ... but normally in my games i like to say "Don't let your performance drop" as i have had a few games in the past when i have gave the team "pleased" when i was absolutely destroying Liverpool, only for them to come back and beat me 3-2:(

This has not happened since i give the first option and i am on a 2yr unbeaten streak in premier league and i put a lot of it down to the team talks as i score around 70% of my goals in the 2nd half.

Whenever I say pleased the opposition get the upper hand and come out fighting and dominating.

I too don't understand the "have faith" to players performing well:confused: Surely that is suppose to encourage players not doing well and/or with low morale. Can anyone who uses this for goal-scorers explain the theory behind this?

I'll generally use the "don't let......" if I'm strong favourites to win, and pleased/delighted if I'm not.

To those who like saying "pleased", there should not be any negative effects if you did individual teamtalks on players on below 6.5 ratings. But keeping "pleased" on players with below 6.5 ratings will result in opponent coming back in 1/2 half.

I combine general "pleased" with individual "you have faith" or "disappointing" or "none", been winning every title for 4 seasons consecutive with Juventus.

I too don't understand the "have faith" to players performing well:confused: Surely that is suppose to encourage players not doing well and/or with low morale. Can anyone who uses this for goal-scorers explain the theory behind this?

The theory behind this... is just that it works in the game

The theory behind this... is just that it works in the game

I appreciate that this seems to be the case, but why would anyone try this for the first time? unless purely for trial and error purposes.

Must admit, I'll have to give it a try myself:thup:

Personally, I do not let the score dictate my team-talks. I use the players' motivation as a guide and select my team-talks accordingly.

"Playing with confidence" - "I have faith in you"

"Looking motivated" - "I have faith in you" (when the pre-match odds are stacked against me) / "Disappointed" (when the pre-match odds are in my favor or even)

"Playing ok" - "Encourage" (if available when the pre-match odds are stacked against me) / "Disappointed" (when the pre-match odds are in my favor or even)

"Looking complacent" - "Disappointed" (when I am winning or when it is a stalemate) / "Angry" (when I am losing)

"Having a poor game" - "No pressure" (when the pre-match odds are stacked against me) / "Disappointed" (when the pre-match odds are in my favor or even)

One thing to note is that all of my players have their "Determination" attribute at 14 or more, so that could be a reason as to why I can take a more strict and 'hold no prisoners' approach when dealing with team-talks.

My team can be leading 4-0 going into the break but if there are players who are playing poorly or being complacent, I never hesitate to let them know of my disappointment or anger. A majority of the time, I see an immediate change in their attitude after the restart ("Looking complacent" turns to "Playing ok" immediately after kick-off, then progressing to "Looking motivated"/"Playing with confidence"). The rare occasions that there remains no change, I substitute them off within the hour mark.