Player attitudes: Unbeaten run

Basic run down of the situation:

Its the start of my third season as Rangers manager and in the last two SPL seasons i have only been defeated once (by hibs 3-0), theres been plenty of draws but suffice it to say my team has strolled to the title in both previous seasons.

The board got took over by a candian millionaire at the end of season one and he seems to be a sugar daddy as hes given me over £100m in funds for players as well as continualy pumping money into the club (most recently he pumped £7m in).

Now ive not signed a team of world beaters by any stretch of the imagination though i did pick up a few good prospects who are more than ready for the SPL.

Bojan, Luarito, Guilherme, Adu, Rafinha etc...

The problem i have is that my team seems to be too confident going into SPL games... my assistant manager reports back saying things like

"Bojan and Barry Ferguson believe that they dont even have to try in order for the team to pick up a result today".

And perhaps more troubling is the report my Ass Man gave me about my DC Cristophe Berra something along the lines of "Berra finds it hard to motivate himself to play under you".

And so far in the few SPL games i have played this year ive noticed the team can barely be bothered to play... even so far as only getting a 0-0 draw at home against Inverness.

Ive not punished anybody, nor have i been keeping them at the club against their will etc. etc. etc.

The only thing that i have done that might have annoyed the players was that i changed the captain this season.

Barry Ferguson is now 32 and injured for a few months so i decided that he wouldnt be making 1st team regularly anyway, my captain is now Kirk Broadfoot (who was VC) and my VC is now Ibrahim Afellay (who has been at the club for a season now).

If i look at Barry's personal page it says

"Determined to overcome his injury"

"no immeadiate plans for the future"

"thinking of taking up an Ass Man Role when he retires"

"thinks Bojan is a good player"

So he doesnt seem to be too bothered about not being captain, and none of the other players have anything about the captaincy being a problem in their profiles.

Is the teams lack of motivation simply due to a very unusual winning streak, me changing the captaincy, Both or something else?

Any help would be appreaciated guys.

And the Sqaud personality is listed as "Very determined"

what team talks are you using?

I had that problem when I chose 'We can win this match!' instead of 'I expect a win'. I hardly ever lose now that I've changed it.

for your unmotivated centre back, maybe sign another centre back and get another one in on loan

or maybe even just declare your interest in a few centrebacks

it might gee him up a bit

Lol @ the SPL!

I've had this when doing really well. I think, basically, it's over confidence as they've become complacent. I've not tried anything to change it as It's not affected my performances...Yet!

Basic run down of the situation:

Its the start of my third season as Rangers manager and in the last two SPL seasons i have only been defeated once (by hibs 3-0), theres been plenty of draws but suffice it to say my team has strolled to the title in both previous seasons.

The board got took over by a candian millionaire at the end of season one and he seems to be a sugar daddy as hes given me over £100m in funds for players as well as continualy pumping money into the club (most recently he pumped £7m in).

Now ive not signed a team of world beaters by any stretch of the imagination though i did pick up a few good prospects who are more than ready for the SPL.

Bojan, Luarito, Guilherme, Adu, Rafinha etc...

The problem i have is that my team seems to be too confident going into SPL games... my assistant manager reports back saying things like

"Bojan and Barry Ferguson believe that they dont even have to try in order for the team to pick up a result today".

And perhaps more troubling is the report my Ass Man gave me about my DC Cristophe Berra something along the lines of "Berra finds it hard to motivate himself to play under you".

And so far in the few SPL games i have played this year ive noticed the team can barely be bothered to play... even so far as only getting a 0-0 draw at home against Inverness.

Ive not punished anybody, nor have i been keeping them at the club against their will etc. etc. etc.

The only thing that i have done that might have annoyed the players was that i changed the captain this season.

Barry Ferguson is now 32 and injured for a few months so i decided that he wouldnt be making 1st team regularly anyway, my captain is now Kirk Broadfoot (who was VC) and my VC is now Ibrahim Afellay (who has been at the club for a season now).

If i look at Barry's personal page it says

"Determined to overcome his injury"

"no immeadiate plans for the future"

"thinking of taking up an Ass Man Role when he retires"

"thinks Bojan is a good player"

So he doesnt seem to be too bothered about not being captain, and none of the other players have anything about the captaincy being a problem in their profiles.

Is the teams lack of motivation simply due to a very unusual winning streak, me changing the captaincy, Both or something else?

Any help would be appreaciated guys.

And the Sqaud personality is listed as "Very determined"

Haha

Mon' the Hibs

Lol @ the SPL!

LOL at being 13th in the championship.

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Anyhow FraserHFC ive got a soft spot for the Hibees, cracking youth development you lot have got and im ashamed to say that its put Murray park to shame so far.

Ive looked a bit closer into my teams harmony and the individual players involved.

Berra had been one of my first signings and was on a 5 year contract that realy wasnt anything special, even more so considering the takeover and mega wages ive signed others on, he was barely clearing 10k a week (compared to 40 to 70k a week some others much younger than him are on).

So ive offered him a new contract and he seems pleased now.

Played Motherwell away and i had my head in my hands when we conceeded early on.

But the team rallied back and goals from Afellay (his first for me), Fleck and Bojan sealed the win.

I think its maybe a case of the 1st team "stars" being too complacent against weaker SPL sides so i think ill play my youngsters against them.

Thiago, Woods from chelsea, James McCarthy etc.

cheers guys.

use your team talk before the match to get rid of this prob. for example, during pre match team talk, see your ass man's feedback. if it says ***** is feeling like he does not need to try to even win, talk to him and say "i expect a performance from you". if its the opinion of the whole team, then say i expect a win.

hope it helps

how did you pick bojan up?

shurely he would never join rangers & beleive me, iv tryed.

use your team talk before the match to get rid of this prob. for example, during pre match team talk, see your ass man's feedback. if it says ***** is feeling like he does not need to try to even win, talk to him and say "i expect a performance from you". if its the opinion of the whole team, then say i expect a win.

hope it helps

Will do.

Interestingly enough it seems as though they need no motivation playing in the CL, just beat "Club Brugge" 6-0 at home, and when i fielded my young fringe players in the League cup they beat a lower division team (Livingston) 7-1.

TRUTH, theres a bug in the game that at the end of the first season promising players like Bojan and Thiago end up being released by their clubs for free, none of the AI teams try to sign them so a human led team with a decent enough stature can offer them a contract with a good chance of success, if you dont offer them a contract they will eventualy retire.

Both Bojan and Thiago joined happily.

Plus the club got took over as i said at the end of the 1st season, and the new Chairman game me just shy of £50m in transfers.

Im slowly but steadily raising the squads status in Europe, and the clubs value has rose to £168m in just over a year.