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Nervous play when playing to qualify for EL/CL


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So I have a question to ask everyone here. I can quite understand why teams get nervous and generally play less well when they are close to qualifying for a european competition, or winning the league. This is quite realistic.

My problem is when you are walking the league (I currently am by > 25 points) and it is clear that nobody is going to stop you from winning the league even. Yet still, when I get the "win will qualify you for the Europa League/Champions League" my team will put in a terrible performance full of nervous players and hesitant football (I shall not include winning the league, that comes with its own pressure I guess). This I find to be completely bizarre behaviour in such a situation, especially for a team that has dominated the league in the past few seasons. Surely such nervousness surrounding these games should be situational - in that it should only matter if it is a close call that you are qualified, or that you are a team who normally does not (Leicester this year IRL for example).

What does the SI world think.

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It depends on the personality of your players, the personality of your avatar, what tone you use to talk to them and the question of whether you actually need to be putting your players under additional pressure by reminding them of the importance of the match.

So, if you are walking the league and you are going to qualify anyway, the match really isn't that important is it, so why tell your players it is?

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If the players mentalities are prone to crumbling under pressure then it makes sense if you've not kept on top of that issues with your interactions & media comments, that probably doesn't apply in the scenario as the points advantaged you have should wipe out the influence of pressure on all but the weakest willed members of your team.

If you have a pre-match save it's worth raising with the match team so that can investigate whether the code has been too absolute in its application of pressure.

herne79 also makes a valid point in that you could have ramped up the pressure & the players are now fearful of not meeting you standards, again SI can look into the impact you had on the players mental state & if their rection is consistent with the situation & your previous interactions with the squad.

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Seems quite obvious that your players do not cope with pressure well - something you're putting on them by saying that if they win, they'll qualify for x.

Well, that is kinda my point - I do not think there should be any pressure on the game. There was a 27 point gap to the team in second before the game, there is no chance of being caught from behind anyway (regardless of the mathematics =P). I do admit I am usually pretty demanding of the team when it comes to team talks - I find I often have to be to avoid complacency - but I do try to be gentler in those games (I have tried many things actually).

Like I said, I think it is a great thing in the game in general. Managing the squad in this period is often the difference between 1st and 4th in a close league.

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You're right, there shouldn't be pressure, so why then put pressure on the team? If they just continue as normal, they'd be fine! By the way, towards the end of a season, there is more pressure in matches already as the season comes to a close.

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You're right, there shouldn't be pressure, so why then put pressure on the team? If they just continue as normal, they'd be fine! By the way, towards the end of a season, there is more pressure in matches already as the season comes to a close.

I did not put pressure on them, I told them to continue where they left off (which is standard for me).

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Are you able to provide a pre-match save point? I think this warrants being moved to the ME bugs section for further investigation.

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I did not put pressure on them, I told them to continue where they left off (which is standard for me).

I was under the impression you used a contextual team talk along the lines of "a win here will qualify you for x".

There is more pressure in the last few matches of a season though, so maybe the standard approach isn't a great one. You should really try taking pressure off as it does still seem like your players can't handle it. Even the "continue where you left off" is more of a challenge (pressure) to keep up the same level of play.

As Barside said though, you can definitely submit it as a bug as long as you provide the pre-match save. The ME team doesn't get many (or any) bug reports from users regarding team talks so it will be much appreciated.

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Hehe, I had something of a similar experience. Was top of the table by 18 points with 7 matches to go. Pre-season expectations was mid-table finish. Before the match I was asked to have a team meeting because the next match could secure promotion.

I told my players that they had done a brilliant season and that they should go out on the field and secure promotion! The reaction was extremely bad with 17 out of 20 players reacting negativ because promotion was way beyond what our expectations was and that I was demanding to much of them.....how would any group of players react like that with 18 points gap and 7 matches to go?

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Hehe, I had something of a similar experience. Was top of the table by 18 points with 7 matches to go. Pre-season expectations was mid-table finish. Before the match I was asked to have a team meeting because the next match could secure promotion.

I told my players that they had done a brilliant season and that they should go out on the field and secure promotion! The reaction was extremely bad with 17 out of 20 players reacting negativ because promotion was way beyond what our expectations was and that I was demanding to much of them.....how would any group of players react like that with 18 points gap and 7 matches to go?

Should've offered to buy them pizza instead.

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