WoIfsong's Teamtalk Guide 2010

This is an update for my original teamtalks guide written for Fm08. Big thanks to the community here for keeping the discussion in the original thread alive for over two years; and thanks to enthusiastic translators the original guide has been translated into Spanish, Polish, French and Chinese and published on various other sites. The original English guide can be found here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=5494

This guide is aimed to be a relatively simple and practical guide to help those who need some help with/tips on teamtalks in FM2010, especially pre-match and half time teamtalks. However this guide is going to be significantly longer in length than my original guide, if you get bored/confused/angered reading this guide please let me know.

A. Background

Please skip this section and go straight to Section B if you are not interested in how I tested my teamtalks and the results.

To try achieve an independant result in my testing on teamtalks, I try minimise the effect of tactics on result as much as possible. Hence I use one really simple tactic for all teams with no pre-match tweaks going from match to match. That tactic is as follows:

Everything in team setting set to the middle position of the slider. All individual settings set to the middle position of the slider except individual mentalities. The individual mentalities are GK:14, DC: 15, FB: 16, DM:17, MC: 18, Winger: 19 and ST: 20. Many would think these mentalities are "suicidal" for weaker teams.

I do not get a scout report for my next opposition, I do not care about whether it is home/away/neutral ground tactics wise, I do not look at opponent's tactics, I do not check Backroom Advice, I do not ask my Ass Man for teamtalk suggestions, I watch key highlights only, I do not care about pitch size, I do not attend press conferences, I do not comment on/respond to comments from other managers, during a match I tweak only defence line and "Run From Deep" . I do issue opposition instructions on AI substitutes as soon as they are substituted on (to minimise the usual occurrence of AI subs scoring which cannot be cured via teamtalks).

The above should not be taken as a tactical advice as I am sure there are a lot of better tactics and much more fun ways of playing out there.

The result is as follows:

Shandong Luneng is the first team that I tested the team talks with. It is a team that I used in 2010 beta testing (as I was helping with testing the Asia part of the game). In real life it is a top 4 team in the Chinese Super League but the team only made to the quarterfinal in the Asian Champions League once in 2006 and came 4th in the Chinese Super League last season. In the game the team squad has an average CA of about 95.

In the game in 10 seasons I won the league 10 times in a row, the Asian Champions League 9 times and the Club World Championship 3 times beating European champions such as Barcelona, Roma and Stuggart.

I then moved to Aston Villa who came 14th in the premier league in the previous season and was predicted to be 13th in that season, we came second, 5 points short from the winner Man City.

A new save game was later started with Chelsea as I wanted to test the effect of my teamtalks with a higher level team. By my current game time May 2020 I have got 9 league wins and 33 cup wins and accumulated 1160 Hall of Fame points worldwide (of which 200 points is for a World Cup Win with Argentina).

If you have read this section, hopefully it raises your interest to read on. ^^

B. Pre-Match Teamtalks

Perhaps the most important piece of information that I take into account in deciding what pre-match teamtalks to use is the Assistant Manager's Feedback on Pre-Match - the screen shown after you confirm your match squad on a match day. E.g. if your Ass Man's name is "Wolf Song", the name of the tab will be shown as "Song's Feedback". The position of the tab is in between the "Tactics" tab and the "Backroom Adivce" tab. The following is a link to a screenshot which shows the abovementioned screen:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7158/assmanfeedback.jpg

In the abovementioned feedbacks screen under the "Pre-match section" your Ass Man tells you whether the players (or some particular player(s)) look complacent or nervous pre-match (or nothing specific noted). Ignore all his comments about language problems and whether some particular player is finding it hard to fit in as they do not relate to teamtalks. Also ignore everything he says about statistics, performance and tactics.

(As a side note, some believe that the abovementioned information on complacency/nervous level is sometimes reflected in the "Motivation" screen available during a match. I do not look at that screen for the following reasons:

1. It does not address motivation only - it can easily mislead a game player as it attempts to mix 3 factors into 1 description. The 3 factors are morale, player rating and complacency/nervous levels.

E.g. A player noted as "Looking motivated" really ONLY means that he has Very Good - Superb morale, if you trust that description you would think nothing needs to be said/done to that player; but such a player may be getting a 6.2 rating and really deserves a fire-up teamtalk or substitute off, or he may be complacent at the same time and you really need to cure complacency via your teamtalks.

Another example is the description of "having an OK game", players with this description generally have a below 6.7 rating, they deserve a fire-up or substitute off, they are NOT having an OK game by teamtalks standard.

The third example is players described as "playing with confidence" or "having a good game" or better, these are typically players with above 7 rating and good morale, if you read that and think "Ok I should say nothing to him" then you miss the opportunity to increase his match ratings to 8 or 9 by saying "you have faith" or "you can make the difference" to players with 7.5 or higher rating and/or players who have scored.

2. It is not accurate as the description could change every 2 seconds. A player with a varying match rating between 5.5 and 6.6 in one match can have his "motivation" reported as changing from "looking nervous" to "playing with confidence" and back and forth every 2 seconds if you monitor the motivation feedback while you run the match on "key". What do you do with such a player at half time if you trust the motivation feedback only? .... All you have to do is to ignore the motivation feedback, look at his match rating, look at his morale, look at whether he is named by your Ass Man in the abovementioned Ass Man Feedback as having complacency/nervous problems and decide your teamtalk/action on him purely relying on the above 3 pieces of information.

3. It is not available prior to you confirming your pre-match teamtalks hence even if it is accurate, it does not help your pre-match teamtalks at all.

Therefore I rather look at the abovementioned 3 primary factors myself instead of reading/relying on the description in the "Motivation" feedback for both pre-match and half time teamtalks.)

In summary for pre-match team talks, the factors I take into account other than complacency/nervous levels are: pre-match odds, morale, whether a player achieved a 7.5 or higher rating in the previous match, whether a player achieved a 5.5 or lower rating in the previous match, whether a player reacts well to "expect a performance" (judged through trial and error), whether a player reacts well to "you have faith" (judged through trial and error) and whether the target player is a youngster making his debut.

I will illustrate my approach for general pre-match teamtalks by way of scenarios but before that let's look at individual teamtalks pre-match which are generally applicable to all scenarios:

If a player has achieved a 7.5 rating or above in his previous match, the individaul teamtalk "Pick up where you left from" becomes available for him. The use of this individual teamtalk has never yielded any negative effect for me. Possible positive result: "Seemed Motivated", positive result occurrence chance: 25%. Trial and error recommended (when I say this I mean try to remember on which player the individual teamtalk has worked in the past and use it on him whenever available). This is also applicable to half-time teamtalks and teamtalks on substitutes.

If a player has achieved a 5.5 rating or below in his previous match, the individaul teamtalk "Expect Better" becomes available for him. Likewise the use of this individual teamtalk has never yielded any negative effects for me. Possible positive result: "Seemed Motivated", positive result occurrence chance: 20%. Use whenever available. This is also applicable to half-time teamtalks and teamtalks on substitutes.

The following is a link to a screenshot showing successful uses of the above two individual teamtalks pre-match:

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3735/pickupteamtalk.jpg

Certain players sometimes react well to "Expect a Performance" even when they are not reported as complacent. These players typically are high calibre senior players who perform well in big games, e.g. Essien, Drogba, Terry etc. Use it on players with "good" or above morale level only. Do not use it on players who often get worried or nervous. If used right possible positive result: "Seemed Motivated". Trial and error recommended.

Some players also react well to "You have faith" pre-match. However I generally try save "you have faith" for half time overperformers and substitutes coming on (those of you who have read my original guide are already familiar with this approach). If your striker is suffering a goal draught and/or having a low morale, you could try saying "you have faith" to him pre-match, likely result "looked delighted", sometimes "seemed motivated". Trial and error recommended.

Your youngster making debut should generally have a "no pressure" on him pre-match, followed by "pleased" half time if he achieved a 6.8 or above rating then. Likely result "Happy. Looked delighted", sometimes "more relaxed". "No pressure" also works on players who are reported by your Ass Man as looking nervous in his Pre-Match Feedback (again NOT the "looking nervous" in the Motivation screen).

General pre-match teamtalks:

[scenario 1: Your players are reported as looking complacent]

In your Ass Man Feedback pre-match, he sometimes says things like "The recent fine form is unfortunately casting a false confidence on your squad... in particular xxx and yyy" or "xxx and yyy are looking cocky and not focused" or "xxx and yyy thinks our recent fine form alone can win matches" or "xxx is looking complacent" or things equivalent to the above.

This typically happens when you are on a winning streak, odds favour you and morale is high. It may also be caused by things said in the pre-match conference but as complacency can be used to your advantage if the right teamtalks are given, I do not worry about what's been said in the pre-conferences, I do not attend them.

In this scenario the general teamtalk should be "I expect a win" with "Expect a Performance" on the players named by your Ass Man as looking complacent (followed by "dont get complacent" or equivalent half time whenever available). Likely reaction: none reported but good performance in the 1st half, sometimes "Seemed Motivated", sometimes "Gained focus", rarely any negative effect.

Do not ever use "we can win this" or "wish luck" under this scenario. If used, like result = one or two players "seemed demotivated, looked delighted".

The individual teamtalks mentioned above may also be used, but I find that on players reported as complacent, "pick up" does not work as well as "expect a performance" does.

[scenario 2: Nothing specific is reported about your players' complacency/nervous level]

If you are having an average season without winning streaks and with generally average morale this is the most likely scenario for a lot of your matches.

Under this scenario, if odds heavily favour me and morale is above "good", I would still use "I expect a win". If certain players have a low morale do individual teamtalks on them e.g. "you have faith". Likely result: "none" reported but good performance, sometimes "seemed motivated".

If odds are close and morale is above "good", I would use "for the fans" whether home or away and do individual teamtalks following the abovementioned approach. This is a convenient point to note that if you are having issues with my suggested pre-match teamtalks or if you really do not know what to say, say "For the Fans" because from my experience it rarely yields any negative effects. However, it also rarely yields any reported positive effects. Hence I consider it as a neutral teamtalk which works better than saying "none" which sometimes yields the negative effect of "seemed confused. angered".

If I am the underdog and morale is generally good, I would still use "for the fans" whether home or away with individual teamtalks. Only when odds are heavily against me and morale is below average I would use "pressure is off" as a general teamtalk, this is very rare for me.

At this point one may ask "hey Wolfsong what happened to 'We can win this!' and "Wish luck!'?". I do not use them anymore whether pre-match or half-time because they randomly yield the negative effect of "seemed DEMOTIVATED. looked delighted". You should definately avoid the above two when your players are reported as complacent. However even when I am not on a winning streak and my squad morale is below "superb", these talks sometimes demotivate one or two of my players too. When one or two players gets the "seemed demotivated" effect from pre-match teamtalks, your whole team's performance suffers and you are likely to go 1 to 3 goals down in the first half; in that case even excellent half-time teamtalks are unlikely to turn your match around.

[scenario 3: Your players or some players are reported as looking nervous/unable to handle the pressure]

This occurs far less often than scenario 2 and 1. Your Ass Man in pre-match feedback sometimes says things like "xxx is looking nervous", "xxx and yyy seem unable to handle the pressure" or equivalent. You should avoid harsh pre-match teamtalks on them, e.g. no "expect a performance" or "I expect a win" on them, you may do either "no pressure" or "you have faith" to make them "looked delighted".... Monitor their performance by half time, if they achieve a below 6.6 rating, substitute them off.

Other feedbacks regarding motivation:

Apart from the above 3 scenarios, sometimes your Ass Man tells you "quite a few players are finding it difficult to motivate themselves when you are the manager" or equivalent. You should say "I wanna kill you!" to these players whenever available (will it ever be available? @@). On a serious note this typically happens when you are a low reputation manager and you took charge of a high reputation club. It may also happen if you have a bad relationship with certain players (you really should not if you follow my guide). For my chelsea game I chose Sunday League Footballer reputation and players like Drogba, Essien and Terry had this motivation issue reported for the whole season, if I did not win the premier league in that season it may well be that this issue would continue to the next season. However it does not seem to affect performance much and I have not found a good way of curing this problem via team talks anyway (you probably can't)....

Sometimes your Ass Man reports that xxx is finding it hard to motivate himself when yyy is the captain. This is likely due to poor personal relationships between the two players due to personality difference or clash during tutoring. The way to cure this is never play those two in the same starting 11 untill they resolve the difference (Reader: This is not teamtalks dude!).

This should conclude my pre-match team talks section. Let me take a break and I will soon write up the half-time section. A lot of the stuff for half time are the same as my original guide, but there will be new stuff too!

C. Half-time Teamtalks

Half-time teamtalks are more interesting but also a bit more complex than pre-match teamtalks. Bear with me as I explain my approach.

In summary for half-time teamtalks the things I look at generally are: Score line, Ass Man Feedback on complacency/nervous levels, player rating, player morale, whether target player is a substitute coming on and whether target player is a new player (whether youngster or senior) to the squad.

I now illustrate by way of scenarios:

[scenario 1: Drawing by half time]

Under this scenario if I have decided to say "I expect a win" pre-match in accordance with the criteria mentioned above (odds favour me, good morale and/or complacency has been reported by my Ass Man in his Feedback pre-match on one or more players), generally I would say "disappointing" as a general teamtalk but with "you can make a difference" on players who have scored and players who have achieved a 7.5 rating or higher; AND "none" to players with ratings 7.0 to 7.4.

If I have said "for the fans" for pre-match (usually when odds are even or against you, any morale), I would say "for the fans" again half time but with individual team talks on players who have overperformed, underperformed and subsititutes. I explain what I mean as to individual team talks below:

If a player has a rating of 7.5 or above OR if your striker has scored in the first half (he often only gets 7.1 to 7.3 if he's only scored 1 goal) I would say "you can make the difference" to those players.

"You can make a difference" is the equivalent of "you have faith" but only appears when you are drawing or losing at the time the teamtalk is given. Likely result: target players "Seemed motivated", "Morale boost", "Happy", "Looked delighted", or any or all of the above coupled with "Inspired to a better performance" or "Inspired to a great performance"; sometimes only "Happy. Looked delighted"; sometimes no effect.

The following is a link showing a successful use of "you can make the difference" on my striker who has scored a goal by half time, he went on to score 2 more goals in the second half:

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3617/youcanmakethedifference.jpg

If a player has a rating of 6.7 or below (but not below 6) and his morale is above average, I either say "disappointing" to him or substitute him off and say "you can make the difference" to the substitute coming on. "Disappointing" may yield the positive effects of "Fired up" or "Seemed motivated" or "Inspired" or "Angered. Seemed motivated". To decide whether he should be substituted off you should rely on your previous trial and error results, if the target player has never reacted well to "disappointing", substitute him off.

The following is a link to a screenshot showing successful uses of "disappointing". My Aston Villa was drawing by half time with Swansea and I did not have decent substitutes who were proven to react well to "you can make the difference" when my striker, key MC and one DC were underperforming according to match rating (according to "Motivation" they were "looking motivated" or "playing ok"....), so I said disappointing to those 3 underperformers, the result:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9555/disappointing.jpg

This is a convenient point to note that "you can make the difference", "you have faith" and especially "disappointing" are unlikely to work on new players (whether youngsters or senior) who are playing the first 5 matches for your team. "Pleased" works on those players if they are performing well, if they are not, substitute them off.

Disappointing does not work on youngsters. It may occassionally work on senior players even when they have low morale but this is rare.

If the "Pick up where you left from" teamtalk is available for your substitutes coming on at half time, you could consider using that instead of "you can make the difference" if you previous trial and error results show that they react well to it. But generally the chance of obtaining a positive effect on strikers by "you can make the difference" or "you have faith" is higher than via "pick up".

If a player's rating is below 6, say angered to him before you put a substitute on and say "you can make the difference" to the substitute.

[scenario 2: Leading by 1 goal by half time]

If I am expected to win, morale is above average, and especially if complacency has been reported by my Ass Man in his pre-match feedback, I always say "don't get careless" as a general teamtalk, with individual teamtalks following the abovementioned approach on players who have over or under performed. Note here "you have faith" is available for overperformers, not "you can make the difference", the effects are the same.

If a player has complacency issues reported, I would always leave "don't get careless" unless his rating is above 7.5 or he scored (when I do "you have faith"); hence if he gets a below 6.7 rating, instead of saying an individual "disappointing" I leave "don't get careless" on him and 90% of the times it works.

Suprisingly under this scenario "dont get careless" work well on substitutes coming on as well, hence make sure you manually put it on your substitutes by clicking "team" in the teamtalks field next to their name. Likely result: one or two players "gained focus" or "seemed motivated" or "inspired".

The following is a link showing a successful use of "dont get careless" on starters and substitutes combined with an individual "you have faith" on Zhirkov who scored in the half time:

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8538/dontgetcareless2.jpg

The following is a link to a screenshot showing a successful use of "dont get careless" combined with a "pleased" on my youngster striker Welbeck playing his first match (yes he moved to my Chelsea on free transfer...):

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2660/dontcareleswithpleasedo.jpg

I note here that some readers think that "you have faith" works on players with low morale and low ratings, it may, but the chance of achieving any positive effect other than "looked delighted" (which does not improve performance) is very very low. Certainly much much lower than the chance of achieving positive effect on overperformers and players who have scored.

If I am the underdog, morale is average and importantly there is no complacency reported, I use "encourage" when I am leading by 1 goal with the abovementioned individual teamtalks on overperformers, underperformers and substitutes. Likely result: a couple of players "looked delighted", one or two "seemed motivated". Warning that "encourage" if used when there is complacency is likely to yield the negative effect of "seemed demotivated".

The following is a link to a screenshot showing successful use of "encourage" with "you have faith" on a player who has scored:

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1184/encourageyouhavefaith.jpg

If it is the first 4 matches that I am in charge in a team, the players react well to "pleased", hence I try use it whenever possible including when I am leading by one goal. A player who has been sidelined for a while and playing his first match back also reacts well to "pleased". Likely result: "Happy. Looked Delighted", sometimes "Morale boost", "Seemed motivated, inspired to a great performance" etc. (After the first 4-5 matches, result becomes "didnt seem to be listening").

The following is a link to a screenshot showing successful use of "pleased" on my Aston Villa squad shortly after I took in charge:

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2504/pleasedvilla.jpg

The following is a link to a screenshot showing successful use of "pleased" on a squad consisting of mostly youngsters with an old player coming back after a long time injury (John Terry):

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8863/pleased2.jpg

In this scenario I sometimes also say "pleased" as a general teamtalk (with individual talks of course) when the odds are heavily against me, however I find that encourge still works better in this scenario.

I never say "delighted" at half time as a general teamtalk.

[scenario 3: Leading by 2 goals or more by half time]

This scenario is similar to Scenario 2 except "encourage" is no longer available and you are left to choose to say "don't let your performance drop" or "pleased" or "none" as general teamtalks.

If complacency has been reported and/or you are heavily favoured, use "dont let your performance drop" with individual teamtalks following my comments in scenario 2. Do note your players' reaction to this for trial and error purposes as some plaeyrs react badly to harsh teamtalks no matter what the scoreline is; equally some players consistently react well to 'dont let your performance drop'.

If there is no complacency I would say "pleased" as a general teamtalk with a manual "none" on players with 6.8 rating or below and "you have faith" on players with 7.5 rating or higher, players who have scored or subsistutes coming on. The "none" on lower rating players work better than "disappointing" when you are leading by 2 goals or more, no effects are ususally reported, but it ususally ensures an improved performance by the target player.

The following is a link to a screenshot showing the use of pleased with individual "none" and "you have faith", the players with "none" get no effect reported, but the striker Chillico who had a "none" did go on to score 2 goals in the second half:

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9656/pleasedandnone.jpg

Some prefer to say "none" as a general teamtalk when morale is high, but I find that this has a 10% or so chance of yielding "seemed confused" or "angered" on players with 7 or above rating. "Angered" usually does not affect the match result much, but it may still result in a poor second half performance.

[scenario 4: Losing by 1 goal]

This has got to be my favourite scenario, not that I get into it much but when I do I get great satisfaction turning a match around via teamtalks and get the praise afterwards e.g.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7340/praise.jpg

The best option when you are favoured or when odds are even and you are losing by 1 goal is "I want to see more from you" even if your squad morale isn't so good. The chance of this general teamtalk motivating 1-5 players in your squad is amazingly high, I'd say 70%. It also works very well on substitutes, hence sometimes it's a hard decision whether to say "I want to see more" on substitutes or follow the "you can make the difference" approach, the answer is again trial and error. For players who have overperformed in the first half, I would still say "you can make the differnece" as "I want to see more" does not make sense on them.

The following is a screenshot showing how I got the praise shown by the above image :

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/949/iwanttoseemore3.jpg

However, if you have a player with below 5.5 rating, or if you have a youngster or a new signing in your starting 11 who have underperformed, "I want to see more" may yield the negative effect of "lost confidence", substitute those off instead.

If you are the underdog and morale is good, you could still try "I want to see more" but it is less likely to work. You may simply say "for the fans" and do the substitution and "you can make the difference" combo; you may also do "dissappointing" individual talks but if you have a good substitute who react well to "you have faith", please put him on!

If you are the underdog and morale is bad, "for the fans" as general teamtalk, "you can make the difference" on good performers, substitute as many low morale bad performers off as possible and say "you can make the difference" on substitutes coming on. Logically thinking you could also try "we can win this" here but as noted above I do not use it myself.

[scenario 5: Losing by 2 or more goals]

This rarely happens to me and when it does, one or two of my players usually have made some big mistakes and are on a rating of below 5.5. Here "I want to see more from you" is usually replaced by "Where is the passion lads?" as a teamtalk option (sometimes I want to see more is still available)which has the same good effect. Of course remember to do your "you can make the difference" on players who have scored or with 7.5 or above rating. The following is a link to a screenshot showing a successful combintion of "where is the passion" and "you can make the difference" when I am down by 2 goals:

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8292/teamtalkpassion.jpg

If you are the underdog and you are losing by 2 or more goals, generally follow the same advice in scenario 4 above.

We are nearing the end of the half-time talk section, thanks for bearing with me so far.

A general tip is to check whether you half time team talk has worked by monitoring the player rating and general performance of the team. If the performance/ratings do not improve by the 70th minute or if ratings drop, 90% of the times your teamtalks at half time did not yield a positive result, substitute the low rating players/players with dropped ratings off ASAP and say "you have faith" "you can make the difference" or "pick up..." to the substitutes coming on.

For example you said "disappointing" to your starting striker after he had a rating 6.2 at half time, you monitor his performance during 2nd half and see him keeping on missing chances, you see his rating droping and at 65-70 minute his rating stays at 6.2 or is even lower, this is the time to put your substitute striker on and say "you can make the difference"/"you have faith" to your substitute.

Note that sometimes your striker's rating changes back and forth in the 2nd half from 6/6.1/6.2 to 6.6/6.8/6.9, the increase in rating at one point may seem encouraging but as soon as you see the rating dropping back to 6.1 ish you know it's likely that your teamtalk has not worked. Do the above curing instead of keeping him on.

At this point I should praise SI for allowing us in FM2010 to do teamtalks to our subsitutes during the entire match at any point in time, not just during half time. E.g. at 70th minute you put your subsitute striker on, do not be lazy and go to team talks section and say "you can make the difference" or "you have faith" to him! 70% of the time he scores A downside is that the Assistant Manager's Teamtalks feedback screen after a match does not provide any feedbacks on your teamtalk not given pre-match, half time or end match. But you can usually guess the effects yourself by the player performance.

Lastly I emphasis again that certain players react to certain teamtalks positively more often than others. E.g. Balotelli in my game reacts positively as a substitute striker to "you have faith" 90% of the times, hence he's been my golden substitute whenever the first half turns ugly. On the other hand Pato in my game gets no motivation from "you have faith" 60% of the times but reacts well to "disappointing" when he underperforms. I think this has to do with player's personality attributes, but I have not been able to derive a formula (there's too many hidden stats, too lazy to test), that is why I recommend trial and error!

D. Post-match teamtalks

The goal for post-match teamtalks is to keep morale high for the next match, build up good relationships with your players while not ignoring poor performance.

If my team wins a game, I say a general "pleased", with "delighted" on the top performers. Who are considered top performers? e.g. In a match where the general rating is 7 to 7.5, I consider rating 8 or above as top performers.

If my team draws a game, if the ratings are generally below 7 and we were expected to win, I say "dissapointing" with "none" on players with above 7 rating. If the ratings are generally good, I say "symphathise" with "disappointing" on individaul players below 6.7 rating and pleased on players above 7.5. Players who were sent off for voilent behaviour or players with below 6 rating deserves a "angered".

If my team loses a game when the odds are close or when the odds favour me, I say "disappointing", with individual talks depending on individual ratings. If we are supposed to lose and general ratings are above 7, I say "symphathise" with individual talks depending on rating.

You would often find that the player that you single out in your teamtalks praise via "delighted" soon lists you as a favourite person and sometimes you get a news item saying he is pleased to be singled out. He needs to deserve the single-out in the first place though!

Also remember for post-match that your players are unlikely to react well to harsh teamtalks in the first few games you take in charge. Unjustified criticisms on players with good rating can cause anger and confusion. Unjustified praise can cause confusion. So don't be lazy - differentiate your teamtalks according to match ratings!

That's it for now. If I remember more stuff later I may add more in.

As with my original thread I hope this thread also develops into a meaningful discussion thread about teamtalks and help those who need teamtalks tips. Your comments, suggestions, feedbacks and criticisms all welcome.

Thank you very much!

Good to see you doing another teamtalk guide, great job so far and I'm looking forward to the rest of it as well

So how many individual talks do you give maximum? Or does that not matter and you'll give it to however many players necessary?

Great, now that we have 2 team talks expert, ie Bubbabaytuna and Wolfsong. 2 different approach styles.

So how many individual talks do you give maximum? Or does that not matter and you'll give it to however many players necessary?

As many as I think necessary but usually I do 2-4, not more than 6.

Very good post

If you (or anyone else) would care to summarise this in a spreadsheet or something, where you list the scenarios and preferred team talks, it would be great. Come to think of it, I might do that myself when I get home from work

Very good post

If you (or anyone else) would care to summarise this in a spreadsheet or something, where you list the scenarios and preferred team talks, it would be great. Come to think of it, I might do that myself when I get home from work

That would be very useful actually.

Thanks

Good job again WoIfsong:thup:

Thanks Wolfsong. I have been looking out for you doing another team talk thread, the last one you did help me massively. Good work

Nice work yet again

In the second leg of a cup match, there's often no option to say 'for the fans' pre-match. What do you say then when the odds are close? Expect a win or dont get complacent?

Do you ever use 'prove a point!' at half time? Or warn against complacency/good first half, poor second half after winning by a single goal?

Very good post

If you (or anyone else) would care to summarise this in a spreadsheet or something, where you list the scenarios and preferred team talks, it would be great. Come to think of it, I might do that myself when I get home from work

That would be awesome.

what would your response be to a youngster who's looking complacent? would that be an 'expect a performance' too, or would you say something else since he's young.

Hi Wolfsong, another great guide - slipped into the philosophy fairly seamlessly after using it for FM08 & 09. Wondered what you do when your team stop bloody listening to you?

Ok. I just finished putting this excellent info into Excel. Note the file has 3 sheets:

1. Pre-match

2. Half-time

3. Post-match

Let me know if there's any errors or something else you want fixed/edited

http://www.filefront.com/15355371/Teamtalks.xlsx

Ok. I just finished putting this excellent info into Excel. Note the file has 3 sheets:

1. Pre-match

2. Half-time

3. Post-match

Let me know if there's any errors or something else you want fixed/edited

http://www.filefront.com/15355371/Teamtalks.xlsx

I get an error when trying to open it. Its says it is corrupted.

I get an error when trying to open it. Its says it is corrupted.

I just downloaded it fine. I'd try again in case the file didn't download correctly.

This is made with Excel 2007. Might be a version factor. Try Open Office, or Office 2007 trial

This is made with Excel 2007. Might be a version factor. Try Open Office, or Office 2007 trial

BTW good work with the spreadsheet.

I opened it with open office and it worked fine

BTW good work with the spreadsheet.

Thank you

I opened it with open office and it worked fine

Goodie

i just downloaded it, had a look. looks very good!! nice job.

This is made with Excel 2007. Might be a version factor. Try Open Office, or Office 2007 trial

Thanks, I really appreciate your effort

I don't think the version would be a factor though, as I have Excel 2003 and it successfully converted the file.

Thanks a lot guys for your responses!

I have gone through the guide again and corrected a few typos (geez I can't spell "substitute" @@).

More importantly I have put in a few new paragraphs during editing and I have bolded them.

Thanks alvaan for doing a spreadsheet. I can't open it at work so I will look at it when I get home (in about 10 hours...)

In the second leg of a cup match, there's often no option to say 'for the fans' pre-match. What do you say then when the odds are close? Expect a win or dont get complacent?

Do you ever use 'prove a point!' at half time? Or warn against complacency/good first half, poor second half after winning by a single goal?

Yes I agree there is almost never an option to say "for the fans" pre-match in the second leg. "Encourage" is available if you won your first leg by 1 goal. It seems that the game treats the pre-match teamtalk for the 2nd leg as "half time team talks" in terms of general team talk options.

"Encourage" is often a good thing to say when odds are close but if I am on a winning streak and morale is good, and my team has proven to react well to "warn against complacency", I would use "warn" instead of "encourage". This is because "encourage" as a pre-match talk does have a very low chance of demotivating 1 or 2 players (which as I said, almost always kills your match).

The difficult situation is if "encourage" is not available, morale is average and odds are close (or against you). In that scenario "warn against complacency" or "I expect victory" do not seem to make sense; "wish luck" may be the only option left as general team talk here but as I said I generally avoid it. This is when I generally do more than 6 individual teamtalks: "pick up" whenever available, "expect better" whenever available, "expect a performance" on senior big game players, "you have faith" on players proven to react well to it pre-match etc etc. You could leave "none" on a couple of players if you do not think they need any of the above individual talks.

If "warn against complacency" worked as a pre-match team talk and my team is still leading by 1 goal at the 2nd half of the 2nd leg, I may use "warn against complacency" again with individual team talks. Note that if you do not do individual team talks on good performers/players who's scored they are sometimes "angered" or "seemed confused" when you are leading.

I have never used "prove a point", in fact I have not found a rule for when it becomes available, it seems to be available occassionally when a player is on rating 6 to 6.5 but in that situation I would say "disappointing" or substitute the player off. If anyone knows how to use "prove a point" effectively it would be appreciated if you could help us.

what would your response be to a youngster who's looking complacent? would that be an 'expect a performance' too, or would you say something else since he's young.

To be honest I have never had a youngster looking complacent in the first 5 matches he plays. Remember that my suggestions for youngster is when he makes debut and for new players is the first 5 matches. If beyond 5 games the youngster/new signing looks complacent, go "Expect a performance!".

Hi Wolfsong, another great guide - slipped into the philosophy fairly seamlessly after using it for FM08 & 09. Wondered what you do when your team stop bloody listening to you?

Thanks mate.

Sometimes it is indeed frustrating if you think you've done the right teamtalks but you end up with a bad result and you check the feedbacks screen you see "nothing specific noted" or "does not seem to be listening". This happens to be occassionally as well. With chelsea I have lost 5 league games in total in the recent 4 seasons, these are when my teamtalks did not work and my curing attempts did not work or when the opponent team were inspired by the AI manager's teamtalk (evident by the news item praising their manager after the match). But my team would again "listen to me" straight after each loss.

If your team continues to "not listen to you" for 3 or more games, I think you may try changing your teamtalk style a bit, e.g. from harsh talks to less harsh or from less harsh to harsh. To be honest this has not happened to me with any team yet.

Great to see you updating this guide. If i'm honest, didn't pay much attention to the last one, but i guess it could improve my random teamtalk a lot and i really appreciate your detailed guide!

will try it out later today! Beeen using another teamwork format reading from another thread in this forum, has been working wonder for me! Turning a few away games from 2-0 down went back to 3-2 win!

Thanks a lot guys for your responses!

Thanks alvaan for doing a spreadsheet. I can't open it at work so I will look at it when I get home (in about 10 hours...)

I hope it's what you expect, if not, give me a shout on PM, here or my msn and I will correct it

I hope it's what you expect, if not, give me a shout on PM, here or my msn and I will correct it

I had a look, Great job! Thanks a lot for your effort!

Just a few things:

1. For all half time team talks "you can make the difference"/"you have faith" is also used on players who have scored, this is for the situation where a striker scores but only gets a 7.1 to 7.4 rating;

2. For all half time team talks if I do not substitute a 6.7 rating or below off, I always say "disappointing" to him;

3. For all half time team talks I always say "you can make the difference"/"you have faith" to substitutes coming on EXCEPT it varies when I say "I want to see more from you" or "Don't get complacent" or "Don't let your performance drop" (I may say these general talks to the subs coming on instead of "..make the difference" or "...faith" depending on trial and error results);

4. When I use "I want to see more", I do not put "none" on rating 6.8 or below , those low ratings deserve the "I want to see more"; if a player has not scored but has a 7.1 to 7.4 rating, I may sometimes issue "none" to him as "I want to see more" does not make much sense on him;

5. When I am winning by 1 goal/winning by 2 goals and I use "dont get complacent"/"dont let your performance drop", I still say "you have faith" to 7.5 + and players who have scored;

6. For below 6 rating, I say "angry" and substitute him off, not just "angry" ^^

7. One other little thing is for half time when you are winning, "you have faith" is available & used instead of "you can make the difference", they have the same effect anyway

Again thanks for the great job!

Just edited the file now. Some of the points you were making was already on there though(?).

Take another look now, as I know have updated it with those 7 comments.

Download here

http://www.filefront.com/15357621/Teamtalks.xlsx

DISCLAIMER

This spreadsheet is soley based on information found in Wolfsongs opening post. This is his work and ideas, merely put into Excel for easier viewing.

Fantastic work. Very helpful guide

I use one really simple tactic for all teams with no pre-match tweaks going from match to match. That tactic is as follows:

Everything in team setting set to the middle position of the slider. All individual settings set to the middle position of the slider except individual mentalities. The individual mentalities are GK:14, DC: 15, FB: 16, DM:17, MC: 18, Winger: 19 and ST: 20. Many would think these mentalities are "suicidal" for weaker teams.

I do not get a scout report for my next opposition, I do not care about whether it is home/away/neutral ground tactics wise, I do not look at opponent's tactics, I do not check Backroom Advice, I do not ask my Ass Man for teamtalk suggestions, I watch key highlights only, I do not care about pitch size, I do not attend press conferences, I do not comment on/respond to comments from other managers, during a match I tweak only defence line and "Run From Deep" .

With NO tactics and JUST focusing on team talks you win everything in sight, beating Barcelona with a Chinese team. That's really scary. There's a fella just made a thread saying tactics are not important. You seem to vindicate him.

I love micro-managing all aspects of the game, especially tactics and man management. I find your research and results an invaluable contribution. I don't like to exploit the ME or FM as a whole, so I combine team-talks with the other aspects. But can I ask you WoIfsong, from your research, would you say that team-talks do have a massively unrealistic effect on games, as many detractors allege?

With NO tactics and JUST focusing on team talks you win everything in sight, beating Barcelona with a Chinese team. That's really scary. There's a fella just made a thread saying tactics are not important. You seem to vindicate him.

I love micro-managing all aspects of the game, especially tactics and man management. I find your research and results an invaluable contribution. I don't like to exploit the ME or FM as a whole, so I combine team-talks with the other aspects. But can I ask you WoIfsong, from your research, would you say that team-talks do have a massively unrealistic effect on games, as many detractors allege?

I too like micro-managing tactics and other aspects. I did what I did just for the sake of testing teamtalks.

From my point of view tactics is very important, correct micro-management allow you to get amazing results. If one has read Cleon and wwfan and others' threads talking about their game experience and how they use tactics to win games, they make the above point quite clear.

If one would do a test to see the effect of tactics without much influence from teamtalks (E.g. One could leave all teamtalks to assistant managers, and try achieving good results via micro managing tactics only, I am sure the result could be the same as mine or even better than mine depending on how well you micro manage tactics.

Remember I went into the Club World Championship 9 times as Shandong Luneng, only winning it 3 times via teamtalks; if I would combine correct teamtalks with correct micro-management of tactics it may well be that I could have won it 6 times, or even 9 times.

However, if one would adopt my testing approach (that is trying to ignore tactics and many other factors that influence game results - I do not encourage anyone to do it as to a degree it turns football manager to "teamtalks manager" and ignores many aspects of the game which are all fun), one would agree that whether the teamtalks have worked is the dominant factor deciding match results. As a degree of luck is required for teamtalks to be successful, one may go on to say that under this approach luck or "hitting bingo on teamtalks" has too much influence on results.

My approach on teamtalks tries to minimise the luck factor in teamtalks but it goes no where near eliminating the luck factor, afterall luck is an important factor in real life football too.

Talking about real life teamtalks, in real life when a manager takes certain approach on team talks at half time, I guess he bases his talks on first half general performance and individual performance (reflected via match rating in game), how motivated players are looking (reflected via morale and complacency/nervous level in game) and whether from his past experience certain player react better to certain sort of talks (reflected via my recommendations for trial and error). But even having analysed all of the above he cannot be 100% certain that his talks would work for the 2nd half can he? A hairdryer treatment from Fergie works a lot of the times, Wenger recently turned a match around via the real life equivalent of "where is the passion" or "angry", but on the other hand sometimes your players just do not react to your talks and/or react badly or maybe you have mis-judged the situation. Hence luck is also required in real life football in that respect.

The above real life situations are also examples that teamtalks do have a massive impact on real life football results too, except the details of real life teamtalks are rarely revealed unless they go to the extremes. Hence I think teamtalks having some great impact on match results in FM2010 is not necessarily "unrealistic".

Of course teamtalks in the game can always be improved, to give game players more certainty and to make more real life sense, but I am not too worried about these and my guide aims to help people improve game results only

Should sticky this ASAP.

With all due respect to the author of the other teamtalk thread, that theory never really made sense to me and I believe he got it terribly wrong. Still, he put a lot of effort in it and is still promptly answering questions about it so he deserves a nice pat on the back along with a "Good effort" teamtalk. This, however, feels spot on because I've been using teamtalks in a similar manner with great success and it's nice to finally be able to fill in the blanks for every possible scenario, I'm giving it 2 thumbs up and I'm absolutely "Delighted".

I agree Kaitech. WoLfsong, thanks for your reply.

In fact I had time to try your methods with one game last night. It just so happened to be the game where my little Tier 10 team had been drawn away in the FA Cup to West Ham. I did everything you said and at half time was 0-4 down. I gave 'just the right' half time talk and we went on to lose 0-5 with most players worse in the second half.

My verdict: I'm very relieved to see that it is NOT an unrealistic magic panacea that results in undeserved victories. Now I just have the league to concentrate on, so I'll see how well I get on with it there.

The only problem I have now is to decide which teamtalks I will use - Babbabaytuna or Wolfsong. Both have made good points in relation to defending their owen arguments, and both theories looks rational. Luxury problem again.

The only problem I have now is to decide which teamtalks I will use - Babbabaytuna or Wolfsong. Both have made good points in relation to defending their owen arguments, and both teory looks rational. Luxury problem again.

Trial and error my friend

Fabulous. Turned around a 1-1 draw at half-time home against Man United to a great 2-1 win with my Sunderland team. Used "I have faith" with Darren Bent, my scorer in the first half, and he gave me another goal. Brilliant!

I'm really upset as I really wanted to use this set of team talks, but no matter how many times I test it it seems my team performs better if I say nothing, which is really stupid. I can imagine myself in the dressing room in silence and all my players thinking: «wow! His silence really motivates me!!!» This is one side of the game that is getting on my nerves!

thx for the guide once again. although this is the 1st time i reply in your thread, but i usually look up to your teamtalk guide. nice job.

actually my teamtalk somehow is abt the same as yours, but i really do refer to your teamtalk time to time and tweak abit.. works like wonder.. ^^

I'm really upset as I really wanted to use this set of team talks, but no matter how many times I test it it seems my team performs better if I say nothing, which is really stupid. I can imagine myself in the dressing room in silence and all my players thinking: «wow! His silence really motivates me!!!» This is one side of the game that is getting on my nerves!

"none" isn't really say nothing. It means say nothing important - i.e. don't knock them out of the mindset they were in when they came off at half time. Just bland 'keep it going lads' type comments.

Some of the phrases are worded really badly - 'didn't seem to be listening' etc.

Thumbs up,excellent thread!I suppose that it would be even better to combine your teamtalks with a personality guide ;-)

Anyway..Well done(let's hope you get happy and look delighted..I will then use the pick up where you left off! hehehe)

Does this work in lower league aswell? I mean a team like Chelsea got players with professional personalities which doesn't exist in Blue Square Conference South/North.

Player personalities exist at all levels of the game, BSS and BSN are no different.

Player personalities exist at all levels of the game, BSS and BSN are no different.

Yes, I know that. But since you should choose teamtalk depending on personality on your squad, I wonder if this kind of teamtalk works in lower league.

It works exactly the same in lower leagues. I'm in the 10th tier and use it.

Been using it with the other teamtalk thread, kind of mixing them. Been winning EVERYTHING possible with Man City. Yes Man City but I didn't buy anyone more than 10M!

Besides, I don't get the bit, if my striker scores 1 or 2 goals in the 1st half, what would you say to him in H/T?

I'd say "you have faith" so he can score again ;-)

I'm having although troubles with prematch team talks..I don't know what to say as nothing motivates my players so much (nothing noted) and most matches go to 0-0 half-time..and also I have a forward wo has played quite 10 matches and hasn't scored anythiing whether the opposition are Bayern M. or a 3rd tier team..:-(

Gee now I'm playing against S. Donetsk losing 1-0 at home and told him pre match "have faith"..he just lost a one-on-one..

I'd say "you have faith" so he can score again ;-)

I'm having although troubles with prematch team talks..I don't know what to say as nothing motivates my players so much (nothing noted) and most matches go to 0-0 half-time..and also I have a forward wo has played quite 10 matches and hasn't scored anythiing whether the opposition are Bayern M. or a 3rd tier team..:-(

Gee now I'm playing against S. Donetsk losing 1-0 at home and told him pre match "have faith"..he just lost a one-on-one..

Like it's stated in the OP, and in the excel sheet I made, try using 'You have faith' or 'Expect a perfomance' on your players. Ie, try one of them on your defenders for 3-4 games, and see if there's any response. Make a note on those who respond well to them, and use it on those. Some respond very well to 'you have faith', while others prefer the 'Expect a performance'

In my team, the strikers seem to always prefer 'you have faith', while the experienced midfielders respond to more demanding comments like 'expect better', 'expect a performance' etc.

For close games I go with general 'For the fans', with 'you have faith/expect a performance' on those who I have had positive tries with before.

When odds are with me, I use 'Expect a win', regardless of whether I'm not favourites in my own mind, and mix in with 'you have faith/expect a performance' on the tested subjects.

As WoIfsong's teamtalks helped me in FM2008, so they help me in FM2010. Fantastic! Using this guide, the reaction of my players became more undestandable and predictable.

The greatest discover for me from this guide is the meaning of "You can win the game!" instruction. I should never use it in complacent situations! I used it before, so my results were very poor and my team seemed controlless.