complacent against lesser teams

[rick111]

I've been advised my team are complacent against lesser teams.

Do I need to start playing lower calibre players so they're up for the challenge, or do you know how to motivate the bigger players for the smaller games?

[Porthos]

I have the same issue. It's probably due to giving team talks against weaker teams of "I expect a win" or media comments about easily beating them. If the manager thinks its easy, the team will too.

[rick111]

FYI. I never say "I expect a win" so it's not that.

Maybe the media, Sammy Lee manages the media for me and yes he usually does say that about weaker teams. hummmm

Thanks

[Zebedee77]

FYI. I never say "I expect a win" so it's not that.

Maybe the media, Sammy Lee manages the media for me and yes he usually does say that about weaker teams. hummmm

Thanks

'I expect a win' as a teamtalk is actually a good way to kill complacency - as can the individual player 'I expect a performance'. Try to save your praise for performances that do deserve it to try and nip complacency in the bud. eg there's nothing wrong in giving players a 'disappointed' teamtalk if they've just scraped a win against a team that you should have hammered and their performances haven't been up to standard - you just need to judge when you should have hammered the opposition well enough to pull it off

I'm guessing you're managing Liverpool (or another high reputation type club), so you need to judge when it's not appropriate to put the pressure on the players more often than judging when it is appropriate.

[rick111]

Thank you Zebedee77

[vasilli07]

Use the press conference as a tool to tell your players not to be complacent.

When asked about your team played very well in the last game, reply 'if complacency becomes an issue...' or 'it just takes one moment of poor focus...'

It works very well...better than using the teamtalk that may give the players more pressure.

[rick111]

Thanks Vasilli07

[Infinite Jest]

eg there's nothing wrong in giving players a 'disappointed' teamtalk if they've just scraped a win against a team that you should have hammered and their performances haven't been up to standard - you just need to judge when you should have hammered the opposition well enough to pull it off

And remember not to criticise any players who did play well (e.g. my Man Utd team beat 20th placed Birmingham 1-0 at home; I told them I was disappointed, which upset John O'Shea who had a rating of 8.0, and had scored the only goal. I might have been better to praise him but criticise the others).