Teamtalks - if you are clueless ...

[lfc and ccfc]

this was no help at all i did everything you said i went in at half time winning 1 0 came out looking as bored as ossible nevver seen such a ***** performance in this game ended up conceding. All their motivation was fine but they couldnt kick ball WOWW

[Joor]

I was going to put this in a thread of it's own, but this one is excellent and covers all the relevant bases so I thought I would put it up here.

These are the results of my last three half-time teamtalks, in each match I had atleast 3 goals before half-time.

My method of operating here was simple.

If a player had a rating above 8.0 it was "Pleased"

If a player had a rating between 7.5 and 8.0 it was "Don't let your Performance Drop"

Between 7.0 and 7.5 it was "You have Faith"

Between 6.5 and 7.0 it was "Disappointing"

The important thing to understand is the match context. In each match I had a healthy half-time lead. If that context was different I would have needed a different approach.

Several things stand out here.

1: My players respond to this kind of overall approach in this context. They respond to a fair judgement of their performances in the context of the match and the current result. Ratings of 6.9 when I am winning 3-0 at half-time is a disappointing performance, so I tell my players this and they respond to it.

2: My players do not respond exactly the same. There are a couple of examples of similar responses to similar teamtalks but overall you can see that different players are going to respond in slightly different ways to the same circumstances, even if they respond in the same general fashion. This is down to their individual personalities. Slight differences in personality produce slight differences in response.

3: Individual players do not always respond exactly the same to the same teamtalk over three matches. While I followed my "basic plan" I did get different responses from players that fell into that "plan". Carrick for example must have come in at half time with ratings between 7.5 and 8.0 and so received the same teamtalk three times, but he only responded the same way twice. The third time he did not respond. What this means is that players themselves have their own "views" on what sort of ratings deserve what sort of response, so Carrick isn't thinking "7.5 to 8.0 means Don't Let Your Performance Drop" he is thinking maybe 7.3 to 7.8 is a "good performance" or even 7.8 to 8.3. In other words his "personal bar" is set at a different level to mine, but not by much.

So while I have the right idea for how to deal with my players at half-time in these match contexts, while I have figured out the rough "bar height" to work with and the right responses to give to my squad in these match contexts, to get it absolutely spot on I now need to understand each individual players "personal bar level" in detail.

Just like one player might think that 7.5 for his last 5 games is "playing well" while another might think he "needs to improve" and a third might think he is "on top form" so the same applies to teamtalks. I know how to give great half-time teamtalks based on how I think players have played but now I need to take it even further and figure out how each player thinks he has played himself.

Seams like you found a very good way to communicate with the players at halftime. But what about pre match ? - I use expect performance/expect a win if morale is very good and for the fans if morale is ok. Those with poor morale get a no pressure .

[Shake Appeal]

Well, I just read the whole thread, and while it was very interesting, I was struck by how often someone would decide on a single approach that 'works' consistently, as if they had 'solved' the problem of team talks. My experience has always been in line with SFraser's, that you should look at a combination of things: how well they are playing, how motivated they are, what their morale is, and importantly their individual personality (almost no one seems to take this into account, when it's clear some players respond better to praise than criticism, and vice versa). Who you are talking to is just as important as what you are saying, and why. I also remember reading somewhere, probably from an in-game tip, that you should vary your team talks just so they don't become rote and boring for players. Not every game requires you to be Henry V at Agincourt, and if you adopt that approach over and over you'll dull its effect in the times you do need it. Similarly, if you rage every time you're in a hole, your players simply aren't going to be shocked into a response after a while. There are no dud options in the list of team talks, just ones you will use less frequently. But they all have their place.

Also undersold is your particular relationship with a given player. If he respects you, he is more likely to listen to you, and the converse is true as well. If you have developed a bond over a long period of time and assessed how he responded to different team talks in different contexts (with the help of your assistant manager, of course) over years of games together, you are going to have a far better idea of what to say to him when it counts. And you probably won't find it by consulting a spreadsheet of 'proven' responses, or by clicking 'wish luck' every time. The whole point of FM is that it hides many of the crunching numbers and has you infer and guess at them from a combination of experience and careful attention.

Ultimately you are in the business of managing expectations: your own, the fans', the media's, and your individual players'. And those expectations are going to be subtly different for each game you play.

[SFraser]

The above post nails it for me. Teamtalks are not so much a feature to be "cracked" but instead is the way you involve yourself in an ongoing relationship with your players that is to be discovered, developed, exploited and ultimately enjoyed.

Within the small quantity of teamtalk options and teamtalk reactions is an ongoing game-by-game and season-by-season relationship with your players. What works at the start of the season and the middle of the season with players might not work during a title or relegation run-in and so your approach with these players has to change as their response to your teamtalks change, as their form and performances change, and within this is the "personal story" of your players season.

FM is a simple but deep game. The quantity of the options misleads people into thinking that teamtalks and player interaction is not deep, yet I would argue that it is perhaps the deepest and the most definitive aspect of the game. It's up to you to decide when a "pressure" approach to general interaction becomes a "supportive" approach to general interaction, usually when the season gets to the business end. It's also up to you to understand whether a "pressure" then "support" approach is how to handle a player, it's up to you to understand if the player is thriving under the pressure and needs it cranked up.

A lot of good teamtalk guides have been written, documenting that X teamtalk equals Y response under Z conditions. But nothing has been written as a guide to explain the actual gameplay, that this is an ongoing story written by how your season pans out, by how your players respond to what is going on in their careers. Nothing has been written about the fact that players understand their football environment even if the manager doesn't, even if the manager thinks that teamtalks are all about X+Y=Z.

X+Y=Z is true, but only when you understand that it takes place within the "story" of each individual players season. Understand what they are experiencing and then you understand how to apply the X+Y=Z formulae.

[sparkysrovers]

Is anyone using the OP's advice on teamtalks in FM11 with success?

[sparks1754]

I've always used an individual approach. Its a little more painstaking but its does seem to work. I make a list of my players and note thier response after half time team talk . I look at player personality, his performance and morale so far. Some respond better to negative comments and some to positive. Obviously that depends on what options are available to you.I note whether they show a change in morale within 10 minutes or so of the second half and then confirm it after the match in ass managers feedback.

As we know there are inevitably going to be patches its not so much of a chore as the effects always seem consistent. In other words after a patch I always start a new game using the information I've allready learnt and gain the motivation benefits more or less from game 1.

A small caveat, the longer you are in charge the more effective your teamtalks seem to become. Certainly by season 2 the results of my team talks using the same info tend to be more or less spot on.

Not a system for everyones taste I'm sure but works for me

[kf2009]

Humm... So, I was under 2-0 after 33 mins, but managed 2-2 at half time (due to an own goal and a lucky strike) - playing away against a mid-table PL-team, i was at 8th, they were at 14th before this match.

My Complete Forward was playing with confidence, rest was playing okay. So I applied your "tactics" - with everyone exept my CF i assigned "you have faith".

See the result below - probably a coincidence but... Might be something to it...

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[Tactic Master]

Cheers for this Bubba, I've always used team talks in a similar way, but always gone by ratings and never gone into detail with it. But after just 1 game i'm pritty much convinced that your way is the correct way! Here's what changed for me.

Halftime

David De Gea: playing ok - 6.8 - Have Faith

Cedric Mongongu: Confident - 7.0 - None

Mats Hummels: playing ok - 6.9 - Have Faith

Raphael Varane: playing ok - 6.9 - Have Faith

Serge Aurier: complacent - 6.9 - (Team) Dont Drop Performance

Phil Jones: Confident - 7.1 - None

Toni Kroos: Complacent - 6.9 - (Team) Dont Drop Performance

Mario Gotze: Confident - 7.5 - None

Christian Eriksen - Confident - 7.2 - None

Neymar - Complacent - 6.8 - (Team) Dont Drop Performance

Pato - Confident - 7.3 - None

2 - 0 at half time with Mario Gotze (1) and Pato (1) Scoring.

Full Time Results after using team talk...

David De Gea - 7.1 - Had GG

Cedric Mongongu - 8.8 - Had Excellent Game

Mats Hummels - 8.7 - Had Excellent Game

Raphael Varane - 8.8 - Had Excellent Game

Serge Aurier - 8.5 - Had Excellent Game

Phil Jones - 9.2 - Had Storming Game

Toni Kroos - 9.3 - Had Storming Game

Mario Gotze - 9.2 - Had Storming Game

Christian Eriksen - 9.4 - Had Storming Game

Neymar - 8.6 - Deserved Goal

Pato - 9.8 - Had Storming Game

Ended 7 - 0 with goals from Mario Gotze (1), Pato (4), Christian Ericksen (1) and Toni Kroos (1)

Toni Kroos was the pick of the complacents, by bumping his way to a 9.3 and scoring a goal! The other 2 also ended on a high and Naymar was unlucky not to score. This goes to prove that using these team talks from Bubba, it actual works to pay close attention to detail!

[Bubbabaytuna]

Hey Mike, that's a fantastic result. I'm really happy this thread is still proving to be useful.

[saab600]

Hey Bubba

I'm currently playing Fm11 and was wondering what you do in respect of the 'is at the risk of losing control' and 'deserved his yellow card comments?'

Cheers

Saab

[saab693]

Anyone? Really don't know how to deal with this one!

[vurogj]

I'll take a swing at it, no guarantee of success though.

I sometimes see a player go from "fired up" to "lacking discipline" if I do a team "Disappointing" talk, so it might be worth trying something to dial the player down a bit. Possibilties here are "no pressure", or "pleased" or "fantastic", all of which can act as a safety valve to relax or calm the player a little. There is the danger that a "pleased" or "fantastic" will only spur the player on even more and he goes berserk, but knowing his personality will help you here.

Hope this helps.

[saab693]

Thanks mate. I've been testing out the 'no pressire' tactic and it seems to be working nicely without affecting my disciplinary record too much

[Silky]

Substitute him!