Man Management & Team Talks

[crouchaldinho]

This is easily the weakest part of my game and I'm posting to ask for some advice.

I'll start with the press conferences. I absolutely hate them and, although I normally like to control absolutely everything in FM, I have actually asked my assistant to do these from now on. I find them boring and time consuming. I also think they are very superficial and I don't really feel in control of the reactions. I usually found that selecting the safest option worked best. However, I just can't seem to get any enjoyment out of the press conferences at all.

So my first question is, has anyone else managed to enjoy press conferences or get something useful out of them? How many of you get your assistant to do them and do you find that he normally says the 'right' things (i.e. gives sensible answers)?

The main thing I am struggling with is team talks in 09. I can't seem to find a logical pattern. I know it is all about different contexts etc., but I can't seem to apply my own 'logical' ideas to the talks as I did successfully in 08. Tactically, I'm doing great and I feel I have a good understanding of how to read and prepare for the game etc., but I believe that the team talks are letting me down sometimes because I'm failing to motivate the players.

I also believe that the assistant feedback on team talks isn't always detailed enough. I always check assistant feedback, especially when I have seen signs during the game that I have failed to get my team to react well to a talk, and sometimes the assistant doesn't report a negative response (even though there was definitely one on the pitch). Does anyone else find this or is it my imagination or perhaps down to other motivational factors? :confused:

I normally manage a poor team talk situation pretty well by recognising it early on and subbing unmotivated players quickly. This normally saves me a point or sometimes wins me the game. However, I find it very frustrating when it happens as I am basically following the guides for 08 and using common sense.

I often ask my assistant for advice but he always picks the same things (in one save, 'for the fans' and in another save, 'you can win this').

Does anyone else find this? Is it just down to a poor assistant or is it the same for every one?

A lot of people are talking about finding the tactics difficult on FM09 but I actually think that the team talks might be the factor that is causing them problems in the game because I am finding them sensitive and often very tricky.

Has anyone got any advice to help me as I am somewhat baffled about this side of the game in FM09?

C.

[jaycar]

I'm with you, I'm still not sure of the best talks for the right situations, especially when winning 2-0 at half time :/ I've started saying nothing for the team, but 'pleased' to a few top performers, disappointed to others if they need it. After some time, the players seem to stop listening, I'm not sure what that is all about.

[lam]

There are a few threads about this already that have quite alot of in depth explanations.

One thing I'll say here is that you can get quite a bit of success by individualy talking to your players during half time. I dont mean all of them but some key ones that have performed.

Example:

You team have done okay. you have 6.5 -7.0 ratings on most players, however there are two players that are at 7.5 and one more at 5.8 for whatever reason. The whole team get 'say nothing', the two good performers get pleased and the lower performer gets a bit of a lashing.

The same works for end of games too. If you won but the performance wasnt really there, then just praise the ones that deserve it and leave the rest.

LAM

[ham_aka_stam]

I think due to the dilution effect of using the same team talk often, the assistant often defaults to one, mine's "for the fans" as utd. Then when a bit of motivation is needed he changes to expect a win. The same happens at half time, he often says nothing or gives the default, saving the big-guns for when they're needed.

I sometimes intervene and add, pleased to 7.5+ away, and 8.0+ at home, disappointed to anyone -6.5 regardless of location, and the extremes for the extremes. But i'm careful of doing it too often

[AcidBurn]

The most useful I find is saying you have faith to any player with a 7.3 or more this seems to boost their 2nd half performance and I find with my players after I have said this their performance never drops and often raises to somewhere above 7.5.

[Thengil]

I have resorted to using "None" as teamtalk before match, adding "Expect a performance" or "No Pressure" to players that my assman are indicating either suffer from over-confidence or look nervous.

"None" mysteriously means that while I may not get any real boost to performances, I won't get a negative reaction either and that's the most important bit.

At half-time I go "None" if we are having a normal game. I add "Pleased" for players above 7.1+ rating, "Disappointed" for 6.4- ratings.

If we are overperforming (i.e. leading a match the pre-match odds say we should lose) I tend to use "Pleased" as general team talk, although if my players' ratings are lowish even though we are winning I stick to "None" or "Don't get careless".

Magically enough, saying nothing seems to be a lot more effective

[crouchaldinho]

... The whole team get 'say nothing', the two good performers get pleased and the lower performer gets a bit of a lashing.

I've seen people recommending giving 'nothing' as a successful team talk but I'm not sure I get the logic behind that. Surely the majority of real life managers give a general pre-match and half-time team talk?

I do give individual talks and, in certain situations, I really know how to motivate certain players especially determined ones. That's why I think it frustrates me because sometimes I just know I'm going to get it 'right' and other times I feel clueless. It feels a bit like it's too rigid, i.e. either right or wrong, and I'm either going to get some benefit or a huge loss in performance. Anyone else think that?

I think due to the dilution effect of using the same team talk often, the assistant often defaults to one, mine's "for the fans" as utd [...] But i'm careful of doing it too often

This is another thing I've seen in other threads, i.e. suggesting that repetition can have negative consequences and fail to get your team motivated.

But surely once you are in a certain situation for the majority of games (i.e. if you are always underdog or always firm favourite) there seems to be limited scope for variations. There are only five standard options pre-match, for instance, so what are you supposed to do if all your match situations seem to call for the same talk? :confused:

I have resorted to using "None" as teamtalk before match, adding "Expect a performance" or "No Pressure" to players that my assman are indicating either suffer from over-confidence or look nervous.

I tried giving 'none' recently before a match with disastrous results.

I was getting totally outplayed, the players were poorly motivated and making stupid mistakes.

I can't get the 'none' team talk to work for me. Should it work anyway? If you were a player in real life and your manager didn't speak to you before the game, wouldn't you be confused, angry, demotivated? It doesn't seem logical to me to say nothing to my team before a match. Why bother having team talks in the first place?

"None" mysteriously means that while I may not get any real boost to performances, I won't get a negative reaction either and that's the most important bit.

See, I think that's crazy, but it seems that this is what FM09 has driven you to think. 'I better not click anything because I don't want to get the "wrong" option.' That's what I find frustrating at the moment.

Magically enough, saying nothing seems to be a lot more effective

That's disappointing if true and probably where I am going wrong with team talks.

I hope I don't sound too negative but I'm finding it all a bit frustrating.

C.

[ham_aka_stam]

I've seen people recommending giving 'nothing' as a successful team talk but I'm not sure I get the logic behind that. Surely the majority of real life managers give a general pre-match and half-time team talk?

I do give individual talks and, in certain situations, I really know how to motivate certain players especially determined ones. That's why I think it frustrates me because sometimes I just know I'm going to get it 'right' and other times I feel clueless. It feels a bit like it's too rigid, i.e. either right or wrong, and I'm either going to get some benefit or a huge loss in performance. Anyone else think that?

This is another thing I've seen in other threads, i.e. suggesting that repetition can have negative consequences and fail to get your team motivated.

But surely once you are in a certain situation for the majority of games (i.e. if you are always underdog or always firm favourite) there seems to be limited scope for variations. There are only five standard options pre-match, for instance, so what are you supposed to do if all your match situations seem to call for the same talk? :confused:

I tried giving 'none' recently before a match with disastrous results.

I was getting totally outplayed, the players were poorly motivated and making stupid mistakes.

I can't get the 'none' team talk to work for me. Should it work anyway? If you were a player in real life and your manager didn't speak to you before the game, wouldn't you be confused, angry, demotivated? It doesn't seem logical to me to say nothing to my team before a match. Why bother having team talks in the first place?

See, I think that's crazy, but it seems that this is what FM09 has driven you to think. 'I better not click anything because I don't want to get the "wrong" option.' That's what I find frustrating at the moment.

That's disappointing if true and probably where I am going wrong with team talks.

I hope I don't sound too negative but I'm finding it all a bit frustrating.

C.

I think the team talks section is THE most limited area of the game, at least with training you have lots of meaningless options, with teamtalks you have very few options, but each with huge reactions.

So i can completely agree with your frustration, and this HAS to be an area targetted for development for the next version.

[crouchaldinho]

Maybe my assistant actually has the right idea by always suggesting 'for the fans'! It seems to be one of the only talks that doesn't create a positive or negative reaction.

[heathxxx]

I feel your frustration crouchaldinho, but mostly when my team is doing well at half-time. I find it easier when my team is doing poorly, because it's narrowed down to three possible options:

Angry

Disappointed

Encourage

Any three of these with a few tactical tweaks here and there usually have the desired effect for me. So much so that in the second half against some far superior teams, my team has done exceptionally well.

The problem for me is if my team is doing well. Logic would suggest that you're not exactly going to criticise their performanc, which leaves one of the following three possibilities:

Pleased

Thrilled

Don't let your performance drop!

Now of those three, "Pleased" seems to be so-so, and neither here not there. "Thrilled" in my opinion is basically a license to say "OK lads, great first half, take the rest of the match with ease" and invariably opponents get back into the game more. "Don't let your performance drop!" would seem the most common sense way of saying "keep it up lads" thats available, but mosre often than not, upsets players I find. Obviously the only other sensible option logically would seem to be "none", but again it's actually suggested by the in game hints that this should be reserved for performances you're really unhappy with.

Definately a great deal of room for improvement in this area of the game, because the weighting of selections you make is certainly not realistic or balanced in my opinion.

[jaycar]

I've given 'Don't let your performance drop' and the players have become 'confused'. Seems clear enough to me lads *Rolleyes*

The manual needs to be A LOT better where team talks are concerned, with actual explanations of the effects each one will make. Otherwise we are urinating into a very strong wind.

EDIT: 800 posts in 6 years, a spammer I am not

[heathxxx]

I've given 'Don't let your performance drop' and the players have become 'confused'. Seems clear enough to me lads *Rolleyes*

The manual needs to be A LOT better where team talks are concerned, with actual explanations of the effects each one will make. Otherwise we are urinating into a very strong wind.

Aye, it's quite inconsistent at the moment.

EDIT: 800 posts in 6 years, a spammer I am not

You've been busy fairly recently though

[crouchaldinho]

Away from home is where I have been really noticing team talk issues. At least I thought they were team talk issues but now I'm wondering if they are anything to do with the fact that FM09 is 'over-tweaked' in favour of home games?

[Leftwinger]

I find it way to time consuming to keep track on what individual team talk works for which player in a given situation, and I do agree with the OP. Press conferences are an annoyance and team talks need to be looked over in the near future.

The options I use the most is the bland "you can win this", "wish luck" et.c. The "for the fans"-option is used when I am facing a rival or playing an important match, like in the cups. "Encourage" is used when it shows up as an option - there has to be a reason for why it shows some times, right? I rarely use the "don't get careless" or "don't let your performance drop". The performance drop-comment has never worked out well for me. It gets me angry or confused players.

"Disappointed" do help increase some players 2nd half performance. I never use "Angry". "Pleased" is used when I think a player has performed very good and I can't see the team fumbling the game away even if this player would do a worse second half.

"I expect better" and "I expect a performance" works for some players, determined or professional ones if I'm not mistaken. "No pressure" worked well with a light-hearted player.

[crouchaldinho]

I actually experimented with just using the assistant manager suggested comments for a while.

They often made no sense ('for the fans' for nearly every pre-match talk and some half-time talks too!) but they actually worked. When I say worked, I found that my team performed much more consistently and I didn't notice any motivation problems. However, I also didn't notice many positive reactions either.

The assistant nearly always picked 'for the fans' for his pre-match talk, apart from once where he picked 'you can win' when I was playing a top side and the odds were close.

At half-time, he regularly employed 'encourage' if I was 1 goal up. Other times he gave no talk at all, which happened quite often at home. He only gave 'pleased' when I was 3 goals up at half-time. 'Disappointed' or 'I want more from you' featured fairly regularly if drawing at half-time at home.

At full-time, he often left the talk blank, 'nothing'. The most the players ever got was 'well done'. A lot of the time, he gave 'disappointed', even when winning games but the performance wasn't brilliant.

Interesting. Perhaps less is more for team talks?

Certainly, 'for the fans' looks like a neutral team talk that won't upset anyone but also won't buck them up either.

No team talk seems to be a valid option for half-time when at home.

'Pleased' only to be used when 3 goals to the good at half-time (makes perfect sense).

'Encourage' always a good option if it appears.

Otherwise, the harsher the better at home and slightly more supportive away.

C.

[kkayacan]

I actually experimented with just using the assistant manager suggested comments for a while.

They often made no sense ('for the fans' for nearly every pre-match talk and some half-time talks too!) but they actually worked. When I say worked, I found that my team performed much more consistently and I didn't notice any motivation problems. However, I also didn't notice many positive reactions either.

The assistant nearly always picked 'for the fans' for his pre-match talk, apart from once where he picked 'you can win' when I was playing a top side and the odds were close.

At half-time, he regularly employed 'encourage' if I was 1 goal up. Other times he gave no talk at all, which happened quite often at home. He only gave 'pleased' when I was 3 goals up at half-time. 'Disappointed' or 'I want more from you' featured fairly regularly if drawing at half-time at home.

At full-time, he often left the talk blank, 'nothing'. The most the players ever got was 'well done'. A lot of the time, he gave 'disappointed', even when winning games but the performance wasn't brilliant.

Interesting. Perhaps less is more for team talks?

Certainly, 'for the fans' looks like a neutral team talk that won't upset anyone but also won't buck them up either.

No team talk seems to be a valid option for half-time when at home.

'Pleased' only to be used when 3 goals to the good at half-time (makes perfect sense).

'Encourage' always a good option if it appears.

Otherwise, the harsher the better at home and slightly more supportive away.

C.

What are your assistant manager's attributes like?

[crouchaldinho]

I can't remember now. I think they are pretty decent. Around 15 man management and motivation, at a guess.

[Magnakai Haaskivi]

While I hate giving press conferences, I always get good results out of them. The trick is that you can't be too definitively positive; I also almost never go negative. If you're unsure of something, go "no comment".

For example: if they ask about your style of play, the only answers I give are "We'll attack with some considered style" or "I'd rather not talk about tactics." That's it. I never do the all-out attack answer and never do the defensive answer; if I'm planning on attack I do the first one, if I'm planning on defending I do the second one. And I always say that "We have a chance as long as nothing unusual occurs" if given the chance; the team loves that.

I do slip up sometimes when it asks me to player name; usually I nail that, too, though (just name the player who's been playing the best in that particular position lately).

Team talks are a whole different ballgame. I suspect that, if someone were so inclined, they could probably make a list of all the personality types, all the different game situations (heavily favored to heavy underdog, win/lose/draw at half, win/lose/draw at game's end), and maybe correlate that with manager reputation somewhat and have a pretty basic guide for how to give team talks; it's just way too much work to do.

[SFraser]

So my first question is, has anyone else managed to enjoy press conferences or get something useful out of them? How many of you get your assistant to do them and do you find that he normally says the 'right' things (i.e. gives sensible answers)?

The main thing I am struggling with is team talks in 09. I can't seem to find a logical pattern. I know it is all about different contexts etc., but I can't seem to apply my own 'logical' ideas to the talks as I did successfully in 08. Tactically, I'm doing great and I feel I have a good understanding of how to read and prepare for the game etc., but I believe that the team talks are letting me down sometimes because I'm failing to motivate the players.

I normally manage a poor team talk situation pretty well by recognising it early on and subbing unmotivated players quickly. This normally saves me a point or sometimes wins me the game. However, I find it very frustrating when it happens as I am basically following the guides for 08 and using common sense.

A lot of people are talking about finding the tactics difficult on FM09 but I actually think that the team talks might be the factor that is causing them problems in the game because I am finding them sensitive and often very tricky.

Has anyone got any advice to help me as I am somewhat baffled about this side of the game in FM09?

C.

I am not sure if the lack of specifics would help you but you might want to read this thread on man management. Read it the entire way through though.

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=116518

[freddo21]

What does the full-time team talk 'did what was needed' signify? I think it reflects the situation (a tight 1-0 win) quite well, but is this a mistake?