Teamtalks - if you are clueless ...

[Bubbabaytuna]

... as I used to be.

Hi everyone in T&TT

I would just like to share my experience with teamtalks, illustrated with screenshots of my last match. I used to struggle with teamtalks, in fact i didn't know what to use when and how it worked.

Then I read a post here (I think) which explained motivation during a game and team talks. I cannot remember who wrote it, but that person, whoever he or she is, has my gratitude because as I will show you, I think I finally understand and with this thread I'm hoping I can help whoever is struggling with this as well. I am however not an expert at all, actually my way of thinking here may be completely flawed but it does work for me, at least so far. If that's the case though, I would greatly appreciate if people pointed me to those flaws and the solutions to them.

I always, always choose "Wish luck" at the start of a competitive game. I don't think you can go wrong with it. Maybe in a derby I could choose "for the fans" but I usually don't, "Wish luck" just works for me.

Okay so then we skip to half-time. I'm 2 - 0 ahead and comfortably in the lead. I decide what teamtalk to give to whom judging by their motivation. I never look at player ratings to decide which teamtalk to give. I will get back to this later. So, the first thing I do at halftime, is I go to "Splitview" and pick <myteam>motivation. In this case, I am managing San Marino.

As you can see, this is a good game for me. A lot of players playing with confidence, others having a decent game, but my star striker Anderson is "Looking complacent". This is probably due to me being a stronger team than the opposition. Even so, complacency has no place in my team and so I will try to do something about this.

What complacency means is that the player isn't motivated enough. So you will need to try and motivate him to put in more effort. On the individual teamtalk I could tell him I'm disappointed with his performance, but to me that doesn't really sit well as he's not really doing bad seeing as he has a 6.8 rating. So here's what I did:

I went to the general teamtalk screen and I picked the choice you can see. And this is what I did next:

I realize that this takes a bit of clicking, but it's not that much work and when you see my next screenshot you'll see why I think it's worth it. So what I did in this screen, is I gave everyone who was “playing okay” in the motivation splitscreen the individual teamtalk “you have faith”. I'm not displeased with how they are performing but I would like to see them play better and I have faith they can do it. Everyone who had “playing with confidence” I don't say anything to. In my view, this means that I am pleased with the way they are performing but I always expect them to give their best. The reward is at the end of the game, not after half a good game. So anyone who is “having a good game” or better in the motivation splitscreen, I won't give a teamtalk to.

Anderson however gets the “Don't let your peformance drop” teamtalk as in my opinion (I could be wrong of course) it means as much as “warn against complancy”. I'm hoping he will get the hint and this will make him think “woops I better step this up a notch”. I also substituted my right back due to him having too low fitness.

The result is as follows:

So what do we see from this screen. Well by the 60th minute I've scored twice again, neither of which by Anderson. However, on the motivation widget you can see how everyone now plays with confidence. Even Anderson. And it remained that way:

[Bubbabaytuna]

Notice how I didn't gave N'Suki a teamtalk at halftime despite playing great, and how he even improved on that in the second half to finish with a “storming game”. And what about Pérez, who was “playing okay” at half time but finished playing “an excellent game”, just by telling him to “have faith”. But to me, it's great to see that Anderson started playing with confidence after playing complacent the entire first half. He was actually unlucky not to score in the second half.

Again, I don't pay a lot of attention to the player ratings. Having N'Suki finish with an 8.7 rating is all fine and dandy but what matters to me is he scored 2 and gave an assist. He could have a rating of 1 for all I care. Player ratings like you find in newspapers don't mean anything to me in real life so why would they in the game. And this is what I wanted to come back to.

Earlier this season I had a game where my defender Collin, who usually does a very solid job, made a mistake in the first half which cost us a goal. At halftime, he had a rating of 4.3 and his motivation said “made a mistake”. From what I gathered from reading guides online, I usually would substitute anyone who made a mistake as that seemed to be the only thing you could do. However this tim e i went to the Stats page of the match and checked out his stats. Turns out, his stats were fine. He completed almost all his passes, won every header, his tackling was fine. It's just that he made a mistake which can happen to anyone. So what I did is, I gave him the halftime individual teamtalk “have faith” and he finished the game with 6.7 rating. It's an okay rating that, but coming from 4.3 at half time, that means he was an absolute rock for the entire second half. My point is, don't always trust player ratings. Sometimes there's just bad luck coming into play and you gain more by giving your players faith.

A quick summary of how I use teamtalks:

Halftime => the goal is to improve performance

playing okay => have faith

complacent => warn against complacency/don't let your performance drop/disappointed in performance(not sure about this one, i prefer the other two options)

having a good game or better => nothing

feeling nervous => no pressure if it's a young player (the same if it's an older player, but i would try to sell this player then because it means he can't cope with big(ger) occasions.

Having a bad game => this one I always substitute. I don't know how to turn this one around

If for example a player stays complacent or nervous in the second half, for instance at 60 minutes, I think the only thing left to do is to make a substitution.

Fulltime => the goal is to maintain morale as high as possible

played okay/had a good game => pleased

had an excellent game/had a stormer => delighted (i generally give this to every player with a rating of 8.0 or above)

had a bad game or worse => disappointed

I will rarely use angry, I don't think I ever have. When a player had a terrible game or rating, I'll just use disappointed and if it happens consistently it's up to me to figure out why. Does he have issues, am I playing him wrong, or maybe he's just not good enough.

In summary the two things I feel are most important in regards to teamtalks are these:

Consulting player motivation is essential. During a match, check the splitscreen and select player motivation.

Accept bad luck/good luck. Luck plays a factor ... just like in real football.

I don't think ratings are completely useless, they do give an indication, but as with the Collin case I mentioned earlier, if I had gone by his rating I would have substituted him. Now I didn't and he picked himself up again and went on to dominate the defense in the 2nd half.

I thank you for reading this far and I hope some people got something out of it. I'm really grateful a place like T&TT exists. I've been reading this forum for a number of years and would like to thank everybody who's contributed to it. It's made my game so much more enjoyable and immersive.

* The win over Cremonese secured my promotion to the Serie A! Yay!

[Cleon]

A very good post, a nice contribution to the forum

[joshb729]

Best post I've ever seen on Teamtalks.

By far.

[Benoit2]

This is how I do it:

There's three levels of motivation. Light blue, aka the playing with confidence etc. This is what you want to have. Then the dark blue, meaning they're playing okay. Then the playing nervous/looking complacent/made an error.

Players that made a mistake/look complacent, I tell I'm dissapointed. When they're looking nervous, I tell them the pressure is off. This usually seems to work fine.

To decide on overall team talk at half time, I just look whether a majority of players are playing with confidence etc (the light blue color). If yes, I encourage (1 goal up) or say Im pleased (2+ goals up). When not a majority, I tell them not to drop their performance/become complacent (when leading), or dissapointed (when drawing or losing). I actually never use the angry talk, but then Im never 3-0 down or so where I would think of using it.

At full time, players with a 7+ rating will have "had a good match" or so. Those with 8+ however, usually have had a storming game/deserved a goal/motm etc. Those I tell Im delighted. That often gets a positive response in the assman feedback screen. It will also from time to time give a news message that the player is pleased he's got your backing.

[SFraser]

Nice post, especially the part about Complacency. I have only ever managed to make Complacent players Nervous or continue to be Complacent with my teamtalks.

[Edle]

ive just had a read through and that is an excellent post. it will definitely help me in the future.

[ObaMartins09]

Good post. How much do you feel player personalities affect the team talks? i.e. more determined personalities respond better to more expectant team talks.

[Bubbabaytuna]

Thanks for the great feedback guys. Glad you like it.

Benoit2 I agree with your method, except that in case of complacency or mistakes I will try to avoid using disappointed if possible. I always start a game with the idea that any player on the pitch will try his best. So especially when a player makes a mistake it may harm his self confidence. That's why I prefer to use "you have faith".

On complacency I'm not too sure. I suppose disappointed could do the trick. But in the case of Anderson, he was playing complacent, but he wasn't playing bad. I could be disappointed in his mentality but I wasn't really in his performance ... he can't score every game ... I prefer warn against complacency/don't let your performance drop, but there are many roads leading to Rome ey! Thanks for sharing!

(actually Anderson scored 42 in 41 games this far, but he didn't score in every game this regen is on fire, and he's not even that good attribute wise!)

[Cleon]

Btw made then thread a sticky as its worthy

[Bubbabaytuna]

Good post. How much do you feel player personalities affect the team talks? i.e. more determined personalities respond better to more expectant team talks.

Personalities cannot be underestimated really. In that way you could say teamtalk management start with signing the right player. I think determined/professional are great personalities which you can push a little further in team talks ie "expect a performance" but I generally keep my teamtalks the way I explained them in my post. If they consistently don't respond well then I guess that means they aren't right for my team and I need to replace him with a mentally stronger player.

That said in my club information page my squad personality is listed as determined and I do focus on that when signing players. Also having a high determination attribute and in scout/coach reports "Enjoys big matches"/"consistent player" are great to have. My favourite player personality though is "resolute". and one or two "leaders" is gold too.

Of course if you happen to have the chance at signing a wonderkid ... but even then I don't know, I'd rather have a less talented individual with great mentality than a worldbeater that keeps caving in under pressure. But while giving team talks I won't especially focus on "i can push this guy a little harder" or "i gotta go easier on this fellow". The motivation screen is enough indication to give the right teamtalks in most cases.

[itsallaboutthierry]

Hi BubbaBay,

Great post. I'd tried a similar method by only using motivation to guide team talks but hadn't got it cracked as well as you seem to have done so kudos

I just wondered what, if anything, you choose to say to oncoming substitutes where there's obviously no motivation state to base the team talk on?

KUTGW

[SFraser]

Good post. How much do you feel player personalities affect the team talks? i.e. more determined personalities respond better to more expectant team talks.

Personalities have a pretty huge impact on Teamtalks, atleast the Pre-Match teamtalks. Club reputation affect pre-match odds which produces a level of pressure for a match, and players then react to this level of pressure and to the level of pressure your teamtalk produces.

If you take the example in the first post, with a "Wish Luck" teamtalk for everyone, you notice how different players reacted differently to this teamtalk. A few were playing with Confidence, another few were Playing OK and one guy was Complacent. That's because the same teamtalk was used for each player and each player had a different set of Personality Attributes so they each had a different outlook on the game. This meant that each player did not respond exactly the same to the teamtalk.

The halftime teamtalk was obviously brilliant and got the ideal response from each player, but the Pre-Match teamtalk was not so brilliant. The half-time teamtalk was custom designed for each players level of motivation and so the Pre-Match teamtalk should also be custom designed for each players level of pressure for each game. There are other attributes involved as well, and there plenty of different levels of pressure for each game, so you should really try and just get a grasp of each players mentality through your time managing them, and manage teamtalks accordingly.

It helps if you can build a squad with similar personalities because then you can play a "one shoe fits all game" with teamtalks, but usually you will have different personalities in your team so you will have to figure out how and when to push their particular buttons as well.

[Bubbabaytuna]

Hi BubbaBay,

Great post. I'd tried a similar method by only using motivation to guide team talks but hadn't got it cracked as well as you seem to have done so kudos

I just wondered what, if anything, you choose to say to oncoming substitutes where there's obviously no motivation state to base the team talk on?

KUTGW

Cheers for the kudos itsallaboutthierry! much appreciated.

When I bring in any substitute I usually use "you have faith", I think that's probably doing more or less the same thing as saying "wish luck" at the start of the game. However, if the option comes up "you can make a difference!" then I nearly always take that option. Or "pick up where you left off", I think they definetly have the potential to give the players a boost.

I will always be careful with youngsters though. I have a particular talent in my first team who's just turned 17, and since I'm a big fan of "if they're good enough, play them" he's been in my first team. (if he's got at least 95% fitness of course) But when he does figure as a substitute, I wouldn't pick "expect to pick up where he left off" ... at that age, you can't really go expecting things, they've got everything to prove. Same with "you can make the difference", at that age they really shouldn't have to. Also, I've noticed that playing young talented players, they tend to be naturally motivated when playing. Maybe exactly because they want to impress the manager? Or I could be imagining this.

[itsallaboutthierry]

It helps if you can build a squad with similar personalities because then you can play a "one shoe fits all game" with teamtalks, but usually you will have different personalities in your team so you will have to figure out how and when to push their particular buttons as well.

Hi SFraser, fan of your contributions here. Just on the point above I wonder if you'd agree that tutoring can play a big part in this? Particularly for building a determined squad.

Cheers for the kudos itsallaboutthierry! much appreciated.

When I bring in any substitute I usually use "you have faith", I think that's probably doing more or less the same thing as saying "wish luck" at the start of the game. However, if the option comes up "you can make a difference!" then I nearly always take that option. Or "pick up where you left off", I think they definetly have the potential to give the players a boost.

Just played a match and brought on two players at about 60 minutes when I was 5-0 up. One player (Abou Diaby, balanced personality low determination) I told "You have faith". The other (Dudu, Resolute personality, 16 determination) I told no pressure as he's a young player. Both came on looking complacent which I can only assume is because they are coming on at 5-0 up. We ended up conceding a goal before the end and the only 2 players who weren't at least "playing with confidence" were the two subs. Perhaps for substitutes match situation counts for more? Perhaps you need to be harsher and have high expectations for those players coming into a game where you're winning easily to get the motivation. Morale can always be repaired post match.

PS: Having just written the personality and determination stats of the two player in this post I realise I probably got the two team talks back to front!

[Bubbabaytuna]

Personalities have a pretty huge impact on Teamtalks, atleast the Pre-Match teamtalks. Club reputation affect pre-match odds which produces a level of pressure for a match, and players then react to this level of pressure and to the level of pressure your teamtalk produces.

If you take the example in the first post, with a "Wish Luck" teamtalk for everyone, you notice how different players reacted differently to this teamtalk. A few were playing with Confidence, another few were Playing OK and one guy was Complacent. That's because the same teamtalk was used for each player and each player had a different set of Personality Attributes so they each had a different outlook on the game. This meant that each player did not respond exactly the same to the teamtalk.

The halftime teamtalk was obviously brilliant and got the ideal response from each player, but the Pre-Match teamtalk was not so brilliant. The half-time teamtalk was custom designed for each players level of motivation and so the Pre-Match teamtalk should also be custom designed for each players level of pressure for each game. There are other attributes involved as well, and there plenty of different levels of pressure for each game, so you should really try and just get a grasp of each players mentality through your time managing them, and manage teamtalks accordingly.

It helps if you can build a squad with similar personalities because then you can play a "one shoe fits all game" with teamtalks, but usually you will have different personalities in your team so you will have to figure out how and when to push their particular buttons as well.

I agree completely with what you are saying. Indeed my starting team talk is a "one shoe fits all" solution. It's also true that I do have a lot of similar personalities, ie determined ones, as 6 guys reacted quite well to the wish luck.

Custom designing the prematch teamtalk may be a little time consuming for my taste though. I just checked up Anderson's personality and he's listed as a balanced personality and he was complacent. Bottone who was "playing okay" has a "driven" personality. It's a lot harder to get that one right, and wish luck does seem to be a good option risk/reward wise. But you are definetly right though, if you could tailor make the prematch team talk that would improve performance. Something to look into for sure.

[Bubbabaytuna]

Hi SFraser, fan of your contributions here. Just on the point above I wonder if you'd agree that tutoring can play a big part in this? Particularly for building a determined squad.

Just played a match and brought on two players at about 60 minutes when I was 5-0 up. One player (Abou Diaby, balanced personality low determination) I told "You have faith". The other (Dudu, Resolute personality, 16 determination) I told no pressure as he's a young player. Both came on looking complacent which I can only assume is because they are coming on at 5-0 up. We ended up conceding a goal before the end and the only 2 players who weren't at least "playing with confidence" were the two subs. Perhaps for substitutes match situation counts for more? Perhaps you need to be harsher and have high expectations for those players coming into a game where you're winning easily to get the motivation. Morale can always be repaired post match.

PS: Having just written the personality and determination stats of the two player in this post I realise I probably got the two team talks back to front!

hehe aye that could be it. A resolute personality with 16 determination, you should be able to push him harder like expect a performance. At 5 - 0 up, if their morale is good or superb, you could maybe just send them on without a team talk though. It's a hard game to come in as a substitute because what are you expected to do ey? At 5 - 0 the game is basicly played, the other team might as well not have bothered showing up. "have faith"/"expect a performance"/"no pressure" ... none of them really fit the situation, right? "go out and have some fun" would suit

[ObaMartins09]

This is a really interesting topic because I feel team talks and in general man management play a huge part of football management, both in real life and in the game.

[Kevaldo]

Excellent post Bubba and I would suggest it was probably SFraser's post last year on motivation and morale that inspired this.

I'm in pre-season at the moment but looking forward to trying out your approach to players 'playing okay' at half time. Usually i say 'You have faith' to those who are already 'Playing with confidence' because this strategy worked very well for FM 09 but doesn't seem to have the same effect on FM 10. You have clearly cracked it!

With regards pre-match team talks I also take the stage of the season in to account. As a general guide when having a successful season I'll gradually increase the pressure pre-match on the players. So at the start of the season i predominantly say 'no pressure', transitioning to 'for the fan's' as the season progresses and then hopefully on to 'I expect a win' for most games towards the end of the season .... the assistants feedback before the match is valuable in this regard - anyone looking complacent in the warm up should be told 'i expect a performance!'

I think team talks are generally under-rated, and it's a complex system but one which is relatively simple to manipulate most of the time for your own benefit.

Hopefully lots of people will read your guide!

[Bubbabaytuna]

Excellent post Bubba and I would suggest it was probably SFraser's post last year on motivation and morale that inspired this.

I'm in pre-season at the moment but looking forward to trying out your approach to players 'playing okay' at half time. Usually i say 'You have faith' to those who are already 'Playing with confidence' because this strategy worked very well for FM 09 but doesn't seem to have the same effect on FM 10. You have clearly cracked it!

With regards pre-match team talks I also take the stage of the season in to account. As a general guide when having a successful season I'll gradually increase the pressure pre-match on the players. So at the start of the season i predominantly say 'no pressure', transitioning to 'for the fan's' as the season progresses and then hopefully on to 'I expect a win' for most games towards the end of the season .... the assistants feedback before the match is valuable in this regard - anyone looking complacent in the warm up should be told 'i expect a performance!'

I think team talks are generally under-rated, and it's a complex system but one which is relatively simple to manipulate most of the time for your own benefit.

Hopefully lots of people will read your guide!

Thanks for the kind words Kevaldo, I hope a lot of people read and contribute to this thread as well! And a big thanks for that golden advice right there. It hadn't even occurred to me! I'm going to try and link your post and SFraser in my main post so people can find these tips easily.

It might very well have been SFraser, I've read a lot of his posts over time and he's always made a lot of sense. I remember it was a post with a small formula even, like with stars and stuff. vague memory, as you notice, but the gist of the thread definetly stuck!

[itsallaboutthierry]

the assistants feedback before the match is valuable in this regard - anyone looking complacent in the warm up should be told 'i expect a performance!'

A little gem of advice. I'd forgotten that section existed on the ass man feedback. Another classic case of FM giving me the information and me not using it

[Kevaldo]

Ha it's amazing what you forget to look at before a match!

The SFraser thread I was referring to is here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=120053

Perhaps it is a different one to what inspired you, but the ideas are similar nonetheless ... and more importantly they work!

[Bubbabaytuna]

Ha it's amazing what you forget to look at before a match!

The SFraser thread I was referring to is here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=120053

Perhaps it is a different one to what inspired you, but the ideas are similar nonetheless ... and more importantly they work!

Brilliant finding it back mate! That's not the thread I was thinking of, but what inspired me to start this one was just realizing my teamtalks consistently worked and trying to share that experience with others and learning from people. But the thread by SFraser I did read, and everyone should read it as it's great stuff and still 100% relevant to FM10.

[SFraser]

Hi SFraser, fan of your contributions here. Just on the point above I wonder if you'd agree that tutoring can play a big part in this? Particularly for building a determined squad.

Tutoring is hugely important. It not only helps develop players that react well to teamtalks, react well to media comments, react well to in-match situations and generally behave themselves in a proper manner but it also helps to develop players that actually develop quickly and fulfill their potential with the flip-side being players that do not decline so easilly when they older. Quality tutoring not only builds players with a great mentality, it also builds players that reach their peak earlier and stay there longer, giving you maximum quality from that player for longer.

It is no fluke that Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are all Model Professionals and capable of doing a job for one of the worlds top clubs at the minimum age of 34. The hidden attribute Professionalism is the single biggest positive modifier of CA gain, with players of high Professionalism gaining large quantities of CA early in their careers under good conditions, and ultimately being far less inclined to easily shed CA as they get older. Coach Fitness Reports also hint at their being a possible relationship between Professionalism and the recovery of condition between games but that is not something I have explored nor seen explored. There is rarely smoke without fire in FM though.

Player personalities are the link between youngster CA gain, Training, Teamtalk reaction, General club behaviour, on-pitch performances and player longevity. Visible attributes and match tactics might be the most obvious features of the game, but there is a huge and subtle corresponding aspect of the game alongside this, based around personalities, man management and player development. You could get away with ignoring much of this side of the game at a club like Manchester City where you can buy quality for example but a club like Manchester United will rely heavily on the skill of the manager to develop quality if you are playing a longterm game.

[CookieColeman]

First of all, congratulations on such an exhaustive guide and I will look to incorporate some of these ideas in my own team-talks.

However, I was surprised that you devoted so little attention to the pre-game team-talk in comparison to the half-time team-talk. Surely always using 'Wish Luck' is overly simplifying matters, unless you are the weakest team in your league? Not suggesting that anything is wrong with your approach as it obviously works wonderfully for you, I just find it a little surprising.

[celebritykiller]

Ha it's amazing what you forget to look at before a match!

The SFraser thread I was referring to is here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=120053

Perhaps it is a different one to what inspired you, but the ideas are similar nonetheless ... and more importantly they work!

It was either that thread or this one: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=3847848#post3847848

All make very good reading, great and easy to read post OP.

[Bubbabaytuna]

First of all, congratulations on such an exhaustive guide and I will look to incorporate some of these ideas in my own team-talks.

However, I was surprised that you devoted so little attention to the pre-game team-talk in comparison to the half-time team-talk. Surely always using 'Wish Luck' is overly simplifying matters, unless you are the weakest team in your league? Not suggesting that anything is wrong with your approach as it obviously works wonderfully for you, I just find it a little surprising.

Thank you CookieColeman!

The truth is, for pre-game team talks, that's the best I've got so far. I continue learning though, as Kevaldo shared some invaluable advice in an earlier post in this thread. I had completely overlooked that and will make sure to incorporate that in my pre-game team talks from now on.

However the problem is at half-time and full-time team talks, motivation is what determines what team talk I will give to a player. At pre-game, I don't really have an indicator like that so I'm sort of in the dark there. In my game I always try to keep my squad harmony and player morale as high as possible, this is absolutely key to me, so when I start a game most of my players are having superb morale. When I build a squad I always aim for determined/professional players. In that context, wish luck works well enough for me. 6 of my 11 players were playing with confidence. The others were playing okay which isn't bad at all, it means they are having a decent game, at half-time I tried to get those players to step it up a notch and they did.

You could say my pre-game team talk strategy is more in the sense of "avoid the bad" than "shoot for the best". That said I don't really get the impression that I tend to play bad first halves. At half-time however, I do feel there's a lot you could do to tip the scale in your favour. I really do think that what you do or don't do at half-time and in the second half decides the game. Looking at it like that, maybe I don't think the 1st half is as important as the second? Or, put differently, the 1st half I'll see how the opponent plays, and also important, I'll check out the motivation of their players which you can also do. If one of their players is "playing nervously", oh I might go hard tackling on him or close down on him more. I believe they may be more error prone.

However I hope more people will visit this thread and offer more ways of getting a good pre-game team talk. How do you set up your pre-game team talk?

[Bubbabaytuna]

It was either that thread or this one: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=3847848#post3847848

All make very good reading, great and easy to read post OP.

Yes, that was exactly the thread I was talking about celebritykiller! Reading that was a real eye opener to me. I don't follow it to the letter, but the general idea Rickooko advocates I do use.

Quoting from Rickooko's post:

So what a manager’s job now is trying to make the players into “motivated” or “fire up”, and preventing “nervous”, “complacent”, and “playing without confidence” etc…

that is exactly what I'm trying to do. However pre-game, I don't know what motivation my players have, so what I'm trying to do is avoid "nervous" and "complacent" etc. in the first half, as in my managing style I prefer having one or two youngsters on the pitch. Then at half-time when I do have the motivation indicator, I can give the team talk that in my experience works and shoot for "playing with confidence", "looks fired up", "motivated", etc. or even "having a storming game" or "had an excellent game". My whole team talk strategy revolves around player motivation but you only get that after more or less 10 minutes of play have passed.

Cheers for the compliments celebritykiller and thanks for the link!

[likeabawss]

wonderful team talk analysis by the OP. i just played juventus as milan whilst keeping in mind the advice from the OP. it was 0-0 at half time, and i usually just do an encourage team talk with 'you have faith' for the strikers, but not this time. the final result was 3-1 with pato scoring twice. simply great

[Eastwood]

Nice post there. I also find, and I know a lot of people call it suicide, that "playing well" works at half time. However like you I don't just choose whole time, maybe somebody who has gone close on goal a couple of times, scored one and gone close, got an assist or so. The whole team if given this option do seem to drop performance, but whenever I need a goal and a striker just won't put it in back of net, this is my key to my star player Gignac and he scores most of time in second half.

[aunmar]

Nice post. Any tips about team talk before the matches?

[crouchaldinho]

An excellent and very thoughtful post there Bubbabaytuna.

Deservedly turned into a 'sticky' thread as well.

[Tele Santana]

Hey mate,

That´s a fantastic thread. I am having a difficult time managing team talks in FM10, and even spending time and resources to find a highly motivational ass man didn´t pay out like expected for me.

I started using your approach after the wonderful read and my team morale reached new heights. However, our current competition is pretty easy (a State Championship in Brazil where we are expected to face difficulties only in the semifinals - fairly limited, tbh, and in the finals - huge rivalry).

I was wondering what kind of team talk would you do when you´re drawing a game you were expected to win very easily (the 'barricades' kind of game), although not at home - and most of your team is 'playing okay', with ratings on the 6.7 average. It is a clear underperforming display so far...Reasonable amount of chances being wasted by many players.

Would you go for disappointing in this case? I can´t use the 'I have faith' system since there´s only 'you can make a difference' available which would be close to it.

Cheers, thanks and congrats,

Tele

[mileybyrne]

That makes a lot of sense, never thought of looking at motivation, just went off the ratings.I'll try it out. Nice one

[arlai2010]

good post!

I'll try it.

[phnompenhandy]

I was wondering what kind of team talk would you do when you´re drawing a game you were expected to win very easily (the 'barricades' kind of game), although not at home - and most of your team is 'playing okay', with ratings on the 6.7 average. It is a clear underperforming display so far...Reasonable amount of chances being wasted by many players.

Would you go for disappointing in this case? I can´t use the 'I have faith' system since there´s only 'you can make a difference' available which would be close to it.

Tele

I'd put that scenario in the same ball-park as winning by one goal at home when it should be more comfortable - i.e. the 'encourage' talk. I'd save 'disappointing' when a goal behind.

[mileybyrne]

It ruddy works!! Its definitely had an effect for the better. Thank you.

[matthew56]

Notice how I didn't gave N'Suki a teamtalk at halftime despite playing great, and how he even improved on that in the second half to finish with a “storming game”. And what about Pérez, who was “playing okay” at half time but finished playing “an excellent game”, just by telling him to “have faith”. But to me, it's great to see that Anderson started playing with confidence after playing complacent the entire first half. He was actually unlucky not to score in the second half.

Again, I don't pay a lot of attention to the player ratings. Having N'Suki finish with an 8.7 rating is all fine and dandy but what matters to me is he scored 2 and gave an assist. He could have a rating of 1 for all I care. Player ratings like you find in newspapers don't mean anything to me in real life so why would they in the game. And this is what I wanted to come back to.

Earlier this season I had a game where my defender Collin, who usually does a very solid job, made a mistake in the first half which cost us a goal. At halftime, he had a rating of 4.3 and his motivation said “made a mistake”. From what I gathered from reading guides online, I usually would substitute anyone who made a mistake as that seemed to be the only thing you could do. However this tim e i went to the Stats page of the match and checked out his stats. Turns out, his stats were fine. He completed almost all his passes, won every header, his tackling was fine. It's just that he made a mistake which can happen to anyone. So what I did is, I gave him the halftime individual teamtalk “have faith” and he finished the game with 6.7 rating. It's an okay rating that, but coming from 4.3 at half time, that means he was an absolute rock for the entire second half. My point is, don't always trust player ratings. Sometimes there's just bad luck coming into play and you gain more by giving your players faith.

A quick summary of how I use teamtalks:

Halftime => the goal is to improve performance

playing okay => have faith

complacent => warn against complacency/don't let your performance drop/disappointed in performance(not sure about this one, i prefer the other two options)

having a good game or better => nothing

feeling nervous => no pressure if it's a young player (the same if it's an older player, but i would try to sell this player then because it means he can't cope with big(ger) occasions.

Having a bad game => this one I always substitute. I don't know how to turn this one around

If for example a player stays complacent or nervous in the second half, for instance at 60 minutes, I think the only thing left to do is to make a substitution.

Fulltime => the goal is to maintain morale as high as possible

played okay/had a good game => pleased

had an excellent game/had a stormer => delighted (i generally give this to every player with a rating of 8.0 or above)

had a bad game or worse => disappointed

I will rarely use angry, I don't think I ever have. When a player had a terrible game or rating, I'll just use disappointed and if it happens consistently it's up to me to figure out why. Does he have issues, am I playing him wrong, or maybe he's just not good enough.

In summary the two things I feel are most important in regards to teamtalks are these:

Consulting player motivation is essential. During a match, check the splitscreen and select player motivation.

Accept bad luck/good luck. Luck plays a factor ... just like in real football.

I don't think ratings are completely useless, they do give an indication, but as with the Collin case I mentioned earlier, if I had gone by his rating I would have substituted him. Now I didn't and he picked himself up again and went on to dominate the defense in the 2nd half.

I thank you for reading this far and I hope some people got something out of it. I'm really grateful a place like T&TT exists. I've been reading this forum for a number of years and would like to thank everybody who's contributed to it. It's made my game so much more enjoyable and immersive.

* The win over Cremonese secured my promotion to the Serie A! Yay!

thanks for your team tlaks

what you use in half time for players who are playing without cinfidence ?

[matthew56]

and mistake led to goal what must say

[cragswfc]

This is how I do it:

There's three levels of motivation. Light blue, aka the playing with confidence etc. This is what you want to have. Then the dark blue, meaning they're playing okay. Then the playing nervous/looking complacent/made an error.

Players that made a mistake/look complacent, I tell I'm dissapointed. When they're looking nervous, I tell them the pressure is off. This usually seems to work fine.

To decide on overall team talk at half time, I just look whether a majority of players are playing with confidence etc (the light blue color). If yes, I encourage (1 goal up) or say Im pleased (2+ goals up). When not a majority, I tell them not to drop their performance/become complacent (when leading), or dissapointed (when drawing or losing). I actually never use the angry talk, but then Im never 3-0 down or so where I would think of using it.

At full time, players with a 7+ rating will have "had a good match" or so. Those with 8+ however, usually have had a storming game/deserved a goal/motm etc. Those I tell Im delighted. That often gets a positive response in the assman feedback screen. It will also from time to time give a news message that the player is pleased he's got your backing.

superb post a very good read! i will try as some time ive been clueless on what to do. i used wolfgans are what his/her user-name but, with no success

[Bubbabaytuna]

I'm really happy people are getting something out of this! Thanks for the positive feedback everyone.

I was wondering what kind of team talk would you do when you´re drawing a game you were expected to win very easily (the 'barricades' kind of game), although not at home - and most of your team is 'playing okay', with ratings on the 6.7 average. It is a clear underperforming display so far...Reasonable amount of chances being wasted by many players.

Would you go for disappointing in this case? I can´t use the 'I have faith' system since there´s only 'you can make a difference' available which would be close to it.

Hey Tele I'm glad it's been working for you. Playing okay isn't bad, it's decent, but naturally you want better and rightly so. When "you can make a difference" comes up, I tend to use it. Except on youth players. Youth players, no matter how brilliant they may be, imo should never be expected to make the difference. If they do, fantastic! But what I want from them is to go out there, learn, build experience. Telling them they can "make the difference" applies pressure on players and at younger ages I feel I need to shield them from that.

I'm also not sure if "make the difference" is really useful on defensive players. I mean, obviously they can, but if they have "playing okay", perhaps the opposition isn't really playing that well either and they haven't had a chance to prove they're having a good game? Attacking players though it definitely can make a big difference. But as SFraser indicated earlier as well, try to get your players. "can my player cope with the pressure?" But when you keep using motivation as an indicator, pretty soon after a few games you will start to see patterns in how players deal with pressure and team talks.

I only very rarely use disappointed as a team talk, but maybe that's due to my style of man management. Of course there are times when it will work, otherwise the option to be disappointed wouldn't be there for us to choose I imagine. It could backfire though. But I believe in positive reinforcement. Imo, every player on the pitch will try to play his best and it's up to me to get that out of him. If a player needed me to be disappointed frequently during games in order to get the best out of him, there's a good chance that player won't be playing for my team very long. I usually find there are other options available to try and boost player motivation. Also when the individual team talk gives you a limited option of team talk, check the general team talk tab. I'd like to refer to how I dealt with Anderson, where I basicly took the general team talk but only left it for him and give everyone else an individual team talk.

[Bubbabaytuna]

thanks for your team tlaks

what you use in half time for players who are playing without cinfidence ?

Hi matthew

Players who are playing without confidence, I tell them "you have faith". Being disappointed will even lower their confidence, and telling a player who's already low on confidence you expect a performance will do the same. If his motivation doesn't improve in the second half, consider substituting him. If he keeps playing without confidence game after game, tutoring may help (although if he's featuring in your first eleven that option will probably not be available), but I would probably look to sell.

and mistake led to goal what must say

I'd like to refer you to my 2nd post where I explain the situation with my defender Collin who had made a mistake. Basically, when you're faced with this, you will want to go to the <yourteam> statistics page which can be found next to the match stats tab. Check out how he's playing. How is his pass completion? How are his shots? Is he tackling okay? Does he win his headers? etc etc. If these are all bad, this may indicated you need to substitute him. Also watching a game in key highlights helps so you can see if he's making errors or not. But usually what I do now is I'll tell him "you have faith" and see how he continues in the second half. NEVER disappointed because I don't believe anyone makes mistakes intentionally. Except perhaps if a player wanted to force his departure from the club, but I doubt FM is that advanced. As was the case with Collin, they can pick themselves up and perform very well. But if I don't see any improvement by around minute 60 - 65, I will seriously consider substituting.

[Fabio MVP]

Bubba, what if it says for my player at the half-time 'Looking Motivated'?

[matthew56]

players who play with confidence / looking motivated and are fired up what you say ?

[Bubbabaytuna]

Bubba, what if it says for my player at the half-time 'Looking Motivated'?

Hi Fabio MVP

If they're looking motivated ... just be happy! I don't say anything to them, "none". It's great that they're looking motivated but I'm not going to particularly compliment them on it because I expect every one of my players to be motivated in every game, all game long. Of course that doesn't happen, but it IS what I expect from my players. Choosing to not say anything to players who are looking motivated in my book means "carry on the way you are lads". The same goes for players who are having a good game, playing with confidence, etc.

Even if they would be having "a storming game" at half time I will mostly choose to not say anything to them. I'm obviously delighted they are playing so exceptionally well, but I don't give out treats for a job half done. I will use delighted/pleased and so forth at the end of the game.

[Bubbabaytuna]

players who play with confidence / looking motivated and are fired up what you say ?

Again, I say nothing to them. Of course you could try to push them into an even better motivational state but then we are facing the Risk/Reward balance. Push them too hard, and it might backfire and they could go to playing nervously/playing without confidence.

Compliment them too much, and they could go to playing "looking complacent". Knowing your players is very important here, but you will learn that from keeping an eye on their motivation during games.

[ObaMartins09]

What would you say to a player at the start of a game who is "struggling to blend in with the squad"?

[Bubbabaytuna]

What would you say to a player at the start of a game who is "struggling to blend in with the squad"?

Just "wish luck". "struggling to blend in with the squad" isn't really a motivational problem, although I imagine it does have an effect.

This player probably has a personality which doesn't quite fit in with the general personality of your squad. He'll need time to adjust to the rest of the team. Try checking his personality and compare it to your squad personality which you can find under the Information tab of your club.

I would try to avoid putting to much pressure on this player by way of team talks.

edit: you can also check a players coach/scout report to check if his personality matches your teams.

[phnompenhandy]

What would you say to a player at the start of a game who is "struggling to blend in with the squad"?

If he's playing okay, just ignore it. It might be his adaptability and it might take over a season for the assman to stop mentioning it, so I wouldn't worry.

[Benoit2]

Hi matthew

NEVER disappointed because I don't believe anyone makes mistakes intentionally.

That I disagree with. Both in real life, as well as the game.

Of course you dont make a mistake on purpose, but you still made a mistake. Could be a lapse of concentration, something else I dont know. But fact is, you screwed up. When you screw up, people have a right to be disappointed. So when my players screw up, Im disappointed and Ill tell them that. They're not kids. Im not going like:

"Ah poor boy, you screwed up. Well, doesnt matter, just carry on the second half".

I'll only do that if their morale is poor. If their morale is good, then I want them to redouble their focus and make up for their error by working twice as hard in the second half. If they cant deal with that kind of pressure, then I dont have a place for them in my team. I hate players with low determination who cant handle pressure

Im sure "you have faith" can help, certainly for lower determined players, but telling them Im disappointed often does the trick for me and gets them back up to a 6,5+ rating, without a goal or assist.