WoIfsong's Teamtalk Guide 2010

[faraow]

The first 23 games i played using these team talks I went unbeaten, and for all of those away games I was using a mentality of 6 or 7- so they do work with defensive tactics.

What team do you play with? And what tactic?

[Beardeye]

What team do you play with? And what tactic?

I play with Shrewsbury Town- started in league 2 but now in championship. I use loversleaper's (large) set of tactics using things like pre match odds to help choose.

Real Madrid are a completely different entity though- i expect you are favourite for most games, including away- so your tactics and team talks are different to mine. This is getting a bit off topic so PM me if you want to discuss more.

[elland road boo boys]

I play with Shrewsbury Town- started in league 2 but now in championship. I use loversleaper's (large) set of tactics using things like pre match odds to help choose.

Real Madrid are a completely different entity though- i expect you are favourite for most games, including away- so your tactics and team talks are different to mine. This is getting a bit off topic so PM me if you want to discuss more.

Same with me as Leeds Utd in L1 & I agree with your observations.

Sometimes I think the old favourite "None" will work as Prematch & adjust as neccessary for Complacency/Nervous or new players. Then do half time & full time as per guide

I am obviously favourite for all games as my team looks like this. Prem Quality I hope you agree

Gk Sebastian Viera Luis Guilherme

DR Lauren Bandalovski

DL Michael Ball Parker

DC Verthovtski Ilassa Shilla Gladstone Kisnorbo

MR Sergey Krivets Snodgrass

ML Ze Rui Snodgrass

ST Kikin Fonseca Motaeb Scorza Grot Beckford(to be sold in Jan 2010)

[WoIfsong]

Sorry guys I've been busy with work and could not reply promptly.

Hey again WoIfsong; now I've actually based my teamtalks on your thread and the games have worked out well, and most of the players have been motivated or playing good. But I never get any result ever in the feedback from my Ass Man. The only time it happened was in the friendlies when some players got really excited when I said "show me why you should play in my starting eleven" (or what it's called in english). Other than that my Ass Man hasn't noticed anything at all (nothing specific noted).

Does that have something to do with the Ass Man or do the players need more time to get used to my teamtalks you think?

I do not think the attributes or CA of the Ass Man makes a difference to his report on Teamtalks.

I think if you would like, you could post up 3 screen shots for the teamtalks that you use for a match (pre, half time and post), then I would be able to see which talks were chosen for which player under which rating/moral, and be better able to comment on why your Ass Man is not noticing anything.

Just a point of note Wolfsong

I have noticed that during Prematch Halftime & Fulltime after following your guide thoroughly I get a lot of "Players don't seem to be listening" or "nothing specific noted" I sometimes get a response but not at the percentage rate you suggested.

Could it either be Tactics being used or squad being Prem quality whilst playing in L1 (Leeds Utd) & knowing that they are good enough to walk both League One & Championship?

Would be grateful for thoughts, suggestions regarding this.

And any improvement that could be made to get a response.

I see. Hmmm...if you check all of my screenshots in the OP, half or more of the players in each screenshot get either "Didn't seem to be listening" or "Nothing Specific Noted". The key is that if one or two players get motivated by your teamtalks, it ususally gives you a win, of course, the more the better.

However I do understand that you are not getting positive feedbacks at the % suggested. As I stated in the OP, certain players react to certain teamtalks more often than others, hence some trial and error exercise is required.

I do not think that lack of reaction to teamtalks is due to tactics or squad quality. With more trial and error (e.g disappointing and you have faith on different players) you should be able to get more reactions.

Similarly if you would like, I could see the screen shots for your teamtalk selection screen at pre-match, half time and end match and try see what the issues are. Of course you would need to tell me the pre-match feedbacks on complacency too

Maybe it works together with tactics. I tried with Real Madrid and got mixed results First half of the season: 4 losses already and 3 draws. I must say that I have some injuries and I lost "undeserved" a couple of times(more chances). Without tweaking that much, I play mostly attacking home, and normal/counter away(that's what most tactical guides would suggest). Here comes the point: All the points I've lost were on away games!! I won every single home game. I do think that these teamtalks work, but maybe only if you play attacking, or you need to adjust the talks for away games.

Especially the half-time talks work great! But maybe the pre-match talk in away games needs to be different.

I would judge the effect of teamtalks purely by looking at the Assistant Manager's Feedback on Teamtalks at the end of each match. If in the games that you lost away your Ass Man reported that your teamtalks did not work, then it is the issue of teamtalks; however if one or more players got motivated by your teamtalks and you still lost, I would think that "it is your tactics"

To see whether it is the problem of pre-match talks, I would specifically look at the scoreline by half time and the Ass Man feedback on pre-match teaks. Let me know the results if you do so.

The first 23 games i played using these team talks I went unbeaten, and for all of those away games I was using a mentality of 6 or 7- so they do work with defensive tactics.

I was beginning to think the talks made my team invincible, then after the 23rd game my team imploded spectacularly. suffice to say i am still very impressed!

The only possible amendment I would be interested to hear Wolfsong's thoughts on, would be the use of "we can win this" for close odds games. As stated in the OP this often demotivates a few players, but motivates others. Once you have identified who in your team reacts badly, what would you think of an overall team talk of "we can win this" but with individual "expect a performance" on the likely demotivated candidates?? Hopefully this would motivate more than "for the fans" plus individual talks.

Glad to know that it is working well for you.

I think it is a good suggestion to try "we can win this" but with individual "expect a performance" if you can remember the players who got demotivated before and/or if you think that certain players are likely to get demotivated. To be honest I have not had the courage to try that, because from my experience random players would get randomly demotivated by "we can win this!" or "wish luck!".

In the near future I may start posting screenshots of matches that I play to illustrate the pre-match, half time and end-match talks that I do, then show the end game result and explain why I chose those talks.

[Beardeye]

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

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.

This is the only part of your otherwise excellent guide that i have come unstuck with once or twice. A couple of times i have been 2 or 3-0 up (underdog away from home) gone with pleased +individual talks (as there is no complacency reported) and lost or drawn the match.

My prefered method now, if morale is very good/superb, is to use "dont let your performance drop" with individual "none" or "you have faith" (for those who dont like "dont let your performance) as you mentioned. This usually prevents a terrible second half.

However, as with press conference motivation, this really begins to boil down to learning each of your players individual personalities and what they react to. this can take a season. Last night i was 2-0 up at half time, and chose "dont let your performance drop". I have a right back who normally gets "angered" by this so i put "you have faith" on him (6.8 rating).

He then proceeded to go on a dribble into the box and cooly slot it with his left foot into the corner of the net. his dribbling/finishing attributes are single figures and he is right footed. No surprise that my assman said he was "motivated" by the HT talk. Noted for the future!

[Tristan_Nieve]

Hi Wolfsong.

First of all I want to thank you for your guide as it has helped me very much. I've been playing my first FM10 game with Espanyol, and I'm using your teamtalks, the expectations where to finish in mid-table, and currently after 20 league games or so I'm 10th.

I just got one problem, my assistant's feedback pre-match never tells me players are nervous or looking complacent, he justs makes some comments regarding adaptation and language barriers, although I've played as big favourite and as underdog. Anyways, in the meeting (not in the feedback) my assistant tells me players look confident for the easy matches and/or look nervous for the difficult ones. My assistant is Otto Baric, he has very high tactical knoweldge (so he can help with tactics in the meetings) but is average in the rest of attributes. So, my questions are: it is normal that my assistant never reports nervous or complacency in the feedback? And should I take into account my assistant's feedback (no nervous or complacency) or whatever he says in the meetings (players looking complacent in the easy matches)?

So, that's all, thank you very much again for your guide, as I really miss it in FM09 and it's fantastic to have it for FM10.

[faraow]

Hi, I've been using these teamtalks more thoroughly and they work great, especially after half time and for substitutes. But I got a question for Wolfsong: what do you consider as close odds? I've been losing some games games were I was slightly favorite (odds 2.25). What's the reasoning behind for the fans or expect win? Increase/decrease pressure?

[wwfan]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/07/team-talks-football-managers

Interesting reading in reference to this thread.

[crouchaldinho]

Great article WWFan. Good find.

[Melbourne_Hammer]

Excellent work here mate

[HisokaKuroro]

Just found this thread after I first read it a few weeks ago. This deserves a sticky.

Just want to let you know that I have had great success trying your approach, especially "disappoint", "you have faith" and "I want to see more from you". It just works great.

Fantastic work!!!!

[Thomson]

Hi Wolfsong,

Thanks for the good guide, which I'm using now for some time.

One issue I've noticed though is that "I want to see more from you" at halftime always leaves my entire team completely unimpressed, so at least for my team it seems to be absolutely neutral.

This somewhat contradicts your statement, that it should almost always have a positive effect on some players.

Does this happen only to me or is it something SI may have recoded?

[Joor]

Hi Wolfsong.

First of all I want to thank you for your guide as it has helped me very much. I've been playing my first FM10 game with Espanyol, and I'm using your teamtalks, the expectations where to finish in mid-table, and currently after 20 league games or so I'm 10th.

I just got one problem, my assistant's feedback pre-match never tells me players are nervous or looking complacent, he justs makes some comments regarding adaptation and language barriers, although I've played as big favourite and as underdog. Anyways, in the meeting (not in the feedback) my assistant tells me players look confident for the easy matches and/or look nervous for the difficult ones. My assistant is Otto Baric, he has very high tactical knoweldge (so he can help with tactics in the meetings) but is average in the rest of attributes. So, my questions are: it is normal that my assistant never reports nervous or complacency in the feedback? And should I take into account my assistant's feedback (no nervous or complacency) or whatever he says in the meetings (players looking complacent in the easy matches)?

So, that's all, thank you very much again for your guide, as I really miss it in FM09 and it's fantastic to have it for FM10.

I experiencing the same here with my Milan team. But im sure its becourse most of my players have a very high mental Pressure attribute. So its very rare they are nervous before any games. Complacency - well, professionalism is important here . I dont know your teams mental atributes Tristan_Nieve, but its a good sign if you do not see any nervous or complacency report

[The Platypus]

My dear boy Wolfsong: You are a genius. Never before have I witnessed such impressive results from team-talks until I read your guide. I do have one question though: Is it common for players not to react to full-time talks? And how important are they (full-time talks) to performances in the nest game?

Thank you.

[JLJ27]

I experiencing the same here with my Milan team. But im sure its becourse most of my players have a very high mental Pressure attribute. So its very rare they are nervous before any games. Complacency - well, professionalism is important here . I dont know your teams mental atributes Tristan_Nieve, but its a good sign if you do not see any nervous or complacency report

That's really interesting. I got a new AssMan a while ago and he has much better values in almost everything, but he isn't giving any feedback at all about complacency before a game. The previous AssMan always said that 2-3 players in every game looked complacent.

I think it has do to with some kind of personality value with the AssMan.

[jimmyneutron]

Hey wolfsong,

I have a question about young players because they will never react well on poor games and then saying dissapointing.

What method prefer you at them at half time and full time if they are underperform?

I'm very pleased with your teamtalk method

With vitesse an average side in Holland i lay in 4th place in the league with 10 games left.

[chadnw]

Wolfsong, thank you very much for sharing your insight. After a few weeks of following your advice my team is doing well. Have even made Steven Gerrard like my management and he wanted me fired earlier!

[WoIfsong]

Hi apologies again for the delay in replying... been extremely busy and traveling...

Thanks a lot for all of your replies!

This is the only part of your otherwise excellent guide that i have come unstuck with once or twice. A couple of times i have been 2 or 3-0 up (underdog away from home) gone with pleased +individual talks (as there is no complacency reported) and lost or drawn the match.

My prefered method now, if morale is very good/superb, is to use "dont let your performance drop" with individual "none" or "you have faith" (for those who dont like "dont let your performance) as you mentioned. This usually prevents a terrible second half.

However, as with press conference motivation, this really begins to boil down to learning each of your players individual personalities and what they react to. this can take a season. Last night i was 2-0 up at half time, and chose "dont let your performance drop". I have a right back who normally gets "angered" by this so i put "you have faith" on him (6.8 rating).

He then proceeded to go on a dribble into the box and cooly slot it with his left foot into the corner of the net. his dribbling/finishing attributes are single figures and he is right footed. No surprise that my assman said he was "motivated" by the HT talk. Noted for the future!

I agree with you that sometimes "pleased" when leading by 2 or more goals causes a slow/bad second half even when there is no complacency reported. I myself sometimes use "dont let your performance drop" too if my team has previous reacted well to it in general. I should add this point to my OP!

Hi Wolfsong.

First of all I want to thank you for your guide as it has helped me very much. I've been playing my first FM10 game with Espanyol, and I'm using your teamtalks, the expectations where to finish in mid-table, and currently after 20 league games or so I'm 10th.

I just got one problem, my assistant's feedback pre-match never tells me players are nervous or looking complacent, he justs makes some comments regarding adaptation and language barriers, although I've played as big favourite and as underdog. Anyways, in the meeting (not in the feedback) my assistant tells me players look confident for the easy matches and/or look nervous for the difficult ones. My assistant is Otto Baric, he has very high tactical knoweldge (so he can help with tactics in the meetings) but is average in the rest of attributes. So, my questions are: it is normal that my assistant never reports nervous or complacency in the feedback? And should I take into account my assistant's feedback (no nervous or complacency) or whatever he says in the meetings (players looking complacent in the easy matches)?

So, that's all, thank you very much again for your guide, as I really miss it in FM09 and it's fantastic to have it for FM10.

From my experience it is common that your ass man does not report nervous or complacency levels when you are not on winning/losing streaks. I feel that it is not a bad thing if your ass man never reports anything, because that takes 1 factor out of the equation and you would be able to judge what to say by looking at morale, previous ratings and past trial and error results.

From my experience all my Ass Mans worked the same for reporting complacency/nervous levels in prematch report and I have not discovered any attributes that may affect their ability to do such reports.

I would not look to "Backroom Advice" as to the teamtalks, because I believe the "complacency" report there is linked to an analysis of past results and not future predictions/observations.

Hi, I've been using these teamtalks more thoroughly and they work great, especially after half time and for substitutes. But I got a question for Wolfsong: what do you consider as close odds? I've been losing some games games were I was slightly favorite (odds 2.25). What's the reasoning behind for the fans or expect win? Increase/decrease pressure?

Slight favourite would be close odds in my opinion. "For the fans" is 99% neutral, it works to the extent that it avoids bad results on players who do not react well to "none". "I expect win" is to ensure that your players do not get complacent when morale is high and/or you are on a winning streak.

I do not believe that one can say that certain teamtalk definately has certain effect on pressure/morale - one cannot say that "expect a win" must have the effect of increasing pressure on all teams/players; conversely when people say the "pleased" talk always reduces motivation, I would just show them the screenshots in my OP which shows that when used correctly, multiple players can be motivated by "pleased".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/07/team-talks-football-managers

Interesting reading in reference to this thread.

Thanks wwfan, interesting read indeed!

Hi Wolfsong,

Thanks for the good guide, which I'm using now for some time.

One issue I've noticed though is that "I want to see more from you" at halftime always leaves my entire team completely unimpressed, so at least for my team it seems to be absolutely neutral.

This somewhat contradicts your statement, that it should almost always have a positive effect on some players.

Does this happen only to me or is it something SI may have recoded?

I have experienced this when my squad is mostly young players and/or when it is my first 10-15 matches with my team. However as I manage the team for longer, the chance of my team reacting well to "I want to see more" increases and eventually it reaches the point that I mentioned in the OP where 90% the chance you get 1 or 2 players motivated by that talk, especially subsitutes coming on at 1/2 time.

I would also avoid saying "I want to see more" if your squad morale is low. I make sure that I do individual talks on overpeformers even if my team is losing at 1/2 time.

I do not believe that this aspect has been recoded. But if you continue to have problems please let me know and perhaps details such as the age of your squad and the general morale level would help us analyse this a bit further.

My dear boy Wolfsong: You are a genius. Never before have I witnessed such impressive results from team-talks until I read your guide. I do have one question though: Is it common for players not to react to full-time talks? And how important are they (full-time talks) to performances in the nest game?

Thank you.

You are flattering me mate There are multiple other threads here where people have achieved success with teamtalks using different approaches!

It is indeed common that most players do not react to full-time talks, the usual reactions I get for full time teamtalks are:

"Happy. Looked delighted" for "pleased" in the first 3-5 matches that I am in charge of. Thereafter "didn't seem to be listening" or "none" to "pleased".

"Happy." on players who were singled out by your talk, e.g. my team gets a draw and I "sympathise" generally but say "pleased" on a player with 7.5 rating, that player may get a "happy" reaction. or when I say "pleased" generally but say "delighted" on players who have outperformed others, they may get a "happy" reaction.

"Angered" - could happen when you say disappoiting or angry to players at full time, especially if it is unjustified.

"Seemed confused" - could happen when you were expecting a win but you draw/lose, yet you say "pleased" or "symphatise".

Hey wolfsong,

I have a question about young players because they will never react well on poor games and then saying dissapointing.

What method prefer you at them at half time and full time if they are underperform?

I'm very pleased with your teamtalk method

With vitesse an average side in Holland i lay in 4th place in the league with 10 games left.

At half time, I would subsititute off players who underperform and who have been proven not to react well to "disappointing" or "i want to see more". If your young players are playing their first few matches, I would say "pleased" on them if they get a 6.7 rating or more by half-time. If they have been playing a lot of matches, I would just substitute them off when they underperform.

At full time I would generally try praise a youngster who's played his first few senior matches, but if he underperforms, I would generally say "none".

Wolfsong, thank you very much for sharing your insight. After a few weeks of following your advice my team is doing well. Have even made Steven Gerrard like my management and he wanted me fired earlier!

Thanks! Glad to know that!

[cargio]

Hi WoIfsong,

I'm Italian so I have a problem to understand completely your guide.

I would translate it in my language but I would some help: what means "to be the underdog"?

And then a technical question on your teamtalk:

it doesn't seem to be an hint on: leading by 1 goal in half time, I'm (heavy) favoured and ass man has not been reported any complacency.

What have I do?

Thanks

[JLJ27]

Hi WoIfsong,

I would translate it in my language but I would some help: what means "to be the underdog"?

Hi, it means that the other team are the favourites to win that game - then you are "the underdog".

[WoIfsong]

Hi WoIfsong,

I'm Italian so I have a problem to understand completely your guide.

I would translate it in my language but I would some help: what means "to be the underdog"?

And then a technical question on your teamtalk:

it doesn't seem to be an hint on: leading by 1 goal in half time, I'm (heavy) favoured and ass man has not been reported any complacency.

What have I do?

Thanks

Hi! Your scenario would fall under this I believe:

"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."

And thanks to JLJ27 I believe your query as to "underdog" has been answered!

[drevil1969]

this is excellent again from wolfsong

[WoIfsong]

Thanks mate!

[WoIfsong]

I have played the latest version for a couple of nights and I find that generally the chance of "pick up from where you left from" achieving reported positive effects seems to be lower, I'd say around 5%. But again, there has never been bad effects reports. Just to note it here

[faraow]

Question: you're favorite, say expect win before match and then lead 1-0 at half time. What do you say against players with 6.7 and lower?

[hbtfdbs]

Question: you're favorite, say expect win before match and then lead 1-0 at half time. What do you say against players with 6.7 and lower?

disapointing seems to work well unless their young returned from injury or new signings.

having a lil problem with away underdog good morale no complacancy/nervous pre match talks, used for the fans on nearly all players and seemed to ruin it, 3-0 at ht. had assistant say were being completely outplayed which i think is motivation related, what else can you suggest to use?

[Motcha]

There's a question I'd like to ask you Wsong, specially since you are very good at team talks,

I have a super tactics that wins me almost everygame by a 2 and 3 goal margin, that is until mid to late march where even though I play the same tactics with the same in-form players.

Of course this period happens to be the crunch period where there is true pressure (specially that I am in top place) and still in the champions league. So I do think this has something to do with confidence (I rotate alot, like 6-8 players per game, so the chances of under-performance being related to physical condition is very slim). Yet the Ass. man. does not report that any of the players are nervous or over-confident. This happened with me 3 years in the row, so it was not a one-season freak. And every season it becomes (the sudden bad form) becomes more sever.

1) Is this phenomenon natural (has it happened before with anyone)

2) How can we tackle it?

Thanks mate.

[CElliott]

Hi Wolfsong,

Have you any comments to make on the new 10.3 Team Talk options?

I'm not sure whether the original options have changed, but i'm seeing some new ones in there.

cheers

[Killzone]

Motcha, I have experienced the exact same thing. To be honest Im not sure the AI isnt cheating a little bit when u start overpowering it. Having pounded every team in the EPL, winning over 50 straight and I go to Liverpool and Chelsea and THEY are favorites????? The odds for other teams are way out as well.

In the last 3rd of the season, micromanaging your team is essential during a game. Players start making bizarre mistakes leading to goals, you cant get a positive response to a pregame team-talk for love or money, its a real slog.

faraow, encouraging team talk to all players under 7.4, "I have faith" to goalscorers and players 7.5 and above, if they are under 6.0 sub them off. This seems to work 95% of the time. The worst position you can be, while leading, is 2-0 up away against Liverpool. Then you have to say disappointing to all players under 7.0 to try and to combat the Liverpool-super-comeback routine and pray that Gerrard and Torres get injured.

[Beardeye]

Of course this period happens to be the crunch period where there is true pressure (specially that I am in top place) and still in the champions league.

1) Is this phenomenon natural (has it happened before with anyone)

2) How can we tackle it?

Thanks mate.

Its happened to me many a time. In my opinon (and it is only that) it is related to your players hidden "pressure" attribute. The higher expectations become and the closer you get to a title/ playoff etc the more pressure your players are under. IF they have a low pressure rating they will make mistakes.

The only way to tackle it is to buy players who have high pressure ratings and preferably high determination. the former you can only know by using genie scout. Although i have had a young squad who should have been promoted twice, buckled under the pressure both times, but then finally did it the third time when they were a little older. age plays a part too.

[Killzone]

No, its the overconfidence kicking in, in the last 3rd of the season if you are on a long unbeaten streak. Some players are more likely to get it than others but anyone can get it. Ive had my captain ,with Determination 18 and good mental attributes, have it.

Ive been mucking around with a saved game in mid Feb but to date haven't found any consistent method of overcoming it. Its less likely to happen against fierce rivals or important cup ties, but it can sometimes appear then too.

Pregame media events are an opportunity to address it, but again Ive not had consistent results to provide feedback.

[Guest]

When i go on a winning streak i always get complacency repoted from my ass man,,,,is it ever worth telling the players "not to get complacent in the next match" with the post match teamtalk?

[Guest]

When i go on a winning streak i always get complacency repoted from my ass man,,,,is it ever worth telling the players "not to get complacent in the next match" with the post match teamtalk?

Anyone got any ideas?

[Beardeye]

Anyone got any ideas?

If they have won but not performed well then i think it is a good option. However i havent tested it so cant be certain.

[Killzone]

If you are on a long winning streak I don't think you can avoid complacency completely but there are ways to reduce it.

1) Pregame media talks. Mention concerns about complacency. If its really getting a problem, pick a game against a team in lower half of the league and say you have no chance of winning, or there is no chance of your winning streak continuing.

2) The longer your winning streak goes on, become less generous with endgame praise. Only praise players with ratings of 8.0 or higher.

3) Give "Expect a performance" or 'Pickup.." individual team-talk to player/s mentioned as being complacent by AssMan. If hes complacent in the game, say 'disappointed' at HT and end of game

4) Use the media to criticize players that are complacent regularly, their form wont be very good anyway.

[crouchaldinho]

A really excellent guide.

I've been having trouble with the dreaded 'seemed demotivated, looked delighted'.

Terrific work from WoIfsong again. This will really help me to get the best from my team.

[DirtyACE]

Another excellent guide Wolfsong! I've used your FM08 one for a long time and it never let me down. Plus I've always hoped that you would do another edition for the newer releases of FM.

I have a question though. Here's the scenario:

- Currently overachieving and sitting in first place in EPL.

- Playing at home against a top team. The odds are slightly in my favor.

- No complacency or nervousness reported by my assistant.

- Morale is superb.

Now, I have two strikers who have received 8.3 and 7.5 ratings in a prior match. I have also checked both of their coach's reports and they both state that these two players "relish the big matches", meaning that their ability to handle pressure is good. So what should I say to these players in the pre match team talk? From what I understand, I have two options. One is to say "pick up where you left off" seeing as how they got a 8.3 and a 7.5 rating in a previous match. However, I can also choose to tell them that I "expect a performance" from them due to the current match being a big clash with a top team. Which option would be the most appropriate?

By the way, one of the strikers is also my captain.

[DirtyACE]

Another excellent guide Wolfsong! I've used your FM08 one for a long time and it never let me down. Plus I've always hoped that you would do another edition for the newer releases of FM.

I have a question though. Here's the scenario:

- Currently overachieving and sitting in first place in EPL.

- Playing at home against a top team. The odds are slightly in my favor.

- No complacency or nervousness reported by my assistant.

- Morale is superb.

Now, I have two strikers who have received 8.3 and 7.5 ratings in a prior match. I have also checked both of their coach's reports and they both state that these two players "relish the big matches", meaning that their ability to handle pressure is good. So what should I say to these players in the pre match team talk? From what I understand, I have two options. One is to say "pick up where you left off" seeing as how they got a 8.3 and a 7.5 rating in a previous match. However, I can also choose to tell them that I "expect a performance" from them due to the current match being a big clash with a top team. Which option would be the most appropriate?

By the way, one of the strikers is also my captain.

Just to follow up on my previous post. I went ahead and played the match. Here's the pre match talk that I gave:

What I did there is single out individuals who have either had a rating of 7.5 or above in the previous match, or ones that have the "relished the big matches" reported by my coaches. Meaning these players will raise their game for big occasions and most likely handle pressure well.

So, the only two players with 7.5 or above ratings in a prior match were my two strikers, Milevskyi and Tafer. I said that I wanted them to pick up where they left off. However, I had a dilemma here as well because both players also enjoy big matches, so I suppose I could have said that I expected a performance from them, but instead I went with the former choice. Sort of a trial and error as Wolfsong suggests.

I chose the "expect a performance" on another 3 players because they "relish the big matches".

As you can see, there was no feedback at all about any of these talks, which I found a bit strange. I thought I'd have at least one player responding somehow.

Now, the actual match performance did indicate that some of the players were indeed motivated. Especially Krivets and Tafer. Krivets managed to blast an amazing shot into the top corner from about 25 yards on the 7th minute. Tafer also scored one and assisted one other. Safe to say both players finished the first half with high ratings.

At half time I gave the following talk:

What I did there is gave a general team talk of "Pleased" and then singled out players who have received a 6.8 or below. For them I put "none". My lowest rated player (6.4 rating) after the first half was Kana-Biyik who played at right full back. He is one of the players that "relished big matches". I decided not to sub him off but to give him a chance to redeem himself, so I said "none" to him as well.

To the players that had a 7.5 or higher rating, or ones that scored a goal, I simply said "have faith".

As you can see, this time I had some responses from players, three of them in fact, and all positive. Krivets, Annan, and Tafer all seemed to be motivated to play even better in the second half.

What ended up happening is that Tafer went on to score a second goal for himself, Krivets ended up assisting two more goals, and Annan simply played like a mad man in the center of the pitch. Tackling anything in sight and generally destroying any kind of build up play that the opposition tried to create.

There were also good indications that some other players responded to the team talk as well, even though there was no feedback. For example, Shelvey, for whom I said "none" ended up scoring a beautiful curler from 30 yards. Kana-Biyik, whom received a 6.4 rating in the first half also raised his game and by 70th minute had a 7.2 rating. However, he also ended up collecting his second yellow for a late tackle and was sent off. Perhaps he was a bit too eager to redeem himself. Nevertheless, his rating proves that he responded to the "none" talk.

At full time these are the ratings that my team ended up with:

And this is the full time talk that I gave:

Again, I singled out players that received a 8.0 rating or above and told them that I was delighted. Everyone else received a "well done" talk. A couple players responded to it. Two looked delighted. Wijnaldum especially, because he has just come back from a long injury and was playing his first game as a sub.

[faraow]

What to say when you loose 6-0 and an average rating of 5,21???

[mikcheck]

I have 2 questions for you Wolfsong :

1-I'm playing with real madrid and some of my players "didn't seem to be listening", especially in the full time. Last game I won 6-1 against getafe and that happened lol. Will it be because of their personality ?

2 - What should I say in pre match team talk if there is too much confidence in the team, especially in player x ?

thank you

[crouchaldinho]

My instinct is that team talks can have more of a positive effect on a well gelled team, although I've no evidence to prove this. Any thoughts?

[crouchaldinho]

Does the quality of your assistant manager impact upon the level of feedback he can give you regarding team talks?

I just had a match where it finished by saying that my team talk had made the difference and that it had fired up the players. When looking at my assistant's feedback though, there is nothing to indicate that what I said made a difference at all.

[DirtyACE]

Does the quality of your assistant manager impact upon the level of feedback he can give you regarding team talks?

I just had a match where it finished by saying that my team talk had made the difference and that it had fired up the players. When looking at my assistant's feedback though, there is nothing to indicate that what I said made a difference at all.

Unfortunately, the quality of the assistant doesn't make a difference on the level of feedback. Even Wolfsong himself said it in one of his earlier posts.

In my own game, I have a really great assistant. He has all the necessary stats in abundance but I often get pretty vague feedback in regards to team talks. I think that the best thing to do is simply go by the player performances. A player might have "did not seem to be listening" or something like it, but will have a great game.

[Beardeye]

When looking at my assistant's feedback though, there is nothing to indicate that what I said made a difference at all.

This is annoying me as well. I think the only way to really crack your team's personalities is to make detailed notes on how they react peformance and motivation wise. unfortunately my time is precious and i just cant do this.

[Killzone]

Ok, I think Ive been able to address the complacency issue when your team is on a long winning streak. My squad is a highly determined bunch so it may or may not be as effective with other types of squads.

You mainly address the issue with pregame media conferences.

You will get the first question regarding complacency and you reply "You dont think it will be a problem"

The followup question you reply "We will work even harder for victory"

There should be another question regarding confidence and you reply "We should play well as long as we stick to the game plan."

If there is a question regarding extending your winning streak you reply "I dont see much chance of that happening"

Those combination of answers seems to eliminate most/all of complacency issues.

Ive tried various other combination of answers and one thing I found with my squad is that if you state in the press conference you think there might be overconfidence issues, there will be. Its like your team is vulnerable to your negative suggestions.

Even with these combo's of answers you may occasionally get overconfidence with a player or two prior to the match and this can be spotted in the AssMans feedback just before you do the team talk. The best way to address the overconfident player is to give the individual talk "Pick up where you left off" if its available. If its not, use "Expect a performance"

During the first half if you have the motivation widget open, you may notice certain players "complacent". If your team is scoring plenty his rating should be dragged up with everyone else as the match goes on. However its good to address this at halftime.

If you are leading by 2 or more, I give the team talk "Dont let your performance drop" with individual "Have faith" to goalscorers, nervous, or anyone rated 7.1 or over.

If you are losing, drawing or leading by one goal I use team talk "Disappointing" with individual "Have faith to Strikers, goalscorers, nervous, or anyone rated 7.4 (not 7.1) or over. In this situation you might want to consider subbing off nervous or complacent players or players who have made an error leading to a goal. These players often commit errors in the 2nd half that can cost you the game.

At the end of the game if a player was complacent in the 2nd half and ends with a rating of 6.9 or lower give individual "Disappointing" talk to him. If he was complacent in 2nd half and rates higher than 6.9, do nothing, don't praise him or include him any team talk that's positive otherwise he will think his performance was perfectly acceptable and he may be complacent for his next match.

Be careful with your end of the match team talk. If you are on a long winning streak dont praise the team if you win by 4 goals when you were expected to. Use individual talks to praise high performers in this situation, but dont praise the whole team if they win by an expected margin. Also at times use, "Not good enough" occasionally even if you win, but not by the margin you would expect.

With regards to feedback from your AssMan regarding teamtalks, dont expect to see much apart from the halftime talks. Im in my 3rd season and yet to see a response from my prematch talks, apart from the occasional 'happy'. I get plenty of reaction to halftime talks 'seem motivated', 'inspired to a great performance', 'gains focus' etc, and low response to end of match talks, again mainly 'happy'.

[crouchaldinho]

It is my opinion that this thread ought to be made into a 'sticky' thread. It's extremely useful and an excellent reference source.

I have been enjoying team talks again by applying some of the ideas from the opening post. I can't recommend it as a guide highly enough.

[jimmyneutron]

What did you say to players they do not react well at don't let your performance drop? Maybe depending on rating or anything else?

[crouchaldinho]

I've got to say that this guide has helped me more than any other guide on the forums for the last few years.

I've always been really into the tactical side and, by my own admission, not a particularly good motivator, but by reading this guide and applying some of the ideas, I've been able to better understand how team talks and motivation can work in FM.

[crouchaldinho]

Has anyone got any positive experiences of using 'prove a point'?

I used to use it all of the time when it became available for a player (usually when he has below 6.5 but not all of the time for some reason). I rarely had much of a positive experience with it.

Sometimes it would turn a poor performance into a sort of solid, low 7, performance. Never has it had the effect that disappointed can have where it totally turns around a players game.

Any observations or thoughts regarding 'prove a point'?

[crouchaldinho]

The other thing I was wondering is if anyone has had some positive reactions from saying 'warn against complacency' at the end of a match?

I don't think that I have ever seen a reaction to it on the assistant feedback but I wonder if it does help with avoiding complacency during winning streaks.