retired_kellyk

What follows is a compilation of threads that handle team talks. I used to think that team talks in
themselves could be performed by the Assman, but then again if you manage this yourself isn't it going to be more interesting. Even the results are good. The credit for this does not belong to me, but a whole
bunch of posters on this forum, yeah, but I had to dig through all the threads for your reading pleasure.
Credit to all the posters.

Teamtalks
To succeed at this game you need to motivate your players. As in real life, you won't know the
effects of these until you see the individual perform the task you've set. There are pre-game talks
and post game talks, and a whole host of media interactions that you can use to some effect.

Predeterminants
These are the factors that will affect how successful a team talk will be. The goal of any teamtalk is to motivate your team. How well this works depends on
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Form before the match
<LI>Fitness
<LI>Age
<LI>Pregame media talks
<LI>General Happiness of a player
<LI>Personality of a player
</UL>

Before you click on the start button, these factors though I may have missed out on a few will
generally play a rule, if you're lucky and come off a winning streak, chances are they will be
superb to begin with. But how do you
ensure they stay there. You control them as much as possible.

Form and Fitness need no explanation. Just look at their average stats for a game. If you field a
noobie into a derby then you had better make sure he's got the right personality traits, ie, driven and
ambition are good ones to have. Otherwise avoid introducing them until you are sure you have the 3
points in the bag, but don't bring them on too late. You do not want them getting a 6.

Age is interesting. Teamtalks work differently for younger players. You want to motivate them
more, if they go into a match with a 6 and their morale is poor.

From here on end..I'll be quoting from various threads...

Jep's Approach

Jep believes rightly that..."It is no coincidence that morale levels of your players are shown on
the team talk screen, and this plays a major role in what's best to say to your players. If a player
is performing badly and is on low morale, then it may be best to encourage them rather than kick them
when they are down as this is a sign they are short of confidence. Alternatively, if a player has
high morale levels and is playing
poorly then that could be a sign they aren't giving it their all and it may be best to give them a
kick up the backside. I tend to accept a rating of 7 and 8 as a good average for my side, and if anyone
is playing below that they will get an individual team talk, as will anyone getting a 9 or 10. Once again,
this team talk depends on the morale of the player."

As a rule of thumb I also try to keep comments like "delighted" to the end of the match as this can
breed an air of relaxation in the side. Even if I am winning the game comfortably I still rather use "encouragement" as the job is only half done and its vital to keep focus. If one or two players are
playing 9's or 10's and having a great game then I may use the "pleased" comment, but generally it will be encouragement or "dont let the performance slip".

A lot of the time the half time score is generally level, and in this instance I will always use the
"we can win this" rather than being too positive or negative. This tells the players that you believe
in them and that there is still all to play for in the game, rather than being too negative and letting
them go out thinking all hope is lost, or being too positive and thinking a winner will just magically
arrive without too much effort.

However, some situations demand the "hairdryer" treatment, and it may be the case that your over-paid
team of fancy dans are struggling against an inferior side. If they are losing and morale is high then
I will blast them to get a reaction. Questioning their pride or telling them the teams reputation is at
stake lets the players know you aren't happy and you expect more. If they fail to improve its a sure sign
that your side lacks heart and willingness to fight. If you get a positive reaction it means that they
respect your words and want to play well for you (always a pleasing sight for a manager), and even if
the game is lost at full time you can still take heart from it.
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This is a good approach, its simple to follow and it works. The key lies in breaking your team
up into parts, those who are young and just joining the first team and those who are vets. The next
thing you do is to understand their personality. If a player has a driven personality and he is underperforming, you can tell him before a match that he is "disappointing". He will raise his game. Understanding their personalities will give you a key to knowing what to say to them. In one players case, he started the
game for me at "superb",we were two goals down, being a driven personality I lashed out, he "became inspired" and went on to win the game.

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wwwfan
"In general I stick to pleased, encourage or sympathize at half-time (or whatever the variants may be) and sympathize or well done at full-time. Very occasionally I use one of the other options, but only
when I feel the situation needs it. I don't really think it is a cheat, just logical application of what you would like to hear in any given situation. I don't think they will help at all if you have bad tactics,
but will be useful if you have good ones and can turn round a game. I tend to win if I get a lead, and often comeback if I am down, but feel it is more to do with tactical variations than just a good team talk.
It helps, but it is not the be all and end all."

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phuckhad an interesting observation on how choosing the option thrilled affected his players
"ok, i've just tried out the "thrilled" option during half time when my team was strolling through the park
with a very very weak opposition in the world club championships. (10-0 at half time)it was the only extreme option available, apart from the other angry one, which doesnt really fit in with the occassion. although
i did field a team made up of reserves and under18s. i'm not gloating or boasting, just stating what
happened during my experiments.

What i had expected was that the team would likely relax and be lulled into a false sense of security
as it had always happened in the past whenever i used that option, although the times when i used it was
with a lesser winning margin, around 2 to 3-0, against a team 1 league below me. i had expected my defenders
to start imagining themselves as messr beckenbauer and my forwards as pele or maradona and let the
opposition play their way into the match and score a couple of goals.

But what the team did instead, was to go out and push the other team even more. they continued scoring
like there was no tomorrow, not once had the opposition entered my half, and the commentator kept saying
"someone must have had a word with him at half time" everytime i scored."

Individual Teamtalks are just as important
Just giving one group team talk won't work, unless they are all on the same "mood", and even then
you need to know how their age and personality are going to affect it. roejowland describes this..

"* If you aren't playing well sympathise or if you are losing question the teams passion. then individually encourage players that you feel can change the game such as strikers or wingers.

* if you are playing well and leading at the break, say that you are pleased and encourage those that that aren't playing great and also those that can affect matches.

* at the end if you lose, tell the team that you are disappointed but praise players if they play well.

* if you are unlucky to lose, sympathize them and praise those playing well.

* if you win well, praise them as a team then single out the players which changed the game
in the second half."

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Supersaint has a good approach and he keeps thing simple as well

"I adopt different settings against weak teams, strong teams and rivals.

Against weaker teams

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Players that have a rating 6 or below, will get a "disappointing" talk.
<LI>Players with a rating of 8 or higher will get a "pleased" talk
<LI>The rest of the players(those with a rating of 7) will get a "encouraging" talk.
</UL>
Against strong teams

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Players that have a rating 6 or below, will get a "disappointing" talk.
<LI>Players with a rating of 8 will get a "pleased" talk
<LI>Players with an rating of 9 or 10 will get a "delighted" talk
<LI>The rest of the players(those with a rating of 7) will get a "encouraging" talk.
</UL>

Against rival teams

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Players that have a rating 6 or below, will get a "angry" talk.
<LI>Players with a rating of 8 will get a "encourage" talk
<LI>Players with an rating of 9 or 10 will get a "pleased" talk
<LI>The rest of the players(those with a rating of 7) will get a "disappointing" talk.
</UL>


After the match I follow the same strategy, but in REVERSED order, so that I am more happy when winning against rivals, than I am if I beat a weak team.

As I said it works well for me, and I have often seen messages from some of my players after the match, stating that "the team-talk was inspirational" (or something like that).
If I loose and have slammed the players for bad performances, it says "player x have told that the manager was angry and locked the door to the dressing room".

And I have yet to have one single player be concerned about "not enough credit""


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There's more to be found and I would recommend doing a good search..there's more stuff, but I only have so many hours in a day, and I spend most of it closing threads down!

retired_srflowers2002

There is another very very good thread on teamtalk by MattUK and this is the link:

team talk by MattUK

I take lots from this thread and make it to full effect in my game! :thup:

retired_kellyk

Its a good thread as well. One thing about "anger management". Whenever my side plays a game against a side they are expected to beat and if the halftime score is 0-0, and if I have players who have superb and verygood morale I will use anger on them. It seems to work all the time, after the game these are the ones that get the words"fired up"

retired_mona

I keep getting 'didn't seem to be listening at the end of games' how can i change this round?

I am in my 3rd season at Arsenal and i don't know if it's because i have used the same team talks for most of my time at the club

retired_kellyk

Generally these shouldn't affect you that much, I get that a lot.One thing I do sometimes which may appear a bit strange is to talk down my chances when I'm odds on, and then during the prematch I boost these by encouraging them.

If players get a 7, chances are most of the time they won't listen. Unless you specifically starget playerd

retired_e_fores

I am now on Ass Man talks. I was reluctant to do so, but I have been far more consistant since. Team-talks hav a very large input but it's so so so hard to tell if you got it right/wrong and why and the effects really are ambitious.

All in all I decided that Ass Man teamtalks was a lesser of two evils - the second evil being me smashing up my computer after another round of unknown fustrations and crying out to God, "why am I loosing???", the giving my team the "angry" team talk and making things worse.

Perhaps in 08 I will go back to my own team talks, but the amount of times I threw away titles because I got the teamtalk wrong in one or two games made me do it in the first place. I know it will be a lot more fulfilling, but I am a lot calmer now I'm more consistant.

retired_e_fores

Please please please can we edit our posts....!!!

JeffRogers

i think ive got a good and simple angle on teamtalks so i thought i'd post it and see what others think!

first off i link all teamtalks to match odds and the way i see it, is that the tighter the odds the more your team need motivating to win a match!

most...none
i expect a win
we can win this
do it for supporters
wish luck
least..pressure off

for instance ive noticed that when its say 5/4 v 7/4 it always seems best to say you expect a win! home or away! its also best to say this against your rivals unless the odds are hugely against you, then it is best to take the pressure off in a high pressure game. otherwise if its 2 evenly matched team tell them you expect the win! i'd recommend this only if the odds are never over 2/1 either way although its all situational and you can strech it a bit! sometimes we can win this will work whilst expecting a win wont! its all situational it seems and you have to use your best judgement as to when to say what! none may also work with tight odds! but ive never tried it and logic is sound if i'm right!

up to 3/1 7/2 either way then its best to use we can win this! although again situational! wish luck is also a good one to use within these odds!

i never use 'do it for fans' to be honest so my placing may be wrong and i couldnt suggest a time to use it with any conviction but maybe the 3/1 to 4/1 maybe best thinking about it as these are the games that give me most problems!!

up to a 6/1 swing then wish luck! although again use of others either side may be best!

up to 10/1 then taking the pressure off seems to work best except when playing against newly promoted sides then i expect the win along with anything over 10/1!

i have only used this logic with top 6 teams so im not sure how it would work for mid table/relegation teams but if anyone would like to try it out then please let me know how you get on as i'd be intrigued!

halftime teamtalk

what you say here is dependant on what you said before the game and the score!

if your winning then your teamtalk worked and you should keep it, more or less the same as your first half teamtalk! for instance if you were harsh saying you expect a win then the corresponding talk would be dont let you performance drop! but you need to beware of how the game itself is going, if your struggling but winning 1 nil then you need to change! if your at home you need to be disappointed if away then encourage usually does the trick!

same goes for anything you said pre match. keep it the same talk at halftime if your winning. 'pleased' is usually best when comfortable and it corresponds more or less to what you said although if your a big underdog and your winning then 'thrilled' is the way to go!

if your drawing at halftime then you need to take into account whether your favourites or not!
if your favourites then disappointed is usually best and if your not favourites then take it to the extreme either way! (either go out and enjoy or angry!) only one way will work but it changes depending on situations and who your playing. its up to you to make the right choice. pre match odds should be taken into account when deciding too! if your big favourites then angry if not then pressure off (usually!)

if your losing at halftime then you said the wrong thing pre match and you need to try to rectify it! this also depends on pre match odds and the bigger the favourite you are the angrier you can get although tact comes into play here and maybe just a little encouragement is needed if your team are very unlucky! saying the same thing wont work! also you need to make subs if your losing because it may be a personnel issue!

this is all assuming your tactic is sound. as if its not, no team talk can help!!

if ive repeated what anyone has said then i apologise! but i havent read all of the above so i dont know!!

ezekiel702

Generally these shouldn't affect you that much, I get that a lot.One thing I do sometimes which may appear a bit strange is to talk down my chances when I'm odds on, and then during the prematch I boost these by encouraging them.

If players get a 7, chances are most of the time they won't listen. Unless you specifically starget playerd </BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Rashidi.

When you talk about stronger and weaker teams, do you judge it by the odds or supposed league position at the start or do you just feel your way. In that case i mean do you "say" that that team is weaker.

Hope for response!

retired_kellyk

There are only 3 kinds of teams...teams I expect to beat, teams I need to work hard to beat, and teams that will beat me.

I look at odds, current performance and reputation of clubs. If I am favoured to beat a team, I then look at their last few matches to see how they have fared and finally to study the club's ambition.

When you first start any game in FM2007, the AI is going to take one look at you and say you're hopeless. That's why everyone does so well in the first 10 games.

Now if you have gone on a winning run, the AI then starts using its 2001 different 442 formations and starts tossing them at you. Sometimes it may even make slider changes just after the whistle.

That's when your reputation has improved. If your tactic and the way you're playing it is correct, the finetuning will happen through training and teamtalks.

So don't look at odds as the only way to identify who you should be beating easily. A team that's bound for relegation could put up a huge fight if they have the right manager with tactical knowledge and motivational skills.