James1226

"Pressure is off" is excellent when you are 1/10 to win. Picked up 6 points vs. Chelsea with newly promoted Ipswich this way.

retired_thehpsleb

I agree but can you imagine doing this for every single player for every single match? it would take you ages but of course if you have time then i imagine that it will be well worth it </BLOCKQUOTE>

This is a manager game..not fifa07, ofc its worth it

retired_nsample

Lots of good points there but I wonder if these effects will be dimished by your own Manager attributes at the beginning when you are untested and therefore not very good at team talks. If you have a very good AM , how does he do it?

retired_danig6484

True, however, you do start out with average stats. In a way, this makes testing easier earlier in your career. Correct me if I'm wrong. The difficulty isn't so much keeping your manager stats relevant to the test, but in trying to consider the team: personality, 'gel', morale, skill, formation, etc..

Another question: When viewing your Assman's report on team-talks, has anyone considered that his feedback my reflect his skills as much as the teamtalk itself? Or is this too clever even for SI?

retired_nsample

OMG- team talks are complex enough without taking inverse psychology into account!

retired_eimrad

great post, tho had to read it twice, thoroughly

to add, i think your tactics must imply what u want. e easiet example is when expecting a win, i score empahaticly (3 nils above) when i put up an attacking tactic. frustratingly, when i expect a win and put up normal mentallity, i draw or loss.

when playing away, i wish them luck most of the time but play with counter attack. it works well..

retired_hspies

Another massive point regarding team talks is how you set about talking to the media before the game - if your players are "nervous" or "up for it" then u have many different possible performances combined with your team talk.

The point about individual talks is def correct. For example in my PSV game, before every match, no matter what i said my RB (the guy from Liverpool) always was motivated even when the rest weren't listening!

retired_sharonverm

Basically, the team talks are a process of elimination. I find that it is useful to get out the old pen and paper and treat it like a logic experiment. I have a list of how my players react to a certain instruction. Well, I've started one at least. For example, at half-time I know that Arteta and Cahill like to be told "Don't get careless". For my Swansea team I know that Leon Best and Leon Knight always react well to 'I have faith in your ability'. I think it's just a case of finding each individual. As an experiment, try selecting exactly the same thing for all of your players before a game (i.e. I have faith in your ability) and see who reacts well, then jot it down. Over a period of time, you should know your players inside out, thus maximizing the potential of your team. It's a little side game to the already masterful game.

Also, I have noticed that whenever you have the option to select 'I want to see more from you', select it. It definitely improves performance—at least for Everton—but then again, I have no proof that it works for all.

I am a little undecided as to whether SI should give us a guide for this. I think that if they can guarantee us that the system works well, then we don't need one. As someone else already mentioned, the ambiguity in this sense is acceptable as compared to the ambiguity of the tactics, which does need some explaining.

Any thoughts fellas?

retired_danig6484

I agree bean feast that its a logic game. But I do think its complex enough to change over time. For instance, when you've brought in a new player, or a young player starts to mature, you'll see a gradual change in what works for them.

Notes for LLManagers:

You'll often have some rather unprofessional players in your squad at the lower levels. You'll have bull-headed head-butters, weak-minded whiners, and overly-ambitious know-it-alls. It pays to focus on not putting the wrong guys under pressure.

I've found that 'have faith in your ability' is a great way to get red cards for your angry types. 'No pressure' seems to work for these types to keep them off the books. Young players will generally benefit from 'have faith', but go on to praise them more than usual or they might get 'is feeling the pressure of expectations' in their profile, a painfully long-lasting nail-biting and twittering psychological state that can end them up in the funny farm with a deck of red cards to play with...

retired_sharonverm

Talking about nail biting, twittering, psychological neurotics, look no further than Tom Heaton of Man Utd. I signed him for my Swansea team and it was a rather large mistake. EVERY time I mentioned to the media that we would have no problem winning the next match, his morale would shoot instantly to red, the poor lad did childish things in his pants, and he would mention that he was dreading the next match. During the game he would come out for crosses that he had no right to leaving an open goal and easy header, and he would constantly pass the ball to the opposition on the box. Needless to say, I replaced him with a more 'stable' Enckleman after I reached the Premiership, and he is currently receiving the best treatment for mental disorders. It was actually rather amusing, but highlights the extent to which pressure and personality impact our beloved new game.