How to do team talks? | Questions and Answers Football Manager 2016 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Sufficiently high morale and motivation can work miracles and contribute to winning even against the best of opponents. If you do not want to be bothered with pep talks, you can order one of your assistants to take care of that. Make sure that his Motivation attribute is sufficiently high. In spite of that, it is best to be in control of the lines uttered by the assistant - in case of confusion, you can always ask him to comment on the current situation.
There are three main parts of team talks:
- pre-match talk, when you know, more or less, what to expect of the opponent and you know what results you want to attain,
- half-time talk, when you already have a certain view of the situation, you can assess if everything is going as planned,
- Full-time talk , where you comment the results of the match, for which you either compliment or criticize your players.
Another division of team talk is also determined by whom it concerns: you can either speak to the team as a whole, to individual formations or to an individual player (this option is also available after you decide on substituting, or on introducing a player into the field).
Pre-match instruction
Here, much depends on who you are going to play with and on the score from the previous match. Try to encourage the team to winning, by being either assertive or ardent and when you are favorite to win the match, simply make things clear - I expect you to win. When the performance of the team, during the previous match was poor, you can also suggest that they play a better game. In general, present your expectations and encourage the players. If any one of them reacts negatively, you can always try and make things better during individual talks.
Half-time talk
Here, everything depends on the score. If you are winning, tell the players to keep up good work, if you are losing, tell them that they can do better. In the case of a tie, either encourage them to play better or express your disappointment. If you are losing against an outsider, it is a good idea to go aggressive and simply slap them down. Often, this allows them to get wind into wings and motivate themselves for the other half. Here, your reaction needs to according with the situation. Avoid "being cool" because the effect of this is rather undesirable - the players will give in and winning will become impossible.
Half-time talk
When all dust falls down, it is a good idea to complement the players, or give them a sound beating, while commenting on their performance. Even after a strenuous victory avoid "I have no comments at this time" that is often suggested by assistants. Appreciate the players' hard work, if they deserved that. In the case of a loss, take the opponent's position in the table: if you have lost against a theoretically weak opponent, do not be stingy on negative comments. If you do that in the case of a loss with an opponent with a higher place in the table, such criticism may be considered unfair and have a negative effect. In such situations, it is better to ensure the players that this was "Bad luck".
Side-line talks
During the game, you can shout instructions to your players, from time to time. You can either insist on their keeping to the tactic, on focusing after the opposing team ha scored, tell your players to play smart, or demand more involvement. This way, you can react to individual events in the field.
Substitution talk
While performing the substitution, you can additionally motivate the player, be expressing your faith in his skills. If you are letting a high-class player in, when the score is unfavorable, try suggesting that he is capable of altering the result. This does not always work, but the effect will be more cut-out, in case of success.
A motivational talk that concerns the entire team can well by held by the assistant, if his Motivation is at the sufficiently high level. In he case that the assistant stumbles, you can add several words of your own. To individual formations, or to individual players. Remember that you match the tone and the dialogue line - to a large extent, you will succeed if you do this properly. Simply, avoid abstract situations, e.g. a dissatisfied talk after a winning result of 5-0. There is a wide variety of factors that influence a good talk (among others: years that the player has played for the team, the manager's reputation, personalities of individual players, current morale, results of previous matches), this is why you should watch closely to the reactions of the players to what you say and pay attention to what they do (and to whether or not they do it) - you can look that up in Tactic -> Analysis -> Previous game, after you select Team talk reaction.