How to create a successful tactic on Football Manager

Team-talks

Written by Justice

Team-talks are what can make or break your season. In my opinion, it is one of the most important ways of keeping your squad motivated and determined throughout the season, especially when it feels like the season just keeps dragging on and on with no relief. There are many different scenarios which you will face, and you will need to choose your team-talk accordingly in order to get the best out of your players.

Your team is struggling

Let’s say your team has been struggling in recent fixtures and you have found yourself in a drop of form, your team will find it very difficult to get the confidence back to break their bad run, or you are struggling to break the deadlock in a tough fixture. It is a popular belief that the “hairdryer treatment” is the correct solution for this situation, when, in fact, it usually isn’t. You need to be calm and encouraging, letting the players know that you have faith in them to improve their form. You need to instill belief in to your squad instead of fear, although that can work at times, but not often enough to consider an aggressive approach to team talks a success, in my opinion.

Your team didn't perform as expected

An aggressive approach might not work when your team’s morale is down the drain, but it can work if your team is playing complacently and making silly mistakes. For example, if you are playing against a much weaker team but you find yourself on the wrong side of a hammering, your team needs an aggressive team-talk to make them understand that they alone were at fault for the defeat. You do need to be careful with aggressive team-talks because if you deliver them in the wrong situation, your team’s morale will suffer enormously.

Your team barely wins a game you expected to win

Now that we have covered what sort of team-talks you should say when your team is struggling or didn’t perform when you expected them to, let’s discuss what sort of team-talks are needed when your team wins a game. If your team won a game which they were expected to win and by a score-line which they were expected to win by, praise them calmly. You do not want them to become over-confident and complacent, you want them to know that they did what was expected of them well, but it was nothing special.

Your team pulls off a shock win

If your team has performed admirably and gotten a result to be proud of, a passionate team-talk can really help to boost your players’ morale that bit more. A passionate team-talk will make your team realise that the result which they earned was one to be proud of, and they will be filled with confidence and joy, ready to take on their next opponents.

Your team is playing nervously

There will come a time where you will be facing a team which can really damage your’s, and your players are nervous going in to the game. In this situation, you should calmly tell your players to stay relaxed and play their football. If your players can play with a settled mind, they will have no additional weight on their shoulders and they can play freely. This is particularly useful for cup finals or derby games, where there is an added intensity to the fixture.

This was a brief summary of the sort of team-talks you can use in Football Manager, and when to use them. It does take a while to master the art of team-talks, but it is an invaluable skill to have, and one that you will be grateful to have developed. Be wise and be careful with your team-talks, as they can indeed make or break your team’s season.