Squad unhappiness is unrealistic

[madeirabhoy]

sorry but this is mental. this is the second time. last week I was playing a new game as Celtic, who as you might know have 4 rounds of qualifying before getting to CL. that time I did leave out a player who whilst not first pick was in my previous squads and he threw his dummy and I didnt handle it well and the squad mutinied and I got thrashed my next game.

 

so started again brand new save. 

 

and early days but it was going so well. 9 friendlies won, most by a barrowload. first CL qualifying round, albeit against Vikingur, 19-0 on aggregate.

Red Star 4-0 on aggregate. 

first league game, 5-0 v Livingston.

 

and then I have to confirm my squad for the 3rd round Qualifier against AEK. Mulumbu is a bit part player. in real life he was signed for free aged 32, for cover. he played 6 games this season, starting 4 (subbed in 2)  and brought on twice. so he was never Henrik Larsson in real life.

 

and he wasnt in my first squad, then I signed new players and it was hard to fit them in. he went in my second squad. so when I went to select the squad for the third round and I could only change one player, Timothy Weah, on loan from PSG, was going to take the place Lustig left when he er...left..I did actually go for the automatic squad choice option for the first two squads and then manually made my choice for weak to fill the space. 

 

and Mulumbu throws his dummy. so I speak to him. but of course none of the options are 'sorry you are a squad player and Weah is a future star'. my only options come down to, 

im sorry I was wrong and ill put you in the squad next time. 

or

get on with your work !

 

so it has to be the latter type option. otherwise im lying

 

 

what do you know. 75% of the squad are unhappy and they want a meeting.

again although theres 5 options they basically come down to the same two options. no 'look lads ive picked the best squad' answer. either sorry ill make it up to him or do what you are told. so again the latter and they are foaming at the mouth over a new free signing not being picked above a cracking loan signing.

 

and sure enough AEK are all over me at home. im 1 down then I get lucky and scrape a 2-1 victory with a dodgy penalty and they all look on me like im sure the Chelsea players are looking at Sarri tonight.

 

so my thoughts are:

1. its an over reaction for mulumbu to get angry at not being in the squad. but at least its almost realistic.

2. the lack of options for sensible answers make the situation worse.

3. in this situation there's no way the players would demand a meeting.

4. again the lack of sensible answers mean the situation is inflamed. 

 

[Kewell_Beans]

Did you take any screenshots of the interaction options?

https://www.reviewed.com/laptops/features/how-to-take-a-screenshot-on-mac-and-pc

[sporadicsmiles]

8 hours ago, madeirabhoy said:

1. its an over reaction for mulumbu to get angry at not being in the squad. but at least its almost realistic.

I have to disagree here. I have never had a player who has not been annoyed at me for leaving him out of a squad. What squad status does he have, and what is his standing at the club (influential player, etc)? Anything above backup and he will for certain be annoyed. Even backup he will not be happy to miss out. To be honest, you should avoid this situation by managing the squad better (this is not me being harsh, I have done the same and the same criticism stands).

8 hours ago, madeirabhoy said:

2. the lack of options for sensible answers make the situation worse.

I agree that the options should be better. Usually there is something along the lines of "sorry, you are a victim of an imbalanced squad" or something, though.

8 hours ago, madeirabhoy said:

3. in this situation there's no way the players would demand a meeting.

That entirely depends. If the player is influential and a member of the core social group, then absolutely his friends will be annoyed for him. In that case, you would want to know why he was left out. You have to think "what would I do in this situation if it happened in real life". I, for one, would absolutely stick by a colleague and try to help him out if I could. Or at least get some idea of what was going on.

8 hours ago, madeirabhoy said:

4. again the lack of sensible answers mean the situation is inflamed.  

Usually the "I will not put the needs of an individual over that of the club", or whatever one is similar, works here. If you have a professional squad, they normally respond well to this. But it depends, of course. An option saying you picked the best team available, or that someone has to miss out because of the imbalance of the squad would also be nice (shouldering the blame yourself).

[madeirabhoy]

13 hours ago, sporadicsmiles said:

I have to disagree here. I have never had a player who has not been annoyed at me for leaving him out of a squad. What squad status does he have, and what is his standing at the club (influential player, etc)? Anything above backup and he will for certain be annoyed. Even backup he will not be happy to miss out. To be honest, you should avoid this situation by managing the squad better (this is not me being harsh, I have done the same and the same criticism stands).

I agree that the options should be better. Usually there is something along the lines of "sorry, you are a victim of an imbalanced squad" or something, though.

That entirely depends. If the player is influential and a member of the core social group, then absolutely his friends will be annoyed for him. In that case, you would want to know why he was left out. You have to think "what would I do in this situation if it happened in real life". I, for one, would absolutely stick by a colleague and try to help him out if I could. Or at least get some idea of what was going on.

Usually the "I will not put the needs of an individual over that of the club", or whatever one is similar, works here. If you have a professional squad, they normally respond well to this. But it depends, of course. An option saying you picked the best team available, or that someone has to miss out because of the imbalance of the squad would also be nice (shouldering the blame yourself).

he's a 32 year old free transfer. he's not even played for me yet (it was a transfer already done when I took over).  apparently he's fairly loyal.  

 

it says he's an influential player. which is nonsense. not only has he just joined the club as cover, but he's hardly featured in real life and I haven't seen anyone complaining.

the game does have him as key player, which would suggest maybe the problem is the Celtic FM researcher wrongly attributing him.

 

I mean at the same time Nir Bitton isn't in any of the squads, he's been with the club for about 5 years, always in and around the team and no one gives a fig. 

[madeirabhoy]

21 hours ago, Kewell_Beans said:

Did you take any screenshots of the interaction options?

https://www.reviewed.com/laptops/features/how-to-take-a-screenshot-on-mac-and-pc

sadly was too angry

 

[RBKalle]

22 ore fa, madeirabhoy ha scritto:

1. its an over reaction for mulumbu to get angry at not being in the squad. but at least its almost realistic.

Unless a player is VERY temperamental in real life and has a high opinion of himself, it's a bit unrealistic that a rotation/backup would throw a hissy fit about not being registered.

22 ore fa, madeirabhoy ha scritto:

2. the lack of options for sensible answers make the situation worse.

That's been one of FM interactions' biggest flaw and most frustrating aspect. Most options are a variation of you being a doormat and giving in to any request, making up excuses nobody buys or just telling the player to STFU.
The first option paints you in a corner with promises you can't or don't want to keep, the others are a recipe for disaster because most players react like sulky teenagers

22 ore fa, madeirabhoy ha scritto:

3. in this situation there's no way the players would demand a meeting.

As above, squad reactions are way too extreme... Again, unless you're benching or sidelining a respected locker room leader or a club legend, the bulk of your squad won't be bothered about how you handle the fringe members of the team-

22 ore fa, madeirabhoy ha scritto:

4. again the lack of sensible answers mean the situation is inflamed. 

x10 becuase it's many people overreacting at once and being unreasonable.

[Had_Enough]

38 minutes ago, madeirabhoy said:

it says he's an influential player. which is nonsense. not only has he just joined the club as cover, but he's hardly featured in real life and I haven't seen anyone complaining.

the game does have him as key player, which would suggest maybe the problem is the Celtic FM researcher wrongly attributing him.

You can easily change squad status, often with minimal effect. The onus is really on you to stay on top of these aspects. Not playing key players will always result in similar issues.

Whilst plenty of free agents become influential figures in the dressing room. Age and reputation are important factors. Again you run the risk of issues if you neglecting who are influential and their potential effect on others.

12 minutes ago, RBKalle said:

 

That's been one of FM interactions' biggest flaw and most frustrating aspect. Most options are a variation of you being a doormat and giving in to any request, making up excuses nobody buys or just telling the player to STFU.
The first option paints you in a corner with promises you can't or don't want to keep, the others are a recipe for disaster because most players react like sulky teenagers

 

Whilst I believe the OP could have easily avoided this and managed it better I do agree with the above that the interaction options are extremely frustrating and limiting. It's why I try to avoid them at all costs.

My strategy: befriend the team leader and get him to diffuse most issues. Works the vast majority of times.