Team Talks Overhaul

[Parmie]

This is one area, amongst a few others, that routinely frustrates me while playing FM, especially when I see something like the 'players feel the pressure ease'. when there is no in-game prompts to view how pressured they feel going into the talk. The more amazon series that come out, the better view we get, like Arteta and his motivation experiments with the players what talks look like.

How I'd like to see this improved......

 

Match engine prompts/reactions:

There are events that occur during the game which should impact on the players mental state at half/full time.

• An individual mistake. e.g. a defender missing a header, a striker missing a sitter
• The scoreline and general performance vs the opposition
• The crowd's perception of the team and their performance
• Performing a task/duty they are unfamiliar with/don't want to do e.g. player out of position, low work rate player asked to press
• Players' perceptions of other individuals or sections of the team performance/decisions, e.g. strikers view of their defence, is another player annoyed/sympathetic with the one who made a mistake, "you should have passed to me!" 

And then the environmental aspects of the team at the time.

• Are they playing home/away, is it a derby game
• The league position/performance
• Off the field issues e.g. A board takeover, bad club finances

Delivering the team talk:

I see this as merging the above noted events/influences into what you want to get out of the talk, i.e. Preparation phase.

This isn't a manager sitting down and writing notes between the bench and changing room, this is getting it straight in your head what you need to achieve from your talk, even if emotionally driven "I'm going to go in there and give them what for", is still some kind of prep. 

This brings to mind an immersion point, being able to pick who is on your bench, big clubs with a dozen coaches can't all fit on the bench, so who is actually with the manager? Assistant, tactics coach etc. someone with high rated people management/motivating to help with the below items?

Staff advice

• Their opinion of the team's mental state and what they need. "I think the team look pretty down after that half, I think you need to try to pick them up"
• Raising up individual player items for you to consider. "Player x looks really up for the fight, but he's on a yellow". This should be by exception and not commentary on everyone out there

Player to player interaction

• Particularly with a bad performance the players could be arguing or attempting to blame one another
• The Captain/Senior players may be making their own attempts at motivating the team, either successfully or with an adverse effect

Delivery Phase:

Lets say the game has presented the above points to you in some way before you start pushing team talk buttons. The current one-gesture, one message delivery would be hysterically weird in real life, I hope SI staff meetings aren't like that. 

What Result Do You Want to Achieve?

I see this as options to select from on the desired outcome of the talk and how to react to the events of the match.

• Change to the players' morale
• Adherence or change to the tactical mentality being used
• Change or continuation of current performance levels
• Set an objective for the next half/game e.g. keep the clean sheet, get a goal

How to Deliver the Message 

This should not be the specific text you would say, but an overview with options like:

• What is your mental state to project to the team. e.g. happy, pleased, calm, neutral, disappointed, angry
• Your reaction to our performance, the current match status. e.g. focus on the scoreline, focus on the match statistics (maybe be able to specify a statistic), disciplinary such as yellow/red cards
• Your reaction to the opposition performance. same examples as our performance
• Focus on individual players/sections of the team e.g. negative towards mistake, positive towards mistake
• Being able to address or ignore issues in the preparation phase. e.g. allow or close down the Captain's chatter/player arguments

So what would this look like in-game? I'll add a nuance that when I've watched inexperienced players stream FM, they completely trust AI advice, perceiving this is 'the game' rather than a representation of your staff, who might be giving you poor advice.

Outcome Phase:

Visible or discernible reactions to team talks should be exceptional to something significant. The outcome should really be seen in the next half or match. 

• An average reaction should be the couple of claps and come-on's and is not report worthy to the manager
• players showing a variation to that should be reported, e.g. "players quietly left the dressing room", "players gave a loud cheer as they left the dressing room"
• individuals addressed might react, "I won't let you down boss"

How could all this be presented in game?

• At the end of a half or match, clicking the Team Talk button takes you to the Preparation Phase screen, the left hand with staff advice prompts. (I would prefer low attribute staff to offer nothing rather than incorrect observations). If the players are feeling pressure or complacent, this is the place to being to give us some visibility of that please. The right side could be match statistics to save the manager have to click away to find those
• We then click through to the Delivery Phase screen. Set your objective(s). Pick your 'how to deliver' option(s), probably the mental state one is compulsory and at least one other
• The Outcome is presented as response to your talk

 

The premise being that assuming every match played is different, the options you'd select will provide the variation as can things like derby games, result streaks etc. It's inferred you're 'outstretching your arms' and saying something like 'that's as comprehensive as it gets' for the 100th time by not giving you those literal basic options to select.

An example could be:

• Set objectives: improve players morale, improve performance level
• Delivery: Disappointed. Our performance. Focus Shots on Target. Allow players argument. Select player x - positive reaction to mistake
• Outcome: Player x 'thanks you as he leaves the dressing room'
• Actual result: shown via the match engine, some staff hints, post-match reaction to team talk

It's then up to the players imaginations to fill in the words being used. It can be humanised via looking at post-match reactions perhaps.

I think how to generate a positive/negative reaction is really a separate post. Potentially using a managers style/personality in combination with player personalities, how influential you are on players based on the relationship. time at club and so on. Ultimately I'd like to see much more realistic and better player interactions too.

 

[Zachary Whyte]

Thank you for the very detailed suggestions. These will be reviewed and considered by the developers.