A Basic Approach To Team Talk

Last years Communication & Psychological Warfare Ebook revolutionized the way I perceived player interaction in FM. Sadly, the publishers and developers of the game failed to see the positives of this publication, mainly because you had to pay for it, but that's another story that I will no doubt get into in detail later on.
Since I'm a chart and graph fanatic I created a team talk chart based on the information in Communication & Pshychological Warfare and the FM Britain forum.

Team Talks

Pre-Match

Team Talk	Pre-requisites
Tell the players they can win this game	Home games where you are favourite Favourable odds away where you feel a win is realistic
Wish the team luck ahead of the game	Home or away games where the odds are clearly against you
Tell the players you expect them to win the match	Clear favourites with a very determined, ambitous and professional squad
For the fans	Against fierce rivals Cup finals Always add individual instructions
No pressure	Facing certain defeat Combine with encouraging team talks to key players

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Half-Time

Team Talk	Pre-reguisites
Show your anger/Expect nothing else than a win	Behind or drawing a game you should clearly win Make tactical changes Bring on new players Add individual team talks Don't use too often
Dissapointed/I want to see more from you	Behind in a game you want to do better in, but not necessarily get a resounding win Players are putting in an average performance and need to improve For ambitious squads where you are drawing or only leading by one
You can win today	Use this route if angry/disappointed is too harsh Useful if holding onto a draw away without being favourite If your team has too low morale for angry/disappointed
Sympathize	If you are unlucky to be behind in spite of good performance
Pleased	To sustain 2+ goal lead against a good opponent To keep morale up when playing well after poor performances Unprofessional and inconsistent players may see this as an excuse to stop trying
Show encouragement to the team	If leading closely against strong opponents
Don't let your performance drop	Leading closely, in control and dominating but has to stay focused When expecting committed opposition in the first half
Pleased at the performance	If you dominate the game but need a bit of luck to score
Thrilled	3+ goal lead at home 2+ goal lead away Leading against very strong opponent When squad is clearly performing above themself
For the fans	Same as pre-match
Enjoy the rest of the game/the pressure is off	Friendlies Nothing left to win Clearly behind against clearly better opponent

Post-Match

Team Talk	Pre-Requisites
Show your anger	May work once or twice if doing well in the league Can cause bad dressing room atmosphere
Disappointed	Often a better choice than showing anger Give individual praise
Don't say a word	Can be used instead of anger with poor squad morale Useful with big team with unremarkable performance
Warn against complacency	After narrow wins With a series of narrow wins that you used to win easily
Sympathise/good effort	When unlucky not to get a result
Pleased	They have done what you asked for and possibly more
Delighted	Convincing performance
Fantastic	Always use if available
Why can't you play like this every week	Good for a good team on a bad run Bad for small team with a lucky result

This worked fairly well in FM 2010 and should work reasonably well in FM 2011.

Simplifying things in a simple chart isn't always enough though. A lot depends on the players personality, morale etc. Any method you see published on the Internet should be regarded as a guideline and it is always a good idea to test it and possibly improve upon it.