Nerves

[fm20]

I've noticed a new thing with my players getting nervous during games.

They are triple premier league and champions league winners, unbeaten so far this season. Away to a mid-table team and winning 1-0 at half time, following a penalty. Three players, all established internationals including one described as a global superstar are nervous. One player, a 17 year old regen striker is very nervous, but I can forgive that.

This has only started happening recently - my last game saw the same until I went 2-0 up and ended up running out 3-0 winners.

Given my team talks and media work I'd expect overconfidence to be an issue so I'm a little surprised by this.

 

[Shaymen of Halifax]

Does the coach report say how they handle big matches?

 

[fm20]

The worst culprit is Coutinho, a star player, professional personality, "plenty of international experience", "enjoys big matches". That said, I wouldn't class Villa away as a "big match" when he's a triple league/european cup winner who has regularly played and beaten all the top teams.

 

[managingmanager]

I think whatever you say in pre-match press conference can make players nervous. For example, if you say you expect a win, they may be nervous due to expectations. If, on the other hand, you say it'll be a difficult game, they may be nervous due to lack of confidence. Of course, this would be in real life and FM isn't quite real life.

Having said that, what kind of stuff do you do (team talk and others) that would have you expect overconfidence?

The opposition manager's pre-game press conference could affect your players too, but I wouldn't think it'd be more than just one of the contributory factors.