How to motivate my players against weaker teams?

[TeknoTel]

So I have been playing fm for a long time and have most of the game down.

I play lower league and am doing really well. However a recurring problem I have is with my teams consistency especially against weaker opposition. We will go and play really well against higher opposition particularly in cup matches against prem teams, I am championship atm after being promoted from L1.

The issue is we will be playing great and on a really good run and then come up against a team in the relegation zone or at least bottom half and struggling. We lose these games a lot...

I only buy players with at least fairly good consistency, 13 or higher determination (usually higher) and if they are bad in big games I dont buy them a lot of the time, so my team is good mentally.

I assume my issue is that my players just arent motivated enough against weaker teams. Has anyone experienced this and have a good strategy for helping team motivation for these games?

I presume I can do this through team talks and pre match interviews, just nto sure of the right approach for my high determination team. Is there a player characteristic to determine the approach?

Any tips would be cool as it is the last part of the game I feel I am lacking in. Thank you.

[Frosty]

Maybe use your second team and tell them to impress you? Might make them play harder as player reputation is quite similiar on the pitch.
Or use your first team and tell them to play without pressure.

[HUNT3R]

If you want to "motivate" them, tell them you expect a win against a poorer team. However, you consistently having this issue, shows that it's probably a tactical issue that you can't break down teams defending deep.

[TeknoTel]

Originally posted by HUNT3R:

If you want to "motivate" them, tell them you expect a win against a poorer team. However, you consistently having this issue, shows that it's probably a tactical issue that you can't break down teams defending deep.

I am almost certain its psycholoogical. I played the first and second team in the league beating them both and moving up to 4th. We then played the 20th team in the league and I told them i expected nothing less the a win and then to guard against comlancency in the second half as we were ahead. We won.

Now playing the 22nd team in the league, this time I told them to carry on where they finished from last match. We are 1-0 down in 8 mins and then 2 mins later my full back got a straight red.

Think you are right, need to just tell them we expect to win.... Will see how it works, I have a lot of faith in my tactic.