Understanding Shouts in FM26 and How They Affect Your Team

Among the various complaints that have dogged Football Manager 26 since its rocky launch was the removal of touchline shouting from the game. Not every player spends a lot of time worrying about shouts, but for those who do, it is often viewed as a critical part of managing a team and keeping them focused and firing on all cylinders over the course of the match. Now touchline shouts are back and ready for use in FM 26, so here’s what you need to know to determine when and how to use them to your team’s benefit.

What Are Shouts In Football Manager?

Shouts are instructions given from the touchline during a match designed to change the way your team is behaving on the pitch. You can only offer shouts every ten minutes, and they consist of simple commands, not complex adjustments to your plans. Once given, the shout goes into play the next time the ball goes into touch or the ref blows the whistle to stop the game for a foul or an injured player.

How Are Shouts Different Than Tactical Changes?

For beginning players, shouts can be a bit confusing because you already have the tools to change how your players are behaving at your disposal in the form of your tactics. Shouts are not the complex tactical frameworks you work on and tweak throughout a season, but rather a short-term way to change the focus of your players’ behavior. 

Instead of thinking of touchline shouting as a way to fix your team and alter your tactics, view it as a way to make small tweaks and complement your tactical adjustments. Demanding more may not be enough to avoid a transition to a more attacking mindset, for example, but may be used in conjunction with a shift to shake a team out of its rut before sending them barrelling forward in pursuit of an equalizer.

When giving shouts, you can also deliver a team shout or customize it to specific players if you have individuals or units behaving differently relative to the rest of the squad, similar to team talks.

What Do Shouts Do And When Should You Use Them?

Suppose you’re an experienced Football Manager player who has already used shouts in your gameplay. In that case, able to pick them up and incorporate them in FM 26 easily, as they have carried over from prior editions. If you’re new to the game or previously have avoided shouts but are looking to add them to your repertoire now, here are the different shout options and how to utilize them:

• Encourage: A shout for when your team is facing a difficult situation, and you are concerned about morale. This is best implemented when facing a dire situation like a larger opponent or playing down men.
• Calm Down: Lowers the tension around your team when they are behaving rashly. If your team or a player is conceding fouls and playing with card-based fire, this can be helpful. 
• Focus: Tells the team to get their heads back in the game. This shout is ideal when you’re coasting, but your players appear complacent, and you’re worried you may give opponents a bit of hope to grab onto.
• Fire Up: This is the inverse shout of Focus, instead telling players to dial things back a bit. This can be helpful in keeping players from letting big moments lead to rash decisions and leaving you short-sided for a big game.
• No Pressure: Telling your team they’re under no pressure means there are minimal expectations on the game, like playing a national power in a cup. This can help players relieve anxiety and give their best performance on the pitch.
• Demand More: Urges players to push themselves harder to get back into a game. Best used when your team is trailing in a game or playing poorly, and has failed to respond in a timely fashion.
• Praise: If the good times are rolling and you want them to continue, this tells your team just that. Use it when you’re already leading, and you want the team to just keep doing what’s working.
• Berate: Another inverse situation, this is for when things are going far from right, like trailing to a team you shouldn’t be and looking shambolic while doing it. This tells the team that their current play is unacceptable and needs correcting.

Shouts are a bit of a marmite tool among managers, but it’s good to see them back, as it never hurts to have the option. Are you excited to have shouts back, or was the whole ordeal a storm in a teapot for you?