There are other 3 important parts in the game preparation & management:

1.Pre-match talk
The key point number 1 is to attrct the attention, to capture the players. Human brain loves surprises; so use weapons like humor, or play with curiosity, don't reveal what will happen, create suspence & make it personal. During all the talk is really importangt kep the players attracted, magnetized, continue to listen. Avoid flat talks & repetitions. To make a good tallk is important to write, memorize & repeat like an actor in the theater..... & it's not easy because we have to remain natural, to avoid to create an athmosphare that is in contract with who you are.

The targets is to make players ready to perform at their maximum potential;  so the content of the speech has to remind key points of the game plan & individual duties but especially activate them to enter the pitch with the right attitude & concentration.
- Avoid long speech, less is better.You should convey as little information as possible. The less, the better.


- In the past I have used video presentations, especially during my periodo in Vietnam, and in China at the end of each together with my staff we created a video diary take aroud 30' of each days, in order to make players feel that they were doping something special, and make feel them like in a family that for Chinese is the most valuable thing. If right images are used, it could be a really important trigger to activate players attitude & commitment

- Of course at beginning of speech attention is high, keep attention with change of tone & surprises during the speech (ask for participation with a question, or start with a video or a photo, an applause....)

- Dramatising, acting like actor is used by some coaches.... i saw that is usually not for me, because i have to be coherent with myself if i want players trust me, & follow me... & i am not an actor.

- Never loose the eye contact

- Last one, for who like me is working not using his mother language: involve players for some words before enter in the pitch. I started to do this in my last period in Japan & then replicated in every country I went.  Culture is different, so any methophore could not have the same value in a different culture; the power of the most suitable word, to arrive to the center of the heart, is difficult to reach without domain of the language & last & may be most important reason: share the responsibility with them, rotate the player who talks before game, every one even the most shy has something to say, especially when players care.

Post-match talk
I was used to avoid to talk after the triple whistle; why? often too hot athmosphere & the risk was to say something, that could make the athmosphere even hotter. I have changed during my career; follow the needs of players who often asked for some words, but also because i learnt to control better my emootions  after match, split the result from the performance & use in a more constructive way the post-match talk.

There are 3 situations that can happen after the match with 6 possible scenarions

 - the match has been lost, but the performance has been satisfactory:  in the case i usually try to guide the evaluation of my  players so that they value what has happened through their own behaviour and pay less attention to the result. Focus on the positive aspects. Maintaining a high level of internal motivation now means focusing on the performance achieved and on whether the planned match has been fulfilled. There is no need to talk about the result; also because i believe that result is in most of cases son of performance. If team usually playes better than opponent, produces more chances, in long term, matches lost will be few.

- the match lost with a bad perfomance:  in this moment, is important why performance was poor. was because of attitude? Repeptition of individual mistakes? a period of low confidence? it's time to pay a lot of attention to the words to use, in order to cheer up players, keep the confidence & align players vision with mine & the aspect i wan they focus on. 

 - the match won with but with a poor performance: this post match tallk in locker room is really really important. This is the case where I have to guide my players to reflect on performance, disconnect the mind from results, because result has shown something deceptive.  It is necessary to avoid the players drawing personal conclusions that are not the most advisable. After a match, it is very possible that the athletes will draw very different conclusions from what has happened. And they may not be the most appropriate or at least not the ones that are most interesting to the coach.  If the coach does not intervene in the locker room, he may lose the opportunity for the players to focus their attention where it best suits them.

- the match won & with a good performance:  The ideal situation is that the result of the match has been good and the performance as well. The coach can add the positive effect of the result and the performance; but always keeping your feet firmly on the ground, avoiding flights of fancy that can only lead to presumption, a distorted view of reality and a loss of attention to details. We must convince players  to stay hungry even after having a full stomach. On the other side of the locker room there will be a team that will watch the same game to find the aspects to improve, and we will have to make the players understand that we have won but there is always something we can do better and not remain alone in self-celebration.

Resuming If the coach's objective is to maintain the players' confidence in the team's game plan and what is done during training, it is best to attribute the errors to others: it was the referee's fault, we were unlucky,... and internally the successes: things have gone well because we deserved it, our performance has been as expected, we are in good form... On the contrary, if it is about making the team grow more, it is advisable to make an internal attribution of the errors: we lost because we were not at our level, we can do some things better on the field,...

 

Press conference

Preparation for the next match begins with the press conference after a match. Statements made in front of the media can be a great way to reinforce a message to players, fans and managers, or to direct the attention of those around you towards what the coach thinks is advisable at that moment.

I usually prepare message i want to say before go conferece or talk with media. Facing direct questions from journalists without having preparation  can be dangerous and can end up saying the opposite of what I wanted to say. There are moments where i am  interested in maintaining the trust of my people by internally attributing successes or acknowledging mistakes to help the team grow. Think well, Words are very important.
Is also very important choosing who we are going to address the message to at the press conference: players, managers, club,.... etc.
I always remember myself that questions must  not be taken as a personal attack, especially when team is not crossing a good period..... the risk is to llose the self-cpntrol & transfer nervousness to players