This should be in the Arenal talk thread.
Anyway, yes team talk does effect the squad. But as far as I'm concerned it's really a question of chance whether you get it right or not. But it does depend on how your form has been over the last few games. Say if you've won 4-5 games in a row, try to be a little more demanding. If you've lost a couple be more supportive. Also check the morale. Sometimes one player will have a poor morale while the rest are fine. You can maybe single out this player for some encouragement. If at half time your team is doing poorly but the morale is high amongst the team, you can be a more critical of them. Just stuff like that.
As for Andrew Johnson, I'm with you. He seems to score all the time. But to be honest, so does every other English striker. I think the bloody game has been designed by a Britisher!
Seems everytime I play Johnson, Ashton, Doyle, Defoe etc they run me ragged. All except the best of the lot - Rooney. He doesnt seem quite as dangerous against me. I usually man-mark these jokers with my best defender. Has worked in 08 so far. But I think this might be a bug which needs to be fixed. Ffs, I have had less problems against Ibrahimovic, Henry and Eto'o than against these jokers!!!