Counter-Strike analyst Janko “YNk” Paunović believes Team Spirit must make a permanent change to their active coaching structure if the roster fails to perform at upcoming events.
Speaking on the Talking Counter podcast alongside Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill and Jason “moses” O’Toole, YNk stated that Dmitriy “S0tF1k” Forostyanko should take over the head coaching duties during matches from Sergey “hally” Shavayev if the team does not perform.
I think if they don’t have a good result here and at BLAST, you probably have to put S0tF1k to stand behind them,” YNk said.
Questioning tactical decisions
Spirit had a disastrous start to the Esports World Cup in Paris by losing to JiJieHao in a best-of-one matchup. The loss was followed up by two shaky wins against Luminosity and BIG to qualify the former Major winners for the playoffs.
A main point of concern for YNk is the current role allocation within the server. He criticized the decision to allocate more map space and resources to Myroslav “zont1x” Zlotia rather than prioritizing Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich, who he named the second-best rifler on the team.
It’s like trying to make TeSeS the star over NiKo, like as the third star of the team. It just doesn’t work. It makes no sense, right?” YNk explained on the broadcast.
While YNk acknowledged hally’s historical achievements, which include trophies at a Major, Katowice, and Cologne, he argued that a shift in daily operations is needed to match the team’s current needs.
I’m sure there’s a spot in the Spirit organization for hally in some capacity even within Counter-Strike, right?” YNk noted. “But more of the day-to-day, more of setting up the game and the structure for the Counter-Strike team. I don’t think you should be the one doing that anymore.
You can hear the discussion in the podcast below, where Jason “moses” O’Toole challenges YNk’s statement during the segment.
Background on the coaching situation
Team Spirit had a slow start to the 2026 season before the roster began showing signs of improvement. The upswing came at the same time as S0tF1k took over the responsibility as head coach, at a time when hally missed several events due to medical reasons.
The coaching situation reached a unique point during the IEM Cologne Major 2026. With hally absent and S0tF1k unable to travel due to visa issues, the players placed a toy coach named “Jab Jabich” behind them on stage. The team went on to reach the Semi-Final of the event without their formal coaching staff present on the server.
Team Spirit has been placed alongside NAVI, Falcons, and Team Vitality on the lower side of the playoff bracket and will have a tough route to the Grand Final in Paris. They start their run on Thursday against B8 in the Round of 16.
