NIP head coach admits after “embarrassing” performance: We’re struggling a bit right now
Can the Swedes bounce back as they head into the crucial Shanghai Major cycle?
Yesterday, Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) suffered a disappointing defeat at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, losing to AMKAL, a team currently ranked #53 in the world.
To make matters worse for the Swedish Ninjas, AMKAL entered the match with nine consecutive losses and was forced to play the entire series with their coach filling in.
Following the defeat and subsequent exit from the BLAST Showdown, a disheartened NIP head coach, Richard “Xizt” Landström, shared his thoughts with BLAST coverage in a post-match interview.
- They are basically a mix playing with their coach. For sure this game really stings, and I think it was a bit embarrassing for us. We should beat them 9-10 times. But we didn’t show up, Xizt told James Banks.
- Honestly, I don’t think AMKAL ran any strats at all. They were taking and searching for duels, and I think we played a bit afraid.
Photo credit: Michal Konkol and BLAST Premier
Xizt also touched on the decisive overtime battle on Vertigo, where NIP struggled to close out the series.
- To be honest, it was very stressful, the way that we played. I think we lost two or three 4v3 situations on CT (in overtime). We got a really good start, but then we lost these advantages because we were afraid that 'they could be mid, they could be B, they could be A,' and we were over-rotating, thinking too much and playing a bit too afraid, Xizt explained.
- Moving on to the T side, I think we got into some pretty good situations, but it just got way too scrappy, and we were forcing way too many situations, maybe not having our guns out when we should—like shuffling through our grenades and stuff like that. It was just very messy. And of course, that will favor AMKAL.
Concerned about the future?
When asked about the future and whether this performance was just a one-off, Xizt appeared somewhat discouraged.
- I would love to think so, but the truth is that we’ve been struggling—especially online. On LAN, we have had decent results… We just haven’t figured out how to play online. Usually, it’s the other way around when you have these young guns. But yeah, I would say that we’re struggling a bit right now, Xizt admitted to BLAST.
You can watch the entire interview down below.