Head Coach of SSG, 'Edgar', is concerned for his players' mental and physical health

On July 11th(KST), on the 2nd series of the day, 'Samsung Galaxy' and 'Ever8 Winners' fought it out on top the stage of OGN. Although SSG struggled in the 1st set, they overcame their opposers to win the series with a score of 2:0. As the series closed, the head coach of SSG was called by OGN for an interview over the phone.


You just won the series 2:0. How do you feel?

Although we won the series, it was very hard fought. There have been too many of these instances happening in our games recently. And Ambition's physical and mental conditions were very bad today, so we had to sub in Haru despite his lack of prior practice. 


What kind of feedback was given to the players after the 1st set?

Even during the 'Rift Rivals', our team constantly made mistakes despite getting the early heads-up through a ward. Although this issue has been addressed to the players, actually fixing it came to be more difficult. It's something that we need to constantly work to fix.


Ambition's playing condition was very poor today.

In games where Ambition played, there were many early game struggles. I just had to sub in Haru and let Ambition rest.


The reason for not picking Galio?

Many already know, but our team is notorious for doing bad with Galio. On top of that, he was also hit by nerfs recently... So many teams are starting to leave him open, not just us.


Jarvan is starting to gain more popularity, don't you think?

During our stay in Taiwan, we found out that Kled and Jarvan saw much more play in the other regions. And as for the playstyle, LPL teams are much more aggressive than the LCK ones. I honestly believe that we lost to LPL due to the lack of skills on our side. But for the next international tournament, we will practice much more and show a completely different form. 


You and the team experienced a very busy schedule, which also includes the 'Rift Rivals'. Isn't it difficult?

All the players are having a hard time right now. They are getting no rest and are constantly playing nonstop. Physically and mentally, the players are struggling. I am currently doing my best to give them my full support for their recovery on the said issues. 


Any final words?

I want to sincerely apologize to the fans for our team's "less than okay" performance during the 'Rift Rivals'. But please understand that we weren't just full of ourselves and proceeded to underestimate the LPL teams. Our past record in LCK before the 'Rift Rivals' kind of prove this to a certain degree; as we showed subpar performance before we left as well. The games we won were not exactly made by our skills, but rather the mistakes of the other team. In our next international tournament, we will try our absolute best to show a much much better form.

Currently, all of the players are suffering from all the flak they are receiving from the fans. So please show them pity and comfort them... The people who are experiencing the most amount of difficulty are the players, not the coaching staff. They really gave it their all, but the fans are speculating that they didn't. Of course, it is our fault for losing... But have they sinned against anyone? Like I said, it's not like they didn't do their best... I can honestly say that the Korean teams are putting in the most amount of work out of all the other regions. 

I will accept all of the words that the fans give us if we deserved it for not doing our best. But we did. The players are really suffering from all the rebukes the fans are giving them.