It has been 5 weeks past since Coach Ssong had made his promise to make TSM a formidable team. As of now, TSM is standing at 7 wins 7 losses and placing 5th in the NA LCS ladder. Compared to the consecutive losses TSM has gone through early in the split, the performances TSM has has recently is by far a much improved version of TSM. However, the strongest TSM that Coach Ssong had once talked about is still a bit far from reach.

Now there are only 2 weeks left in the regular season. TSM is left with important games ahead of them in order to qualify for the post season. What thoughts is Coach Ssong having right now?

“The team atmosphere is good. The team, myself included, have regained our confidence. Reducing a lot of the problems we have faced, we have regained a lot of our confidence. As if forming a brand new team, our discipline has changed alongside responsibility allocation.

Regarding to what we need to change in and outside of the game and figuring out what is needed to be done in order for TSM’s gears to start turning, I believe all our hard efforts have paid off. However, I am not saying that I have resolved all this by myself. Because the players and coaching staff have all worked together, we were able to fix most of our issues.

But, I believe TSM is only at 60~70% of what we could be. Because I still have confidence that we could do a lot better than how we are doing now, TSM will perform even better with everyone’s constant support.”

TSM’s coach, Ssong, seemed to have changed a lot since before. When he was on Immortals, Coach Ssong showed a rather difficult but yet friendly attitude towards his team. However on TSM, Coach Ssong seems to act more formal and careful around his team.

It came to mind that maybe the reason for the change in Coach Ssong’s behaviour is due to the difference between the state with Immortals at that time and the state with TSM now.

“In Immortals, I felt a need to let my team get close to each other rather than me getting along with them. This is because, there is a difference when I am with them and when I am not with them. I believed that there were a lot more things they could easily talk about when I’m not there. With TSM, I have gotten the feeling that I needed to get closer with my team. Since our start was not as good as we had hoped, it felt like not only the players but also myself were immersed in a very heavy atmosphere.

Me being nervous also played a big part. Because I wanted to produce great results, I put an extreme amount of pressure on the team. The strong thought of ‘How could I resolve this problem’. TSM’s brand name also put a lot of pressure on me. Even right now, I am putting all of my efforts into making sure TSM makes it to playoffs with only 2 weeks left of the regular season.”

In what way could Coach Ssong reduce the amount of unease he is going through right now? Coach Ssong only gave one answer. To improve TSM to the point where they can compete in international events. TSM’s head coach, Coach Ssong, explained that bringing TSM to MSI will alleviate a lot of the unease he is going through.

“A majority of our players have a lot of international experience. If we are able to qualify for international events, I think a lot of our strengths will emerge. Although right now playoffs are of the utmost importance, TSM going to MSI will put a lot of weight off my shoulders.

I’m not usually a person that feels a lot of pressure. However with my mind of concern growing, I have recently felt a lot of pressure. Now, I think of this more as an opportunity. If I am able to overcome this extreme pressure, I believe a reward equal to the pressure will come my way.

Another thing I am grateful of is that Reginald puts a lot of consideration for me. Even when the team was not doing so well, Reginald never showed his face. He believed in me and decided not to interfere. Since Reginald was a profession player and has a lot of insight about the game, he would have given us a lot of help if he had wanted to. However, I believe that he respects me enough to not say anything or interfere.”