OG have been struggling to get good results for more than six months. In 2023, they haven’t done anything major. Their best results came at IEM Katowice (9th-12th), IEM Rio (7th-8th), and IEM Dallas (7th-8th).
Other results include the complete failure from BLAST.tv Paris Major (20th-22nd) and the 3rd-4th place obtained at Brazy Party, which was a mere A-tier tournament.
Given the expectations of the management and the likely salaries of the players, what OG have achieved in 2023 is completely unsatisfactory. Which is why some of the players have been transfer-listed. OG decided to start with Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar and Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov.
Both of them joined around mid-2022. NEOFRAG was signed at the end of May while degster was brought in on July 15. Now, just one year later, they are leaving OG. In the case of NEOFRAG, nobody is surprised. But degster should have been allowed to continue to play.
Finally get back access for my business mail 😉[email protected] pic.twitter.com/dxclQJmn6l
— Abdul Gasanov (@degsterof) June 4, 2023
An analysis of OG’s decision
A quick look at degster’s stats clearly indicates that he is a potential superstar. On the right roster, he will do great things. And he’s only 21 years old. It’s not entirely clear why OG decided to transfer-list him. Perhaps they think they can recover some of their losses by selling him for a good price, which would probably be an accurate assumption.
But maybe he asked to be transfer-listed himself. After a long period of disappointing results, high-quality players often feel the need to start from scratch again and forget about the failures. It’s hard to do this while remaining on the same team because the more you fail, the higher the tension that gets generated.
After a while, players no longer vibe with each other. Mistrust starts to build among them and there’s always a feeling of helplessness among them. It seems that no matter how hard you train for a tournament, things will not go as planned. In turn, this creates an attitude of carelessness that ruins motivation.
The only way to break the vicious cycle is through open discussion. But that’s not always possible or encouraged and sooner or later, both the players and the club need to admit defeat. When you’re part of a great team that pays a lot of money, you’re always on a timer. You can’t afford to go for an entire year without achieving anything notable.
Header: OG
