Aleksib on micromanaging: "I could instantly see that NiKo and huNter- don't need it at all"

In his first interview after making the big move, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen discusses leaving OG and the potential of the new G2 project ahead of its debut at BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

In what seemed like a never-ending transfer season, G2 made one of the biggest and most exciting roster moves of all, bringing in Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov as their AWPer before rounding out the lineup with the additions of new brains behind the operation in in-game leader Aleksib from OG and coach Rémy "⁠XTQZZZ⁠" Quoniam from Vitality.

The new squad is currently hard at work preparing for its imminent debut in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, kicking off on Friday, January 28, and we had the chance to join the players at their bootcamp at Relog Media in Belgrade, Serbia, and talk to Aleksib about all things new G2.

In the interview, the Finnish in-game leader spoke about his motivations behind making the big move, calling it a no-brainer because of the players involved.

"I had good time to think about everything, and in the end I thought it would be stupid of me not to make the move," Aleksib said. "[...] The players I heard would be playing for this team, overall I thought if this window closes and something goes wrong with OG the next couple of months or anything, or we just somehow don't get the ball rolling, I would most likely regret it."

He went on to address the community's concerns over his tendency to micromanage his players, explaining that he's aware of the freedom he needs to give the stars in the Kovač cousins, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač.

"I could instantly see with the Kovač cousins that they don't need [micromanaging] at all," the Finn shared. "The experience of the Kovačs is over the top in terms of what I've worked with, especially when they're clutching."

"We know the kind of freedom to give to them because you need NiKo to be a superstar. You need huNter to be comfortable as well, so we're not coming here and fully changing everything and not letting these guys be comfortable."

"We know that we need to use m0NESY to his potential to make sure he can shine. And if we can get these three pieces rolling, and me and Jackie kind of being the supportive/entry/adaptive roles, I don't see why this couldn't work to the potential that I see on paper."

In the interview, Aleksib also spoke highly of his new coach, XTQZZZ, and shared that both the Frenchman and m0NESY, for whom this is the first experience of playing in an international roster, are quickly improving at communicating in English.

"Working with us already in these two weeks, XTQZZZ has improved a tonne in terms of speaking," he said. "You can just see the authority he has. I don't think I've ever had a coach that has this much authority. When he talks, you just know you've gotta listen."