hampus: "There were some players who did not respect my voice on the server"

"I felt like I had no power when I came back [to NIP]," the Swedish in-game leader added.

Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser has spoken up about his benching from Ninjas in Pyjamas that was announced on October 24, a move that marked an end to his second run with the organization after he previously went on break at the start of the year.

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NIP bench hampus; es3tag returns

The 24-year-old revealed his personal feelings on the move in an interview with Dust2.se, saying that there "wasn't much to cheer for" and that he didn't have influence nor felt heard after he returned to NIP's active roster.

"I thought we made a mistake in the plan of how we started the season," he explained. "Also, I felt like I had no power when I came back. I couldn't really do things the way I wanted, so you always had to compromise with the coach or the performance coach and so on.

"Then I also felt that there were some players who did not respect my voice on the server and then it is very difficult to get good results when people don't listen sometimes."

The Swedish captain added that his removal from the active roster didn't come as a surprise as the team knew a change would need to happen after ESL Pro League Season 18, and said his lack of voice and role issues the team had were some of the key factors in why things didn't go the way he wanted.

His sentiments echo assertions made by Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers in NIP's "Pyjama Party" in-house broadcast, where the Swedish General Manager pointed toward role clashes and a lack of leadership as core issues that needed to be resolved.

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hampus elaborated on those role issues, using Overpass as an example of how egregious they could be. "We had four players who were basically the same, as well as an AWPer, so there was a lot of pressure," the Swede explained. "For example, we had four players on the team who wanted to hold A on Overpass, five players if you count the AWPer who is supposed to hold A. So yeah, it goes without saying we had problems with roles."

In discussing his future and where he goes from here, hampus stated that he wished to continue as an in-game leader and that he has "had a few teams get in touch," including "some top 10 teams and then slightly worse teams."

However, he also stated he was not in a rush to join a new lineup and that the next team he joined must be a team he believed in, and one where the roles and players make sense.

"I will not sit and spend a lot of time if there is someone who does not want to be there or if someone has a grudge against someone. A team where everyone is on the same page and understands that is a team game. Play for each other and die for each other in all situations. That is something I missed at times in NIP.

"I was supposed to be a stand-in for the rest of the year with a team and play these online tournaments that are going on. But after a few days of negotiations back and forth, it fell through in the last hour, which is sad."