zonic: "We can’t keep underperforming without something changing"

The Danish coach hasn't ruled out changes as Falcons continue to falter.

Falcons were eliminated from IEM Cologne by FaZe in the Group A lower bracket, bringing an end to a somewhat better but still largely dismal campaign in Germany. Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's side once again made repeated mistakes in their games and the players looked like a shadow of their best selves.

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"It’s better than where we come from," Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen said of the result in an interview with Dust2.dk. "Yes, we’re getting better and better, but it’s simply going too slowly. With the ambitions that the Falcons have and what I am tasked with leading, we’re not managing to close out games and minimize our mistakes.

"Of course, mistakes happen; that’s always the case. But sometimes we make too big mistakes, and there’s just no excuse for it because we’ve been together for a while now."

The team has fumbled since forming at the turn of the year, an early playoff trip at IEM Katowice and a runners-up finish at ESL Challenger Jönköping being the sole beacons of light in an otherwise dismal nine months that the players would likely want to forget.

The Saudi organization was hamstrung when building its new lineup after Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač pulled out in the eleventh-hour and although it acquired the core of ENCE, who were second in the world at the time, it has failed to attain titles or stabilize as a top team.

Now, four months after removing Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas and adding Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, zonic has indicated that further changes could be on the horizon as the team continues to flounder.

"It’s clear that we need to be in a position where it’s really enjoyable," the Danish coach said. "Whether it’s these five or others, it’s hard to say. We’re always looking at all parameters to see where we can improve, but there are also things that mean we can’t keep underperforming without something changing.

"When you’re an international team, you have a larger pool of players and, as I said before, the Falcons have big ambitions and we’re not meeting them. There’s an understanding that it takes time to build a team, but given everything, I would have expected us to be in a different place than we are right now."

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zonic added that Falcons were always looking for new talents and said that it was a part of continuously improving to avoid ending up "like the old Virtus.pro, who stayed together for too long."

In addressing his plans for when he returned home from the event, zonic was clear: "I need to go home and analyze the tournament, and once I’ve looked at where I think we need to improve, I’ll make a decision. It could be in-game changes, but it could also be on the player side."