ash: "It feels like we're losing off the server in these key situations"

"Unfortunately, [the mental side] is still hurting us here, that's the downside of having a very young team," GamerLegion's coach said after missed opportunities sent the team home early from Cologne.

After a straightforward run through Stage 1, GamerLegion have suffered an early elimination from Stage 2 at IEM Cologne.

It was a tale of missed opportunities for the team. In their first match against Falcons, they lost a lead on Nuke late into the game off the back of a failed anti-halfbuy round, and the same happened on map two against 3DMAX, when GamerLegion were two rounds away from winning the series up against pistols at 11-11.

Then, after coming back to push the deciding Dust2 to overtime, the team threw away a 4v2 situation with just 10 seconds left on the clock in the final round, leaving coach Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye frustrated watching from behind.

"It's really hard to watch," the coach told HLTV following the elimination. "It feels like we're doing 90% of the round right and then we're not controlling our adrenaline. It feels like we're losing off the server in these key situations."

The mental side of the game has been a big topic in the GamerLegion camp, who have tried to focus less on the tactics and more on resiliency in the lead-up to the new season, Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner said in an interview earlier in the tournament.

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And ash explains it's a work in progress as the same issues that have seen the team be unable to get over their stage jitters have reared their ugly head in their early elimination in Cologne.

"It's not really something we had put a lot of time into before because we focused more tactically," the Brit said. "We struggled a lot with playoffs recently, and we just notice so many moments where people are mentally out of the game. Unfortunately, it's still hurting us here. I think that's the downside of having a very young team."

"We have to look at these mistakes again and find more responsibility in them. It's just rookie mistakes at the worst moments, and it's punishing us quite a lot."

All GamerLegion can do is hope they can take this as a learning experience and take it forward with them as they look to take their game to the next level.

They have opted to skip BLAST Bounty, which means they have a month to prepare before a busy period comes, with GamerLegion slated to play at Esports World Cup, BLAST Open London and ESL Pro League Season 22 in a span of just over a month.