ZywOo: "We are not confident about a lot of things right now"

The French AWPer admitted that recent results have left Vitality playing more hesitantly.

Vitality's form has suffered a drastic downturn since the dawn of the new season, hitting a new low at Esports World Cup as the European combine suffered back-to-back series defeats to finish the tournament in fourth place.

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Falcons finish third at EWC over Vitality

A far cry form the seven-tournament winning streak of earlier in the year, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut admits that confidence has taken a hit. "Sometimes maybe we hesitate too much," ZywOo told HLTV. "We are not confident about the peek... so of course now it's a bit tougher."

Despite Vitality's stumbling form, ZywOo is confident in his team to bounce back. "I have no doubt that this team is going to work again, work as we did in the first half of the year. We're going to come back stronger."

With another disappointing tournament campaign behind him, ZywOo spoke with HLTV about Vitality's defeat by Falcons, why his team are struggling, and what they can do to revive their form.

Listen to the interview here.

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What do you think went wrong in that series?

I mean when we are losing 13-4 on Train, everything went wrong on our side. The communication, the teamplay, individually, nothing went good on our side. It's almost everything, I won't say it's only one thing, or about motivation or mood, it was about everything.

I heard yesterday from flameZ that you are feeling a bit sick. How did it affect your performance?

I think it affected me a bit, but mostly the team. I think they didn't feel the energy like I do usually for the game, or when I need to scream more or anything I didn't do that. In terms of individual level, of course after TYLOO is was feeling a bit more shaky so obviously I would say it's not because of my illness we got this result, it's more of a team thing.

When watching the team on the server it looks like confidence has suffered a little bit. Does it feel like that when you're playing?

Yeah. Sometimes maybe we hesitate too much, we are not confident about the peek, we are not confident about a lot of things right now, so obviously it's tougher. In the first half (of the year) everyone was confident about the peek and we could be comfortable behind someone, so of course now it's a bit tougher. I also think we expected to do the same thing as the first half (of the year) but it's tougher to do the same right now. Like you said, I think everyone is feeling that, no one is feeling comfortable.

One of the things that made Vitality so strong in the first half of the season was that you were always fighting, no matter how the game was going. Why do you think you have maybe lost that a little bit?

That's a good question. Sometimes in the game I don't feel that, but maybe I'm wrong or maybe I'm right. For now, at the Esports World Cup, it was a bit different because even flameZ was a bit… not off, but he was a bit more tired than usual, so I think it was tougher for the rest of the team to put the energy in and try to push. When you are not as five, it is tougher to put in the same energy for the rest. I think we will keep believing even though we are down, but it is tougher to come back when we are not comfortable about anything and we are hesitating a lot. So I think that's the overall thing.

What do you think you can do moving forwards to recapture your best form?

I think the first thing is we're going to have a good talk about what went wrong, what we need to bring into the server again, and I have no doubt that this team is going to work again, work as we did in the first half of the year. We're going to come back stronger. We kind of need this bad period to come back stronger. We still believe in the team, we still believe we can come back stronger, and we're going to get back on the top.