Journalist Richard Lewis in a recent conversation with Duncan “Thorin” Shields, on the release of a podcast dedicated to Counter Strike, criticized the work of Natus Vincere coach Andrey “Blad3” Gorodensky. He believes that his qualifications do not correspond to the level of the players and the tasks that the team sets for itself. In his opinion, it is the coach who is to blame for the fact that the team makes mistakes from time to time and does not alternate high achievements with unexpected losses.
At the same time, it was under the leadership of Blad3 that NAVI won major victories, becoming the leaders of IEM Katowice 2020 and BLAST Premier 2020. It is not surprising that soon after the publication of Lewis’s statements, responses to this criticism began to appear. In particular, Alexey “yXo” Maletsky noted that Lewis and Shields themselves do not have sufficient qualifications and experience in professional e-sports to assess the level of other teams and players. Commentator Vitaly "v1lat" Volochai responded ironically to Lewis’s statements, noting that critics dislike CIS esports, but at the same time they themselves demonstrate unprofessionalism by conflicting with employers. This was followed by a spat on Twitter, in which both sides made many unflattering remarks.
Natus Vincere recently performed unsuccessfully at IEM Katowice 2021, which was the reason for criticism. They will play their next big matches at ESL Pro League Season 13, and fans of the team hope that this time they will be able to prove themselves more successfully.
