Three teams remain in the LEC playoffs. Fnatic isn’t one of them. Eliminated with a clean 0-3 loss to Karmine Corp in the lower bracket, the Black and Orange close out their Spring Split in fourth place. A finish that’s not disastrous on paper, but disappointing given the context. They had ended the regular season in second, in a split with no clear dominant force. No G2 Esports steamrolling the field. No excuses. Fnatic never even made it to the door for a team with its eyes on MSI.

The Sound of Silence

Every Tuesday, Fabian “Grabbz” Lohmann goes live. His “Fan Conference” streams have become a ritual — a space where he vents, explains, and reflects. After the G2 loss, it turned into something heavier. This time, he didn’t hold back.

“Just coming to practice and playing your 5-7 scrim games is not enough. That’s the minimum,” he said. His frustration wasn’t just about results. It was about effort — or lack thereof. Grabbz painted a picture of a team that trained, but didn’t push. That played, but didn’t prepare. When he challenged his players to do more, some simply didn’t respond. No resistance. Just silence. "Listening to each other is not a quality we have, not only in games, but also in reviews." That day, his conclusion was already alarming, and he already felt there was little to do for next week as Fnatic was facing GIANTX and probably Karmine Corp in the next match. Before even losing to the latest, he stated: “We didn’t do the work. We deserve to lose."

Against G2, Grabbz believes they had a real shot. “I think we should’ve won against G2,” he said. “We just didn’t show up at all.” He wasn’t talking about macro or champion pools. It wasn’t a draft diff or a coaching blunder. Fnatic, as a team, didn’t bring the hunger or intensity needed to beat a rival like G2 on the playoff stage. And while G2 weren’t flawless, Fnatic never tested them. At this point in the split, Grabbz sees only one team playing at the level he expects: “I think the only good team currently seems to be KC.”

"We are undisciplined"

Grabbz made another stream this Thursday, three days after being officially eliminated from the competition by Karmine Corp. One theme kept resurfacing: Fnatic didn’t just struggle. They refused to evolve. “We show consistently the same issues in scrims,” Grabbz explained. “There is resistance to change as a team.” Whether it was in-game, during reviews, or behind closed doors, the team had a habit of ignoring feedback. Listening wasn’t a given — not even in review sessions. “Listening to each other is not a quality we have,” he admitted. “Not only in games, but also in reviews.”

The head coach gave insight into how cultural norms and structural limitations affect coaching in Europe. Unlike Asia, where authority and discipline are enforced through deep talent pools and a results-first mindset, EU coaches often find themselves needing to ask nicely. It’s not the first time this cultural divide between coaches and players in Europe has been mentioned, but Grabbz made it especially vivid. In his view, the lack of hierarchy is structural. “It feels more like begging,” he said. “You can’t just tell them. You have to ask them nicely to please consider what you're thinking.” He compared this to his early coaching days, recounting culture shock when players would ask “why?” instead of just following direction.

Academy Teams: a crucial investment?

In one of the most talked-about segments of the stream, Grabbz also weighed in on the state of academy teams in Europe. The mandatory academy system is gone, and he doesn’t think Riot should bring it back. “The possibility [of academies] is still there,” he said. “But the org should want to invest in that. Riot shouldn't force it.” The real issue, in his eyes, is financial. With player salaries inflating and the League ecosystem struggling to turn a profit, spending more, especially on unproven rookies, just isn’t appealing to most teams. “League is not that profitable anymore, if it ever was,” he said.

And even if you have an academy, it rarely solves your problems. “You don’t sign a player for big money assuming he will not play good,” he pointed out. “It’s a very hindsight thing.” It gets worse. According to him, most academy players aren’t good enough to create pressure anyway. “You have to have a player in the academy who realistically can change him to a degree that the player feels threatened — and that his teammates won’t run you down if you bench him.”

Practice, Scrims, and "Fake Improvement"

Another target of criticism: Fnatic’s practice structure. Grabbz openly questioned the utility of drilling specific scenarios, like Drake fights, when the team fails to play clean macro in the early stages. “Why practice Drake fighting when the step before is not made good?” Instead of isolated situations, he wants his team to focus on core fundamentals: consistency, communication, and discipline. Without those, no amount of Practice Tool will create meaningful progress. He explained the team tried at some point to train on scrims with mics fully muted, and he noticed the scrims went good. An exercise proving his players know the right play to do at any given moment. "Problem starts when mic is on again [...] If I could go back, I would have done these exercises more often."

He also admitted to personal failures. Fnatic’s branding, content output, and visibility during this split were flawed, and as head coach, he shares the blame. “Sometimes, it felt more like a group therapy session than a top team,” he confessed.

One last warning

If there’s a turning point ahead for Fnatic, it might come in June. Grabbz confirmed during the stream that the team will bring in a performance coach at the start of the Summer Split. It’s not the hire they originally planned for. Discussions in March centered on a veteran profile — someone from traditional sports with experience managing high-performance environments. That deal fell through. “He got a better offer somewhere else,” Grabbz admitted, a little disappointed but not surprised. “We will have a performance coach coming in soon, start of June,” he said. “It’s a more junior profile than we expected at first. But at this point, we just need someone to help build structure, to push certain players more.”

Grabbz didn’t name anyone directly, but made it clear that certain habits needed changing — and that outside support might be the only way to enforce it. This isn’t about motivational speeches. It’s about routine, consistency, and raising the minimum standard inside the team. He hopes this addition will help fill a leadership void that the coaching staff alone hasn’t been able to address. “I’m not a miracle worker,” he said. “We need someone whose job is to focus 24/7 on the mental side, the behavior, the daily effort. Someone who can say the things that sometimes even I can’t.” It’s a small move. But maybe the one they needed six months ago.