Kiel’s defense around Patrick Wiencek should be happy that SC Magdeburg currently has to do without the agile Gisli Kristjansson (r.).
Photo: imago/Eibner-Pressefoto
Alfred Gíslason is not yet shaking up the nomenklatura of handball. The national handball coach is still convinced that SC Magdeburg and THW Kiel will be superior to the national competition in the long term. “I see them both in first and second place in the end,” the 64-year-old Icelander told the apparently worried “Kieler Nachrichten” recently. “I’ll stick with it.”
The mere question of the status of the two clubs reveals that cracks can be seen in the picture of German handball. And indeed both teams will be under a lot of pressure on Saturday when they meet in Magdeburg. Not only Champions League winners Magdeburg (9:3 points) are already three points behind the teams from Melsungen and Berlin that have not lost any points so far. The record champions THW Kiel also recorded four minus points after just five games.
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The most recent statements made by those in charge show how unusual the situation is for both traditional clubs. Magdeburg’s successful coach Bennet Wiegert said he had to take care of what was going on between his players’ ears after the 27:27 draw in Leipzig, because his team had wasted a big lead in the eastern duel. The “killer mentality” is currently missing, complained Wiegert.
His coaching colleague in the north sounded the same horn after the “Zebras” suffered a disastrous 30:35 home defeat against MT Melsungen. This was “a situation that we didn’t want,” explained Kiel’s coach Filip Jicha. “The pressure is now increasing, of course, we are in a difficult phase,” said managing director Viktor Szilagyi and demanded that the points lost in the league should now be repeated elsewhere.
At least the Kiel team have so far held their own in the Champions League with three wins, even if the away win on Wednesday in Bitola in North Macedonia (23:20) was also no proof of high skill. On the other hand, the record champions’ lack of form is not a sensation, as they lost two top players in the summer. On the one hand, Sander Sagosen moved to his hometown of Trondheim to lead the new Kolstad project. Even if, in the opinion of many experts, the Norwegian did not always meet the high expectations in the Kiel backcourt, the half-left always represented the greatest danger for every defense. In any case, the statics of Kiel’s attack have now changed significantly.
His successor in the king’s position, the Swede Eric Johansson, shone at the start. But after three clear Kiel victories at the start of the season, the momentum changed in the away game in Flensburg when the THW completely collapsed in the final minutes and could not save a three-goal lead over time. After the playfully gifted entry from the Faroe Islands, director Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, allowed himself to be carried away into an early finish in the last attack, the THW suffered a bitter defeat in the final seconds.
That could still be chalked up as naivety. The subsequent home defeat against Melsungen (30:35) demonstrated that the transfer of the super goalkeeper Niklas Landin to Aalborg was even more serious than that of Sagosen. Last season, the Dane, who is considered one of the best keepers in handball history, won many games almost alone with his saves. However, his Czech successor Tomáš Mrkva was unable to do this against the North Hesse team. After the game, head coach Jicha had to accept accusations that he had stopped a negative run much too late with a time out.
What Landin represented for the Kiel defense, Gísli Thorgeir Kristjánsson means for the Magdeburg attack. The Icelandic director was the central figure in their championship in 2022 and also in their Champions League victory this early summer, when he was named most valuable player following the SCM’s triumph. With his lightning-fast first steps, the playmaker is able to create outnumbered situations for his colleagues like no other handball player or achieve success with breakthroughs himself.
However, Kristjánsson has been suffering from a shoulder injury since the summer, and the two new additions to his position in the middle of the backcourt, Janus Smárason and Felix Claar, have not yet been able to make a similar impact on the Magdeburg offensive. The Swede Claar, who is already a slightly different type of player, first has to get used to the rather rough air in the Bundesliga. How much the SCM’s offensive was based on Kristjánsson’s individual skills was recently shown in the blatant 20:32 away defeat at FC Barcelona, when the half players repeatedly bounced off the Catalan defensive wall.
While the competition from Kiel will probably have to cope with the loss of Landin for the entire season – his successor, the Spanish goalkeeper Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas, will probably not come to Germany from Barcelona until the summer of 2024 – Kristjánsson will return after the winter break. If the SCM is not hopelessly defeated by then, Bennet Wiegert’s team would have a good chance of a comeback.
Nevertheless, the championship fight is likely to be dramatic until the end. Especially since SG Flensburg-Handewitt (8:4 points) also has an incredibly strong squad, as they have strengthened themselves with the two Danish world champions Simon Pytlick (left back) and Lukas Jörgensen (circle). One disadvantage, however, is that the new coach Nicolej Krickau doesn’t yet know the Bundesliga; the SG also surprisingly dropped points in Lemgo and Hanover.
The table leaders from Melsungen and Berlin (12:0 points each) have so far benefited from the weaknesses of the top favorites. However, the lack of depth in the squad could be a disadvantage for the Foxes from Berlin, as left-hander Fabian Wiede was injured and will be out for a long time. Despite their starting record, the North Hessians themselves do not yet believe that they will be in a permanent top position; their performance has been too fluctuating in the past. For this reason, national coach Alfred Gíslason does not have her on his championship bill.
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