A win is needed for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, but that will be difficult: This Sunday (3 p.m., live on WELT TV) the team welcomes third-placed SG Flensburg-Handewitt, with a seventh defeat looming. Coach Sebastian Hinze (44) speaks beforehand in the interview.
Ask: Mr. Hinze, there was hardly a break after the European Championships; your team plays eight times in February alone. Would you rather exercise right now?
Sebastian Hinze: No. The thing that helps most in our situation is winning a game. So I’m actually happy if the team gets the chance to do it again.
Ask: But the chances are not taken advantage of, the games were similar in the end. Your team seems to have everything under control, then suddenly things go downhill.
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National handball team
Hinze: True. We manage to focus on defense, tempo play and final action for a long time and play what we set out to do. We also scored seven or eight quick goals in the first half in Magdeburg or Lemgo…
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Ask: What happens then?
Hinze: In handball games there are always good and bad phases, that’s normal. Our approach is that we continue to do the things that work for us, even in phases when things are not going well. But when things aren’t going well, it has a very big impact on us.
Ask: In Magdeburg the second half was lost 10:16, in Lemgo 9:18, in Zabrze 12:17.
Hinze: Example Lemgo: At 6:18 p.m. the plug is completely pulled. We have six missed shots in a row and the impact is just very, very big. We have a lot of stress about ourselves, about the situation, about the season. We are currently not convinced that we will get out of this phase again. Then we really break away.
Lemgo Lippe dismantles the Rhine-Neckar Lions – the highlights in the video
After five winless games in a row, Lemgo Lippe is celebrating its liberation. Coach Florian Kehrmann’s team celebrated a clear victory against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. The highlights in the video.
Ask: Experienced top performers such as Uwe Gensheimer, Patrick Groetzki and Halil Jaganjac are missing due to injury. Is that enough of an explanation?
Hinze: No, none of this is new. Of course it’s a very young team, but we have to solve it with this squad. All you need is a sense of success.
Ask: Even Juri Knorr, who was still in the all-star team at the European Championships, cannot create stability.
Hinze: I think Juri did well in the first two games after the European Championship, especially when it came to controlling the game. However, he was slightly injured, which is why he wasn’t there in Poland.
Ask: The expectations for him are always high. Too high?
Hinze: In our situation and in our system it is never about the individual. We see that we can play at a very high level as a team if we play with six players at a high pace and in width. But the height of the fall is extreme for us. We then become frustrated and annoyed by the situations. But these are moments that are independent of individual personnel.
Juri Knorr (2nd from right) in action against Stuttgart’s Fynn Nicolaus, Kai Häfner and Jorge Serrano Villalobos
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/Tom Weller
Ask: Are you also annoyed and frustrated with your team?
Hinze: The boys fight, the boys want, they stick to the plan. Nobody is happy and they are also frustrated, that’s okay in phases like this. But we can’t handle it well on the field over 60 minutes and can’t manage to keep the damage to a minimum in bad phases. We get away from ourselves very quickly.
Ask: Last season we ended up winning the cup and finishing fifth. You and your managing director Jennifer Kettemann have always said that the lions have “overperformed” to a certain extent. Is this the true level of performance now?
Hinze: It’s clear: the top 5 is not realistic for us this year. Or: They would only have been if we had gotten through completely without injuries. But the level we are currently at is far below our level, especially during the bad phases. We have to be able to reach our top level over 55 or 60 minutes, not over 35 or 40.
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Ask: There is a threat of a seventh defeat in a row against Flensburg. Do we have to slowly look down the table?
Hinze: Of course you have to keep that in mind. If I look at the gap to sixth place, which could be worth something in the end, and the distance down, the difference is only two points. That’s just the reality. That’s why we haven’t declared a relegation battle yet, but we know how difficult it is to score points in this league.
The interview was conducted for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
