When the German handball players won against Iceland, Juri Knorr didn’t show his best game and was sharply criticized. Now the national coach jumps to his side.
National coach Alfred Gíslason has defended his playmaker Juri Knorr against harsh criticism. Knorr didn’t have a good game in the 26:24 win against Iceland and was partly to blame for the team’s weak offensive performance with a few missed throws and bad passes.
The ex-national players Pascal Hens, Michael Kraus and Stefan Kretzschmar then sharply criticized him in the analysis on the broadcasting steaming service “Dyn”. They accused him of not moving enough on offense and acting with too much nonchalance.
“Wanted to make it extra cool”
“He wanted to make it particularly cool, particularly casual, particularly good today,” said Kretzschmar. As a result, he fell into “standing handball”. “Then you think you’re acting like a strategist here, distributing the balls, the pivot is somehow free. And that’s exactly wrong,” Kretzschmar continued.
Hens went even further and tackled Knorr hard for some daring passes. “It’s like a suicide mission with Juri sometimes,” he said, accusing him of “hara-kiri.”
Gíslason counters Harakiri criticism
When asked about this, national coach Gíslason stepped into the breach for his player at a press conference on Friday. He particularly praised Knorr’s marking work, but also admitted: “He didn’t play one of his better games, without question.” However, he still rejected the experts’ criticism.
Gíslason alluded to his time together with Kretzschmar at Bundesliga club SC Magdeburg, which the Icelander coached from 1999 to 2006 and for whom “Kretzsche” played from 1996 to 2007.
“I don’t know whether I should judge the others who said that more or Juri. To be honest: I also experienced a lot of hara-kiri actions from ‘Kretzsche’ as a coach and he still stayed on the playing field,” pointed out Gíslason corrects his former protégé.