After the draw against Austria in the European Championship main round, the mood in the German camp was somewhat depressed. But national coach Alfred Gíslason still caused a laugh.
This was not how the German national handball team imagined it would be. Due to the 22:22 draw against Austria in the second game of the main round, the DHB team no longer has the semi-finals of the home European Championship in their own hands.
Above all, a weak offensive prevented a victory against the surprise team from the Alpine republic. The players and national coach Alfred Gíslason seemed correspondingly dissatisfied after the game.
Gíslason and the question of risk
At the very end of the press conference after the game, Gíslason caused a laugh. The coach gave playmaker Juri Knorr a break in the first quarter of an hour against Austria and called on Philipp Weber instead. When asked whether he wanted to minimize this “risk” again in the coming games, he reacted with surprise.
“That’s a bit strange,” said Gíslason. “If I don’t change, the question will arise as to why I didn’t start with so-and-so and why only Knorr is playing. Then I’ll give Knorr a little more time because he was already very cold and then there’s risk.”
Criticism of too little rotation against France
Gíslason was alluding to questions about the preliminary round defeat against France. There he hardly gave the first guard any breaks, so the players seemed tired in the final phase. Afterwards there was some criticism of his actions. He changed more against Iceland and Austria – and now had to put up with the question of risk.
“Of course there is a risk!” said Gíslason at the press conference. “But there’s no risk if whoever comes in for him plays well,” said the national coach. Addressing the journalists, he simply said with a smile: “You have to write something. I do it according to my head and my feelings. Maybe I’m wrong, but sometimes I’m right.”
So after a frustrating game and a question that he obviously didn’t like the content of, Gíslason still caused laughter in the press conference room.