The top clubs Flensburg-Handewitt and THW Kiel have trend-setting games coming up in the Handball Bundesliga, live on ARD. A look at the crises and the opponents.
The two top teams SG Flensburg-Handewitt and THW Kiel, which were considered major Bundesliga title candidates before the season, can be seen live on Erste at the weekend. Flensburg welcomes the Rhein-Neckar Löwen on Saturday (6 p.m., live on Erste and on sportschau.de) and Kiel welcomes the Füchse Berlin on Sunday (2:05 p.m., live on NDR and on sportschau.de). Both teams have something in common: they are clearly behind their own expectations.
What’s going on at SG Flensburg-Handewitt?
“You have made sensational signings,” Sports show expert Dominik Klein said before the season with a view to Flensburg’s squad. The Danish world champions Simon Pytlick and Lukas Jörgensen in particular were seen as enormous reinforcements, as was the Dutch striker Kay Smits from Magdeburg.
But the personnel change with Nicolej Krickau as the new coach, also from Denmark, brought with it teething problems. The season was bumpy for a long time with defeats in Magdeburg and Stuttgart and draws in Lemgo and Hanover. Access Pytlick has been out injured since mid-October.
At home, Flensburg is still a force and also won the hotly contested duel with Kiel (28:27). The start to the Europa League season was also flawless with three wins at the start. It seems as if the star ensemble around captain Johannes Golla is growing together – which is necessary given that they are five points behind first place if they are to win the championship title
How good are the Rhein-Neckar Lions?
The Lions were not considered top favorites for the title before the season, but were probably among the extended favorites. But after five defeats, one of them against relegation candidate Eisenach, out of twelve games, the current cup winners are in danger of losing touch with the international places (places one to four).
Playmaker Juri Knorr had a difficult time starting the season, weakened by an abdominal muscle injury. There is still no return date for Uwe Gensheimer, who has been injured for a long time, and veteran Patrick Groetzki will also be out for weeks with a foot injury.
As with Flensburg, things are going better for the lions in Europe. There are five wins from five games in the European League. In goal, coach Sebastian Hinze is spoiled for choice: In addition to the Swedish veteran Mikael Appelgren, he has national player Joel Birlehm and U21 world champion David Späth to choose from. The latter is considered the man of the future after his contract extension and is already seen as a serious competitor to national goalkeeper Andreas Wolff.
What’s wrong with THW Kiel?
Five defeats from twelve games – defending champion Kiel has already lost more games than in any of the five previous seasons and is the negative surprise of the season. “Maybe we have to accept that we’re not that good in order to live up to our standards,” Left winger Rune Dahmke told NDR after the 33:36 defeat against Hannover-Burgdorf on November 9th.
The recent 31:25 win against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen was a step in the right direction, but the gap to league leaders Füchse Berlin is enormous before the direct duel: seven points in one game less for the Berliners.
Added to this is Kiel’s early cup exit against Wetzlar (31:32) at the beginning of December – the first season without long-time goalkeeper Niklas Landin and Norway star Sander Sagosen is difficult.
Too many mistakes, too little consistency – of course coach Filip Jicha also comes under criticism. However, he receives support from managing director Viktor Szilagyi: “There will be no short-term actions for us in Kiel. I still have trust. Trust in the team and trust in the coach.”
What makes Füchse Berlin so successful?
It’s no surprise that Berliners are strong. How much they dominate the league, but yes. Ten wins to start – that’s a club record. Only VfL Gummersbach defied the Berliners to take a point at 30:30 on matchday 11.
Goalkeeper Dejan Milosavljev is solid as he has made the most saves in the league (296), although other goalkeepers have even played one game more. The Serb also benefits from a stable defense. As expected, the Dane Mathias Gidsel scored the most goals with his difficult-to-defend mobility.
However, success also brings disadvantages: Because of the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia and the subsequent European League game against Bucharest, the Foxes recently played five games in seven days. They only lost the Club World Cup final against SC Magdeburg (32:34). There are still four days off before the game in Kiel.