Handball legends with clear words
Harsh criticism of the national coach: “shitty coaching”
01/18/2026 – 4:22 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
The DHB selection suffered a disappointing defeat against Serbia in the European Championship preliminary round. The national coach in particular is now being heavily criticized.
The German handball legends Stefan Kretzschmar, Pascal Hens and Michael “Mimi” Kraus clearly criticized the German national coach Alfreð Gíslason after the DHB selection’s preliminary round defeat at the European Championships on Saturday against Serbia (27:30). In their podcast “Harzblut” the ex-national players analyzed the surprising bankruptcy.
Above all, the many changes in offensive personnel were a thorn in their side. During the game, Gíslason repeatedly switched back and forth between players like Julian Köster, Juri Knorr, Miro Schluroff, Renārs Uščins and Marko Grgić. According to Hens, Gíslason confused the players. “You felt like you only saw question marks in everyone’s head,” said Hens.
He explained: “I think the boys on the field were missing a bit of a guiding hand from outside. That was my impression. I almost felt a little sorry for them.” Hens complained that there was a lack of structure in the German game. It was clear to the players that “they don’t feel very comfortable.”
The three former players particularly criticized the lack of ideas in the offensive game. “It’s a shambles. I also lack a bit of creativity in attack,” analyzed Kraus and criticized Gíslason’s focus on a strong defense: “You can’t always say that we’re putting everything together at the back, Andi Wolff is holding 40 balls, we’re touching concrete. That can’t be the case. It’s not enough for a medal if you play so uncreatively in attack,” he complained and summarized: “I have to be honest say: That was just crap in attack today.”
“I’m afraid of how we attack,” Kretzschmar also made it clear. “We are so uncreative and have no solutions in attack, no flow.” When he looks at the German offensive game, he thinks: “What do we do now? What do we want now? Where do we want to go? What’s the idea?”
Hens complained: “If things don’t go well in attack, then we don’t have a plan B.” You can’t always just trust that a creative player like Juri Knorr will come up with something. Instead, alternative plans are needed, such as seven-on-six, i.e. playing without a goalkeeper but with additional field players. “If you look at other nations, seven-on-six has been around for ages. It doesn’t happen here. We don’t have this alternative if things don’t go well at the front,” said Hens’ complaint.
