Rikke Skov: We have to improve

Two points after the first two matches are not good enough for Viborg HK. The Danish side is considered by many to be one of the top favourites to win the Women’s Champions League this season. The experienced 27-year old backcourt player and defence specialist, Rikke Skov, knows that they have a long way to go.

Eurohandball.com talks to the Danish international about the results and about Viborg’s future in the CL.

Eurohandball.com: You reached your first win on Sunday against HC T-Mobile Budocnost after losing in Romania against Oltchim Valcea. What doest it mean for your self-confidence and atmosphere in the team?

Rikke Skov: It was nice to win, of course. We have to win all our home matches to have a chance in the competition. Now we played against Budocnost at home. We have some idea about the pressure we will play under in Podgorica within a couple of weeks; I think it is a great advantage to have met them first at home.

Eurohandball.com: What do you think about the group now? Buducnost seem to be strong enough to cause trouble to other teams of the group…

Rikke Skov: I hope they can. That would mean that we are not forced to win our remaining away matches in order to win the group. This group really looks interesting now.

Eurohandball.com: But you are still far from your top form, aren’t you?

Rikke Skov: Yes we are. We still need to find the balance between taking things easy and increasing the pace. We also need to be more ready from the start, not least in defence. If we can play well from the start, we can take things a bit easier in the second half. Maybe, we need more match routine for our younger players and maybe we also need to practice our new systems.

Eurohandball.com: You have a lot of injuries in the team and also many new players who need to get used to the team. Ida Bjørndalen and Christina Roslyng arrived in the last couple of weeks. What does it mean for the stability of your team?

Rikke Skov: A lot, of course. We have to adjust many new players to our game. Maria Fisker, Line Rask, Nora Reiche and Bojana (Popovic, ed) are also new in the team. However, I think that things are beginning to work very well for the new players. There is no doubt that we will have to play better and more consistently before the decisive matches in the second part of the group phase next year.