27.09.2019, 02:20
Top five teams with the best attack

FIRST-HAND INSIGHT: With the start of the DELO WOMEN’S EHF Champions League approaching fast, we have a detailed look at some key characteristics. We start off with scoring as we focus on the teams with the strongest attack

Top five teams with the best attack

Wins are founded in the defence. A good goalkeeper is half the team.

Those are sentences have been heard for decades, and while they remain true and relevant, teams also need to find the way to the opponents’ net.

Let’s have a look at the five teams who seem best prepared for the noble art for scoring goals in the upcoming DELO WOMEN’S EHF Champions League.

5. Metz Handball

Losing Gnonsiane Niombla and Beatrice Edwige as well as missing Xenia Smits until Christmas are obvious handicaps for ‘Les Dragonnes,’ but the signing of Louise Burgaard has provided Emmanuel Mayonnade with the effective left-handed right back he was missing. The wings reassuringly covered with Manon Houette and Marion Maubon on the left and Laura Flippes on the right, while Astride N’Gouan and newcomer Olga Perederiy will have to fill the gap on the line after Edwige’s departure.

4. Buducnost

The return of Jovanka Radicevic and Majda Mehmedovic from CSM Bucuresti has meant an obvious reinforcement on the wings, and with the intelligent playmaker Milena Raicevic back from injury, there is no doubt that both wings will be fed with the necessary passes. They are both also huge assets on fast breaks. In the backcourt line, Djurdjina Jaukovic seems better than ever, so head coach Dragan Adzic can deal with having lost Katarina Bulatovic to Györ.

3. CSM Bucuresti

10 players left, 10 players arrived. It always takes time to make so many new players form a solid unit, and yet another new coach, Swedish Tomas Ryde, has his work cut out for him in playing this bunch of stars together. Furthermore, the latest knee injury setback for Nora Mørk is a serious blow to Ryde’s and CSM’s hopes to repeat their achievement from 2016 and win the title. On the positive side, they probably have Cristina Neagu back from her long injury break in time for the start of the Champions League group matches.

2. Rostov-Don

The arrival of Julia Behnke from Bundesliga club TuS Metzingen looks like the obvious solution to the only problem which last season’s runners-up were facing in their attacking line-up: the line player position. With Behnke in the team, head coach Ambros Martín can feel confident with regards to his team’s attacking qualities. In the backcourt line and on the wings, the team from Southern Russia is as well-equipped as Ambros could wish for, and if Rostov can avoid long-term injuries for key players, they will have a very effective attack this season.

1. Györi Audi ETO KC

Györ will take some stopping this season. The five-time Champions League winners seem to have even more fire power than in previous seasons. Usually, saying goodbye to players like Nora Mørk, Nycke Groot and Crina Pintea would handicap any team seriously, but they have been replaced with Amanda Kurtovic, Estelle Nze Minko and Beatrice Edwige. Add players such as Stine Bredal Oftedal, Veronica Kristiansen, Katarina Bulatovic and Anita Görbicz, and get a picture of how frightening Györ will be in attack. The Hungarian powerhouse simply has two world class attacking players in virtually every position. And with players equally strong on both ends of the court, like Eduarda Amorim and Anne Mette Hansen, Györ are loaded with world-class quality once again.

TEXT: Peter Bruun / ew