Serbia’s handball team coach Nenad Perunicic said before the preparatory matches with Slovenia and Austria that those meetings for his team would be competitive, not friendly.
Serbia will play two control matches at EHF Week, with Austria on 25 October in Graz and Slovenia in Maribor two days later.
– It is very important to me that the players come in the mood considering the number of matches and the workload they have in the clubs. It is important for me to relieve them and not to put extra pressure, but to think about the things we want to do with the national team. Unfortunately for the past year, we haven’t been complete once. It is very important to feel the energy they bring and the desire to move forward – Perunicic said at a media conference
He added that the team lacked teamwork and lacked training.
– We take every opportunity to talk about everything beyond training. That’s very important. Last night we were already looking at the opponents waiting for us on the EP and we are just about to watch. We are slowly introducing ourselves, but without stressing on things that might be superfluous at the moment.
After four months, Perunicic joined the national team and, most importantly, stressed that it was important for everyone to come healthy.
– Given the situation and the large number of maler, I just ask God to come healthy. That’s what matters most to me. Last year I held a large number of players together for too long before the competition, but there was some doubt as the difference between them was very small. That will not happen this year. Players who go to the Golden League tournament in France will also be participants in the EP – said the coach.
He referred to the matches in Graz and Maribor, which will be the last check before the start of the final preparations for the 2020 European Championships, which will be held in three countries, Austria, Norway and Sweden, from 9 January next year.
Serbia will play Graz in a group with selections from Montenegro, Belarus and Croatia.
– I also want to prepare the preparation games against the best, I will push this as long as I am on the national team. This is the only real way for us to move forward and see according to the opponent what else we need to get to that level. For us, there will be competitive rather than friendly matches in Graz and Maribor. We will work more on tactics and attack, less on defense. Missing gameplay, some other things to fix. This is the only change, a little relaxed training, because they definitely need it at the moment – concluded Perunicic
