Talks instead of training: Magdeburg with calm in continuous operation

Handball coach Bennet Wiegert of champions SC Magdeburg is looking far ahead due to the large number of games. "I don't have a mini-goal of six games with a short break, but will re-evaluate every game until Christmas," said the 42-year-old ahead of the home game in the EHF Champions League against French top team HBC Nantes on Wednesday in the Getec Arena (20:45/Dyn and DAZN). After a "mixed week" with two wins in the Bundesliga against Frischauf Göppingen and in Flensburg as well as the narrow defeat in the premier class against Kielce, the former player has to find alternative ways of managing his workload.

So the coach "surprised" the players with a calm analysis the day after the Kielce game, in his own words. "That has to be unemotional. Maybe it was a small key to the performance in Flensburg," said Wiegert about the 29:27 victory in Flensburg.

Whether he will continue to react so calmly after games will "depend on the result", smiled the master coach. Due to the large number of games, he cannot afford the normal training schedule: "I'm trying a different approach through discussions. I'm someone who communicates a lot anyway."

Warning about Nantes - looking forward to Leipzig

Despite injury worries, Wiegert sees his team on the road to success even with his small squad. "If we still do our stuff, we can win. We just have to be careful not to lose another player." With a win, Magdeburg could overtake the French cup winners. However, Wiegert warns against expecting too much, as Nantes - unlike SCM - beat Kielce and narrowly missed out on a point against Szeged, while Magdeburg conceded a heavy defeat.

And even after Nantes, the training sessions will be approached in moderation in view of twelve games this month. Wiegert himself hopes to be less in demand ahead of Sunday's game against DHfK Leipzig: "That will be great because I don't have to say much except: We have a derby on Sunday."