Nicolej Krickau in Kontranapad PODCAST: “Gidsel and Dika Mem together? No problem”
Nicolej Krickau joined the Kontranapad podcast in Belgrade for a 50-minute conversation about Füchse Berlin, Mathias Gidsel, Simon Pytlick, Dika Mem, Dejan Milosavljev, his Flensburg experience and the future of Danish handball.
From the very beginning, Krickau made it clear that he sees his role as more than simply preparing a team for matchday.
“If I can contribute to creating interest around handball, I’m happy to help.”
“It is important for handball that Partizan is back in the Champions League.”
His relationship with handball goes back to childhood.
“We are a typical Danish handball family.”
“I started coaching when I was ten.”
“I stopped playing at 19 and went directly into full-time coaching.”
At Füchse Berlin, Krickau refuses to describe the current season as a rebuilding year.
“We don’t see it as a transition year.”
“With Mathias Gidsel in the team, it would be unambitious not to compete.”
“At our top level, we can compete with everyone.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzNnX_sN1KQ&t=1638s
His arrival in Berlin came in difficult circumstances, but Krickau says the project was always designed for the long term.
“I knew people would not understand it from the beginning.”
“My view was: what can we build over years, not in the first 14 days?”
“If the squad supported me, everything else would become less important.”
The future Berlin back court is one of the biggest talking points in European handball.
“Dika and Simon joining is a confirmation of the project we have in Berlin.”
“I had many deep discussions with Dika about his role and ambitions.”
“Gidsel and Dika together? I don’t see it as a problem at all.”
Krickau also explained why Simon Pytlick fits perfectly into his plans.
“I have known Simon for almost my whole coaching career.”
“He will fit perfectly into our culture.”
“With some line-ups, we can play very, very fast.”
One of the most interesting moments came when the conversation turned to Dejan Milosavljev.
“We would have loved to keep Milo.”
“It is not closed that we could see him in Berlin again.”
“Maybe we can open a spot for Milo in the future.”
On Bob Hanning, Krickau was equally direct.
“He is just into everything.”
“I’m impressed by how much energy he puts into different areas of handball.”
“Our relationship has been amazingly good.”
He was also unusually open about why things did not work out in Flensburg.
“The differences were too big.”
“I tried to adapt. I tried to listen.”
“There are some things I simply don’t want to compromise on.”
“I learned from the experience, but I haven’t changed.”
And then came the Mathias Gidsel story.
“He was skinny and small, but he was very fast and very smart.”
“For me, it was never really a discussion whether he was a wing or a backcourt player.”
“After half a year, it was clear that he had something special.”
When Berlin contacted Krickau, one of his first calls was to Gidsel.
“I called him and asked if he thought it was okay.”
“I didn’t want to put him in a difficult situation.”
“Luckily, he was very positive.”
Krickau also gave one of the strongest lines of the entire interview when speaking about the future of the sport.
“Every team is getting faster.”
“I don’t think the game will become slower.”
“I hope it will only become faster.”
And finally, on Denmark’s dominance:
“The next three years will be very hard for the opponents.”
“We had the same discussion about France before.”
“The first time Germany beats Denmark in an important game, they will suddenly believe they can do it.”
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW
Nicolej Krickau on Gidsel, Mem, Pytlick, Milosavljev, Flensburg, Magdeburg, Bob Hanning and Denmark’s dominance.
▶ Full 50-minute conversation on the Kontranapad YouTube channel
