Analyse: Danmark - Slovenien
Her på Hbold.dk og europamester.dk synes vi det kunne være spændende med et internationalt perspektiv på det danske landshold, så derfor har vi udvidet vores ekspert team til den kommende EM slutrunde med den portugisiske håndboldtræner Mário César Navarro, der har over 15 års erfaring som toptræner og er EHF master coach.
Slovenia and Denmark entered this duel with a victory on an opening day, and knowing that this match will probably count for the Main Round, it is an essential match in the ambitions of both teams.
Denmark had an excellent start to the game, where a timid Slovenia was growing in the first five minutes of the game and causing a lot of difficulties. Denmark played with their usual 6:0, but Slovenia was slowly gaining advantages to finish in the central zone of the defence, and little by little, they were growing in spirit. If offensively Slovenia solved their problems in the central area,
defensively their aggressiveness and physical power limited the Danish attack. However, Nikolaj Jacobsen was forced to change the defensive system to 5:1 and, little by little, and it started to produce effects. In the 24th minute, a shutout by Slovenia's Poteko opened the way for a three-goal lead for Denmark, which would be cut to two goals at half-time.
At half-time, Denmark had a two-goal lead but was struggling. Regarding positional and numerical superiority attacks, the difficulties were more than evident, as they only managed 46% effectiveness in positional attacks and 33% in numerical superiority attacks. However, the Danish bet on offensive transitions was paying off, with an 86% effectiveness, six goals in seven attempts and 100% of the shots on the second line.
However, the second half did the Danish team well. They returned invigorated and utterly different from the first half, performing a second half near perfection while Slovenia fell apart and massacred.
In the second half, Denmark went back to their usual 6:0, where they presented themselves more aggressive with an exceptional Niklas Landin closing the goal, alternating at times to 5:1. As for the attack, Mathias Gidsel and Rasmus Lauge started to unblock the Slovenian defence, which was utterly lost.
After 6 minutes of the second half, Denmark would manage the game at their own pace, with a six-goal advantage, which increased in the last minutes to 11 goals.
There was a clear offensive improvement, combined with a defensive performance and a phenomenal display from the best goalkeeper in the world, Niklas Landin, who ended the game with an efficiency of 44% (17 saves from 39 shots).
As for the attack, there was a significant improvement from the whole team, where Magnus Landin, Lasse Svan and Emil Jakobsen delivered whenever they were called to duty. However, the Lauge-Mathias Gidsel duo was the show with their offensive actions unbalancing the match, where Gidsel was elected Man of the Match with 100% effectiveness and seven goals scored.
In statistical terms, the difference of the game was clearly in the Danish goal with the saves of Niklas Landin and the offensive effectiveness.
With this victory, Denmark cements its leadership in Group A with two wins, followed by Slovenia and Montenegro with one win and North Macedonia with two losses.
