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Vukovic ends up on operating table

Lübbecke have to make do without their best player, the crucial one in defense and the best middle back. Flensburg arriving two consecutive losses; coach Vranjes admits that the atmosphere in the club is not good

Lübbecke will have to make do without their best player in today's match against one team of candidates for the title, who are arriving after two consecutive losses. Drago Vukovic ended up on an operating table in Bielefeld, where he had an abscess removed (purulent inflammation in hypodermic tissue). It is nothing serious, but he had to stay at the hospital and is not going to play today. Coach Dirk Beuchler said that he hopes that Drago will be ready for the match against Eisenach on September 27. 

We have written many times how Vukovic is important to Lübbecke and it was apparent on Saturday, when he played an away match against his former club Gummersbach. Lübbecke arrived very motivated and pumped up after two debacles against Balingen and Wetzlar. They dominated from start to end and Vukovic organized the game well and also kept the center of the defense strong.

Coach Beuchler shuffled the roster a bit, change both wings at the start, young Taubo went right, Maximilian Schubert left, in place of Wilke (came in second half-time)
and Remer, who did not get to play, but the biggest surprise was keeping line man Frank Løke in defense. That was not a good move and the Norwegian was suspended already two times until the 13. minute. Until the end of the match, he was changing from defense/offense with Mattias Gustafsson, who was in defense with Vukovic and Pajovic.

- It seems that the team understood everything i complained about after the bad game against Balingen. When every individual helps the player next to him and when they do not lose possession, everyone will have a hard time playing against us. After two losses and two wins, it is clear we can only be successful as a team. This win is the best proof of that - said coach Beuchler

His big challenge today is to find a substitution for Vukovic. It is a hard task because the only center back on the roster is the young inexperienced Pole Pawel Niewrzawu.

- We are in for a hard match for sure. Flensburg have been among the top teams for years and they are also candidates for the title. They are strong in all positions, they have superb defense and exceptional goalkeepers - warns Beuchler via the club page of Lübbecke.

- If we play well, we can handle them.

It is not only going to be challenging to substitute Vukovic in the offense, but also in defense, where he plays a key role. We can expect the defense to consist of Pajovic, Gustafsson, Niemeyer and probably Løke again, but hte problem is playing on the same level for 60 minutes. Lübbecke is going to the duel significantly weakened.

Flensburg is coming very motivated.

- It is very important to win after two losses - said coach Ljubo Vranjes via Flensburg's club page.

- The atmosphere was not good during the previous days, and it should not be. I do not understand what we were doing and what we have shown as a handball team.

Flensburg had enormous problems with offense. Landin saved over 20 times, Löwen was doing well in defense and the offense with Mogensen was not really effective. Apart from poor performance, something else affected the atmosphere in the club. On Monday, it was announced that Steffen Weinhold would be transferring to Kiel. This summer, Petar Djordjic went to Hamburg. Flensburg cannot financially compete with other clubs and that is why they are losing their best players.

- We feel as if we are a club for player development before they go to big clubs.

They must win. They need to win both because of the points and in order to make the atmosphere good again. Considering that there are lots of problems in offense, the defense and goalkeeper are going to have to repeat what they did during the last season against Lübbecke when they beat them 33-24.