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Kim Anderson returns to his lucky place

The great Swede has won everything that could be won with Kiel, and he won the title of world's best right back. He currently wears the jersey of the Danish team. However, due to a shoulder injury, he cannot significantly contribute to the offense

Kiel is struggling, winning close matches, winning due to goal difference or scoring the winning goals 10 and 8 minutes before the end of the match. They don't leave a great impression, but still hold 7-0-0 in Bundesliga and 1-0-0 in the Champions League. Isn't it characteristic for all the great teams to win even when their game is not at its best? That is exactly what Kiel has been doing this fall.

-We are aware of the fact that we have a limited squad. Nonetheless, we have to continue just as it is. At the moment, we are not able to bring reinforcements - said coach Alfred Gislason, who, according to the local newspaper Kieler Nachrichten, will not include Aron Palmarsson in the line-up, because he isn't completely fit. Also, he will leave out Christian Sprenger, due to adductor injury. However, Palmarsson's appearance shouldn't be excluded because he didn't play the game against Melsungen.

Gislason had some pretty interesting observations after the match against Melsungen, referring to the game of opponents who come to Kiel for away matches. He noticed that the team especially struggled in home matches. They won against Gummersbach and Wetzlar by a single goal, against Melsungen by three... Gislason said that this was due to the fact that all teams tried to prevent Kiel's fast transitions in a similar way. Via awfully long offenses which, according to Gislason, are not punished by the referees by timely calling passive play. Therefore, in Gislason's opinion, Kiel's opponents use up a lot of time for setting the offense and shooting on goal. He does have a point to a certain extent, but it is hardly a piece of news. Kiel have handled this rather well in the past. Kiel are currently bothered by other problems. Gislason's theory is only part of the problem...

He should be worried by the fact that Jallouz has had little game-time, and when he enters the game, his performance is far bellow expectations. A lot will depend on Jiha, who will be in the starting line-up today, even though he injured his thumb in the game against Melsungen.

Today, Kiel will face the best defense out of all the opponents they played against this season. Better even than Flensburg's defense, who defeated them in the Super Cup. They played against Kolding during the preparations, and they suffered a  26-19 defeat. It is hard to remember the games in which Kiel scored less than 20 goals.

-We want to play for the win. Our combination of defense and goalkeeper is stronger than Kiel's previous opponents - Lars Krogh Jeppesen, KIF Kolding's assistant coach, was clear.

In seven official matches this season, the Danes have yet to receive more than 25 goals per match. Aalborg, BSV and Holstebro, their fiercest opponents in Denmark, were left at 21, 25 and 25 goals, respectively. At the start of the Champions League, they secured a 25-20 win against Porto.

In that win against the Portuguese, Kim Andersson (in the picture, jersey number 5) played his first minutes this season. He was in the game for only 5 minutes, playing defense. However, this was a stimulus to him, as well as to his teammates. 

-It was a small step for me, and I'll need many other steps to reach top shape, because my shoulder is like a construction site. My biggest problem is that I cannot shoot the way I used to - Kim said for Eurohandball. com

-I hope that I will be able to help today, but that's for the coach to decide, as well as how many minutes he'll give me and which position I'll take. I believe I can help the team in other ways, even if I can't shoot.

After a few minutes of game-time against Porto, he played shortly in the League win against Mors (29-23). He didn't score. And it wasn't necessary. Bo Spellerberg was the top scorer with 9 goals, followed by Albert Rocas with 6.

-If we want to win against Kiel again, we have to invest  120%. And Kiel need to have a bad day. Otherwise, it's an impossible mission - Andersson admitted honestly.

Kolding will be arriving very confident, convinced that they can endanger Kiel, and those kinds of opponents are always dangerous. Coach Henrik Kronborg will have to do without the two left-handed players Simon Jensen and Kasper Irming, as well as the left wing Boris Schnuchela, the club's 38-year-old record holder in the number of appearances.

Kiel haven't played against a better defense this season. Jorgensen, Laen, Boldsen and goalkeeper Hvidt are the best thing Europe has to offer now, even when we know that they're all more than 30 years old. But it's a respect worthy defense. In the preparation part thy left Kiel, who were without Fillip Jicha, on 19 goals. Of course, it's unrealistic to expect the same today, but it's also not realistic that Kiel score 32 goals and KIF concede about 20 goals per average. Nobody from the top Danish teams scored over 25 goals against them. With all this, Kieln also have injury problems. Jicha injured his thumb against Meslungen, Palmarsson is still not a 100%, Lauge missed matches because of his shoulder, Jallouz is completely out, far from intergrating and adapting to his first German season. Kolding are trying to slow their tempo down as much as possible, because they're changing a lot of defense-offense players.