CSM's coaching merry-go-round keeps turning
There is a saying in Romanian sports that whenever a team does not tick all the boxes, shock therapy needs to be deployed.
It goes without saying that the fans have quickly coined this phrase into a standing joke after every owner or president has used it to justify the sacking of the previous coach, as the newcomer needed to breathe new life into the team.
Romanian sports are full of trigger-happy presidents who are bringing the shock therapy into play.
Now the tactic has been deployed for the third straight year at powerhouse CSM Bucuresti. The club have had six coaches in the last four years, with at least a coaching change in each of the three seasons in which they took part in the Women’s EHF Champions League.
It can only show that leading a group of superstars, while fulfilling an ambition, can be a difficult job to master, no matter if you are a seasoned coach like Jakob Vestergaard, Mette Klit or Kim Rasmussen. The latter left CSM after bringing the Romanian side their first ever Champions League trophy.
Combining the tactical aspect with management of the egos in the team
“For the last several years, CSM have a very strong group of players and a coach has to combine both the tactical aspect and the management of the egos in the team to be successful,” CSM president Bogdan Vasiliu tells ehfCL.com. “It can prove a challenge for anyone, if they are not up to the game.”
The latest change came only three weeks ago when Danish coach Helle Thomsen left abruptly after a domestic league game. Her position was simply untenable with the team slowly and painfully heading towards an underwhelming season.
“There were a lot of critics but we think we made the right choice,” Vasiliu says. “I would not go as far as saying the atmosphere was toxic in the locker room, but from where we stand, it was almost impossible to repair the damage that was done and challenge for the Women’s EHF Champions League trophy.”
Back was Per Johansson, the charismatic 47-year-old Swedish coach, who also replaced Aurelian Rosca last March when the team was also in a dire situation.
Last season, Johansson led CSM to third place in the Champions League. This season, anything than the title will be deemed a failure.
“It is one of my biggest challenges in my career because it is more obvious this year that everything besides achieving our goal will be unacceptable,” Johansson tells ehfCL.com. “I like the challenges and I am quite good in preparing the teams in short periods. I feel sharper and better.”
CSM's first Champions League match under Johansson this season will be the first leg of the quarter-final against Metz on Friday at 19:30 hrs (live on ehfTV.com).
"Not teaching handball, I want a team"
The slew of changes has brought the club many critics but there is a certain logic behind it. Judging by the way CSM were playing with Rosca and Thomsen in the first month of spring in 2017 and 2018, the FINAL4 berth was seriously under threat both times.
Losing games in the European premium competition is understandable, especially when CSM clashed with other powerhouses like Györ or Rostov. But explaining a loss against SCM Craiova in the Romanian League and a 50-minute stalemate against HC Zalau in the Romanian cup is impossible.
Therefore, while many players liked Thomsen as a coach, the management’s last resort was to apply the shock therapy once again.
Johansson already knew the management and more than half of the players in CSM’s roster, and the tweaks he made worked wonders as he led the team to their second consecutive Romanian cup last weekend, with clear wins against CSM Roman and HCM Ramnicu Valcea.
There is no doubt that those two Romanian sides are not even close to Metz Handball, CSM’s opponent in the Champions League Quarter-finals, but early signs show a rejuvenated side, which grew increasingly stale in the first three months of 2018 with Thomsen at the helm.
“We have some players with extraordinary skills. For me, it is not about teaching them handball at this stage. I want them to be together as a team, to have a fundament as a team, to play more like a team,” says Johansson.
“It is a step-by-step process but I know what I need to do, because I have been a coach for 25 years. I can say now that what most coaches miss is that handball is all about relations and behaviour. It is always these things that swing the balance to one team or another,” adds the Swedish coach.
The movie with one main character
Johansson is known as a great motivator and a coach that can rally the team behind him, with an arsenal of teambuilding exercises that he has proudly shown in his other job as Montenegrin women’s national team coach.
“If you can dedicate yourself to the team’s cause, then you are a team player,” Johansson says. “I told the girls that all of them are stars and came from teams where they were big, big stars. The challenge is to compromise, because there are 18 players who used to be stars in CSM. It is like a movie, because there is only one main character.”
But will Johansson stay as the CSM coach after the end of the season?
“Probably not,” he replies with a big smile, prompting CSM’s eighth coaching change in the last four years and a half.
His mission is to win the second Champions League trophy in the last three years with CSM.
“It is certainly doable. We have been criticised by many in Romania, but I think if we win the trophy, everything will pan out exactly as we thought,” concludes Vasiliu.
If that scenario becomes reality, then CSM’s management will look like heroes. Questions will surely be risen if not. However, Johansson has the brains and the nous to lead CSM. He also has the experience from last year. Will it be enough?
TEXT:
Adrian Costeiu / ew