Russian NT 2017

  • New coach will be Sergey Shlyapnikov.


    WoV is reporting on possible restrictions for players who refuse to play for the National Team.


    "The Russian Volleyball Federation has the right to restrict the
    participation in the Russian Championship to any Russian player who
    refuses to play for the national team. This is not something new and it
    is not a threat to the players who does not want to play for the
    national team. Playing in the Russian national team is optional. Before
    every season all the players have the option to sign or not to sign the
    paper which says - I agree to play for the national team of Russia. If
    the person refuses to sign we cannot punish him, but we can limit his
    rights in the Russian Championship,"



    Are there so many unwilling players that they need to threaten with the heavy artillery? Sherlock Powsoff, please inform us about the latest gossips :wavy:

  • What cunning strategy, what a great way of introducing yourself to the volleyball world, threatening everyone on day 1. Imagine a new boss showing up at work and giving such a message before even meeting the team.


    And I thought the guy before Alekno (so useless I forgot his name) was the worst thing ever happened to Russian volleyball.


  • In brief, this is about whether and how Muserskiy should play the NT. The big chap is in reality controlled by his wife who insists he should spend more time with their very young son. This point may potentially create a conflict with the new coach. The Fed is trying to generate the arguments that Dima can present to his wife. Noone wants to sanction anyone.



    In detail, the story is mostly spun around Muserskiy's skipping the Olympic qualification back in Jan 2016. Let me try to stay more or less neutral here, as obviously all the fans are totally on Dima's side. Muserskiy had a word with Alekno and possibly with the fed bosses before leaving the camp and essentially going home. The President of the Federation got very angry and very public and went "quite far" by using the XX century terminology ("treason" etc). Alekno pretended as if nothing was happening. Tetyukhin and Khtey came up for Muserskiy and very gently rebuked the President, Shipulin was more diplomatic saying that Muserskiy had serious family reasons to skip but as a coach he thinks Muserskiy could have actually not skipped. Basically, this blah-blah ended up in nothing and the conflict was seemingly gone by the summer 2016 when Muserskiy was yet again in the roster. Then too moments arose, AFAIC:


    (1) Muserskiy was slightly out of shape as he was injured mid season and couldn't spike - he was visibly slower and seemingly still in pain and
    (2) Muserskiy was part of the "McLaren report": he was mentioned in one of the Rodchenkov's emails dated Oct 2012 for use of alpha-1 agonist. Whilst there was still a good chance that that was a declared use of e.g. nasal spray (Dima hasn't missed a game during that period), I presume this fact moved Muserskiy into the "meldonium club" (Markin, Berezhko, Grankin).


    I assume that after some negotiations with FIVB (Grankin) Alekno&Co decided to play for safety and kept Muserskiy at home. The latter had no comments but had complaints regarding his poor health.


    The Rus volleyball officials adopted a simple and wise strategy towards this issue: the pharmacology is being played down but instead the attitude of players to their condition comes more into a focus. The only bizarre exception was the phrase (or rather slip of the tongue) from the vice-Pres Yaremenko, who basically said that Muserskiy is controlled by his wife who decides for him whether or not to participate on the team level. I have to say, I believe Yaremenko as Muserskiy's position has been changing all the time.

    Now in comes Shlyapnikov, who has a reputation of a tough coach, as he mostly worked with youngsters. Known for sending an NT opposite home from Brasil after discovering the guy (Nikita Alekseev) was secretly ordering pizza into his hotel room. Having said that, Alekseev himself is on Shlyapnikov's side these days. The only condition that the Fed has come up for Shlyapnikov is that he should not be rude to those adult players in the team. Shlyapnikov has never worked with Muserskiy, however otherwise he knows practically any player in the team through their work in the youth team. My vision is that the Shlyapnikov will kick Dima out of the team straight away if Dima's wife emerges as a decisive force once again and the Fed is trying to avoid such scenario in their way. They suggested that they will not prosecute anyone who declines the call to the NT but may treat the decliners as foreign players in the Superleague - i.e. they'll go by the limit.


    I do not know which way this is going to develop. Shlyapnikov knows best what Russia has in terms of young talent; it is excluded that he will say promote the likes of Sivo&Spiri and I'm confident he'll help people like Poletaev to grab their deserved space in the NT. I don't think he's a big thinker otherwise and I foresee that he'll be asked out in a couple of years - having fulfilled his job of introducing the young blood though. He may be able to find a decent consensus with senior players like Grankin, Berezhko, Mikhaylov as those are his pupils. The Muserskiy case may go differently as Dima has already publicly and negatively commented on the Fed decision but time will tell.

  • And I thought the guy before Alekno (so useless I forgot his name) was the worst thing ever happened to Russian volleyball.


    Many criticise Voronkov for failing to address the problems of the NT (OHs) and introducing the new players on time. Having said that, the chap won the Euro title and the World League with very much his own team. Do you remember when e.g. Italy won any of these - before typing "the worst thing ever"?

  • Many criticise Voronkov for failing to address the problems of the NT (OHs) and introducing the new players on time. Having said that, the chap won the Euro title and the World League with very much his own team. Do you remember when e.g. Italy won any of these - before typing "the worst thing ever"?

    I don't care about the results of any team compared to mine, I simply evaluate facts. The guy inherited a dream team and milked it dry to the point it almost didn't qualify to the next Olympics. Any idiot could have won what Russia won with the team built by Alekno, I think it's pretty obvious that whatever happened to Russia when he had full control of the following Olympic cycle was a disaster.

  • In brief, this is about whether and how Muserskiy should play the NT. The big chap is in reality controlled by his wife who insists he should spend more time with their very young son. This point may potentially create a conflict with the new coach. The Fed is trying to generate the arguments that Dima can present to his wife. Noone wants to sanction anyone.......


    .......

    So first, thanks for your evaluation. Always appreciated :thumbup:


    This "Muserskiy under controll of his evil wife" theory sounds a bit too tabloid-ish for my taste and doesn't really convince me, but what do I know.....


    If both sides will play hardball i wonder, whether turning a player into a "foreign player" for the local league would really hold a court case? From a legal point of view, that sounds quite fishy for my taste.

  • The paranoid wife story sounds so conspiracy theory... "Oh, a woman ruined her husband's career!" "Oh, a woman led to deterioration of a volleyball federation's reputation!" "Burn her!"...


    It's saddening to hear about such restriction. Hope they had been negotiating well before any hasty lose-lose decision was made.

  • So first, thanks for your evaluation. Always appreciated :thumbup:


    This "Muserskiy under controll of his evil wife" theory sounds a bit too tabloid-ish for my taste and doesn't really convince me, but what do I know.....


    If both sides will play hardball i wonder, whether turning a player into a "foreign player" for the local league would really hold a court case? From a legal point of view, that sounds quite fishy for my taste.


    The wife control story does look like an overstretch, however the single episode of familial interference is, I regret to say, very believable. Too many things clicked around that European OG qualification. The clash with Russian equivalent of Xmas holidays, the fact that Dima was a massive asset for the NT (and therefore seemingly deserved the rest), in the end, the lack of explanation decent enough to be openly supported by e.g. Alekno - all that prompts that the Fed was not entirely wrong by throwing those accusations. I think the Fed aims to safeguard itself from further debates on the topic having in mind that difficult time in early 1990s when the NT was not particularly prestigious way to spend one's summer holidays - so it takes the hard stance straight away.


    The court perspective would have been realistic, had there been an independent pro league in Rus. As it stands, the Superleague is a Fed institution. It is the Fed that decided so far regarding various policies of the Superleague and I haven’t seen anyone being successful debating them legally.

  • I'm in love with 'evil wife' theory :thumbsup:


    This is not a theory but this is how life is in real world. Of note, I invented practically nothing to the story; what I've rather done was (fairly liberal) connecting of the dots. However the dots themselves - i.e. pretty tough public statements - came directly from Rus senior volleyball officials and were published by a reputable source.

  • I'm in love with 'evil wife' theory :thumbsup:

    This is not a theory but this is how life is in real world.

    8o :whistle:
    You made my day, guys



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juTeHsKPWhY


  • :lol: :lol:


    powsoff I believe your 'real world' story. My theory is when a male player has an older wife, she tries too hard to control that player's life. One example is Zaytsev's wife; you know she is way older than him and she is in full control of his life. You can't even find a photo of Zaytsev with his friends without his wife. From the photos( don't know her age) , Muzersky's wife looks like she is older than him and she is always the central figure of their photos. Her dominance is felt even from photos :lol: :lol:

  • 21 rosters for WL
    http://worldleague.2017.fivb.c…/rus%20russia/team_roster


    Setters:
    Sergey Antipkin, Dmitry Kovalev, Pavel Pankov


    Opposite Hitters:
    Konstantin Bakun, Alexander Kimerov, Alexander Chefranov, Maxim Zhigalov


    Outside Hitters:
    Dmitry Volkov, Denis Biryukov, Alexey Spiridonov, Egor Feoktistov, Dmitriy Ilinykh, Egor Kliuka


    Middle Blockers:
    Ilia Vlasov, Vadym Likhosherstov, Igor Filippov, Dmitry Shcherbinin, Ilyas Kurkaev


    Libero:
    Roman Martynyuk, Valentin Krotkov, Artem Zelenkov



    How about these rosters ?
    No Victor Poletaev is biggest surprise for me 8|

  • That young and hot and handsome redhead setter from Zenit Kazan too? That Belegorie setter as well. And Yaroslav!


    Do they realize they need continuity to keep up with the stronger teams?


    So many old players that won't probably make it to tokyo by 2020. Not saying they need to rebuild completely from the ground up but Spiridonov and Ilynykh and Bakun are not too young anymore.


    Maxim Zhigalov didn't even impress me in Belogorie. I don't understand this. They need a more mobile opposite in my opinion.


    The other positions I can agree but the main problems right now is Outside Hitter, Setter and Opposite.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • Spiridonov is back :aww:

    They need someone to guide the younger players.... 8) :drink:


    P.S.
    I don't think these rosters on WL-site are official yet. So lets wait for federation's announcement.....

  • Potetaev OUT? :what: :what: :what:


    My team:


    Dmitry Kovalev - Alexander Kimerov
    Dmitry Volkov - Egor Kliuka
    Ilia Vlasov - Ilyas Kurkaev
    Valentin Krotkov


    :box: :box: :box: