2016 CEV DenizBank Champions League

  • I needed the slowmo and a very concentrated look to see, that the ref made the right decision. :thumbup: My first reaction was as well "WTF??"


    Maybe that should remind us all to better watch twice before we shout out "How could he...", "Corruption", or stuff like this 8)

  • The referee is right to be angry tbh. I admit I thought Christenson really had touched twice, but the more I watched the video, the clearer it was that it was Stankovic who did. The Roeselare players only protested the ball out too. lol

  • I must admit so far Dragan Travica is playing an excellent match. It is simple terrible decision of Bernardi to start third set with Ulaş. I don't understand what he is trying to do. CL match is not the right place to make experimental choises. He killed whole teams rhythm. He is so stubborn to take back his change. It is clear Ulaş will be Halkbank's first setter even in CL
    Edit: Now he is using the second libero instead of the best digger of the team!!!! Perhaps he played a good bet for third set win of Budva. Unbeliveable!!!

  • In ljubljana, the most interesting thing is the battle between Bruno and Ngapeth for the best youtube/world of volley video :D

  • In ljubljana, the most interesting thing is the battle between Bruno and Ngapeth for the best youtube/world of volley video :D


    And Bruno did it, with that point by using the pass at the end of second set :D

    Per un pir, un pam un persec per na brogna e na rumleina, nuetr'a sam d'la Ghirlandeina nuetr'a sam da rispeter




  • Even Bernardi couldn't save Budva. They must the weakest team of this years CL.
    Funny part is Halkbank played with their original line-up in the third set. It is a fact that Bernardi doesn't like Travica so Ulaş will be their starting setter in CL. It is questionable to me why they signed Travica .
    Travica has made a solid start to the season and he is playing way better than Ulaş. But only one who can't see or doesn't want to see it is Bernardi :aww:


    I'm extremely disappointed with Bernardi. Last year he wasted dream OH due of Juantorena-Kubiak (offense-defense).

  • I must admit so far Dragan Travica is playing an excellent match. It is simple terrible decision of Bernardi to start third set with Ulaş. I don't understand what he is trying to do. CL match is not the right place to make experimental choises. He killed whole teams rhythm. He is so stubborn to take back his change. It is clear Ulaş will be Halkbank's first setter even in CL
    Edit: Now he is using the second libero instead of the best digger of the team!!!! Perhaps he played a good bet for third set win of Budva. Unbeliveable!!!

    This is normally true but not always and I totally understand coaches who make experiments during the CL group phase. When you are the coach of a Polish, Russian, Turkish, or an Italian team, sometimes you face weaker teams in the Champions League. By weaker I mean teams that would not survive the rhythm of your own domestic league. Even if there are weaker teams in all those leagues too, they are still able to recruit good foreigners and are at least accustomed to the level of the stronger clubs participating in the CL. With the expansion of the Champions League, however, we have to accept the risk of watching weaker teams or such that were relatively good during the season they won the right to participate in next year's CL edition and then were totally unable to keep their main players or had to recruit mediocre replacements. With all these busy schedules and important games often approaching, every coach tries to give some rest to (key) players. Let's not discuss that sometimes you have to change 1 or 2 flights to travel across Europe to beat the local team 3-0 in an hour (Belogorie's case in Dupnitsa this week). Budvanska Rivijera, for example, used to be a great opponent in the previous campaigns, unlike this one. Zenit did it in Innsbruck, Resovia did it against Lugano, many others have taken advantage of it over the years. Gennadiy Shipulin doesn't even travel with his team for the away games. Vojvodina, a different example, might've lost 0-3 in Gdansk, but they have a great squad and are capable of punishing every team that underestimate them. That being said, yes, unfortunately, sometimes the Champions League is a good place to try out new players simply because the level difference allows you to. It depends on the draw for sure, but the group phase might be weaker than your domestic championship. Trentino's case this season is not among those explained, however, because Tours, Noliko, and PAOK are not teams against which Stoychev could experiment much.


    Your example was different, of course, and I would understand why it makes perfect sense for Travica to stay on the court for all three sets. And yes, Budva, along with Marek, must be the worst teams in this year's tournament.

  • Maybe it is true for Italian and Russian leagues but believe me there are a lot of teams worse than Budva in Turkish league
    Review of matches I watched ;
    - PAOK-Tours, I only watched a set but I think Cuban players could do better,especially Jimenez. He was poor.
    -Arkas-Berlin ,Arkas has room for improvement ,they just need more time .They also need another OH,Borges injury is a big negative factor for them. It was nice to see Serniotti again but Berlin is worse than previous years.
    - Ziraat-Paris Volley ; Ziraat :what: :what: Extremely efficient performance from both Nillson and Ferreira.Also from our little Burak, :heart: he is becoming such a high level all-round player. Paris Volley was a nightmare.
    -Lube Civitanova- Roeselare. Belgian team has very interesting coach, his time-outs are very informative. Interestingly they prefer short but super-fast OPP. Good serving from them ,their float services became Juantorena's nightmare. As for Civitanova, it is sad to see Parodi forcing himself too much. Basically he can jump on one leg, he can't use his left leg therefore he can't block. Strong OPPs will have a field day against them( Wlazly :win: ). Juantorena must be so tired, had so many ups and downs .I don't think his connection with Christenson is optimal, they need to work together more. Good play from Podrascanin and Stankovic. Grebennikov was as usual awesome .
    -Halkbank-Budva; As I wrote before, poor coaching from Bernardi. Kubiak is more confident this year.It seems to me he is the leader of the team .

  • I guess I missed the most balanced match of last night's programme - Roeselare vs. Dukla Liberec.


    Belogorie did their job fast and had no problems against Berlin. It was more or less expected after the surprising home defeat in the championship to Yenisei. Berlin's bench came in and put up a fight only in the third set.


    For those who kept asking about Julien Lyneel - he played alongside Penchev for a relatively easy win in Romania. Tomis have had a slow start of the season, they have some good players but no results yet. Besides, there are now problems with Boyan Yordanov (check out the 2015-2016 transfers section), he didn't play last night and won't appear in a Tomis jersey anymore. Tomis have a decent squad and I was surely expecting more from them already. But it seems like this won't be the same Romanian team from the previous two Champions League campaigns. Resovia did not play something spectacular but it was more than enough to close them match in three sets. A victory also expected (although I thought they would drop a set) based on the 2-3 home defeat in the championship against Lebedew's Jastrzebski.


    Marek have already played versus Arkas in Izmir and just like the last time (2 years ago, I think) they managed to put up some fight. Arkas seem to perform great against stronger teams and to lose focus against weaker ones. This is why there was drama last night. Rouzier and Shoji weren't concentrated entirely during the match. Also, I have to admit, this was undoubtedly Marek's best match of the season so far. They are struggling in the Bulgarian league and the impossible Champions League group doesn't help them much. They won't take a point, most probably, unless they pull out a rabbit out of the hat at home against Berlin, let alone win a match, but they showed some very decent volleyball in Izmir and we should give them credits for that. On the Turkish side there was a very impressive and massively improved Gökhan Gökgoz. Forget his 29 points, it was his consistency, determination, and overall presence that make him a spectacular player. He is only 22 and has shown the same level since the beginning of the season, not only in easier games.

  • About Izmir match.I Think that Rouzier was out of the game, Shoji was Ok to me... The Turkish OH it's a Good Offensive player but needs to be more concentrated on back row.. silly mistakes some times.

  • Does Someone watching the game PGE x Lube?


    I think so weird.. ube doesn't have none Italian Player...