2016 CEV Cup

  • Lotman already with 4 errors and 5 kill blocked in attack :white:

  • Now if both teams decided to play well at the same time in 4th set, we could actually have a good match....

  • Luckily for Berlin, Surgut lost their head a bit in fifth set. Too many mistakes and they just couldn't get out of setter1 position. Berlin needs to work on their risk management. 17 kill blocks (9 by safranov alone :white: ) is just too much. On the other hand they could keep Surgut at low percentage in attack as well. So everything is still open for the second leg,,,,,

  • Apparently Ugra excluded Bakun(!), Brdjovic and Apalikov from the roster for the home leg. The official explanation is difficult time-table and... easy rival.


    I came here to ask why the hell Gazprom gave up on this Cup leaving out Bakun, Apalikov and Brdjovic... the I saw your post. :aww:

  • The realistic answer needs to account for the fact that Bakun&Co are not benched (which is what one would do in the case of the roster manoeuvre) but taken off the roster. The reasons can be (i) traceable meldonium, (ii) hardcore disciplinary issue or (iii) prearranged game.

  • Berlin sure doesn't have the money to "buy" CEV Cup from a Russian team, so I'd guess it was (i) or (ii) or maybe something else beyond the guesses above. It sure screams "mystery!" when the home team leaves its best players out of the roster for a Euro Cup final :!:

  • Congrats Berlin, deserved Cup winner :super:
    In a couple of weeks/months no one, apart from us nerds, will remind the circumstances of the return leg. Good chance for Berlin for further development of the club.
    That will surely help as well with getting over the defeat in league semis against Lüneburg :box: 8) .



    The realistic answer needs to account for the fact that Bakun&Co are not benched (which is what one would do in the case of the roster manoeuvre) but taken off the roster. The reasons can be (i) traceable meldonium, (ii) hardcore disciplinary issue or (iii) prearranged game.

    What about: (iiii) players refused to play on their own, because of salaries not being paid ?


    But whatever, russian volleyball truly delivered some stories this season:


    • Belgorod, Lokomotiv short of money
    • record breaking WL season
    • Ilynikh beaten into intensiv care
    • Muserskiy out of OGQT
    • Dinamo`s strange euro cup performances
    • Obmochaev

    And i haven't even mentioned Meldonium yet :white:

  • Salaries surely aren't reason why Bakun, Brđović and Apalikov havent played. I know Surgut has solid financial situation, first hand info I found out a month ago. Doubt something changed. For me the most logical reason is traceable melodonium. I also heard, from reliable source, Dynamo let Surgut into finals due melodonium threat as they were scared CEV would test their players before finals :whistle:


  • What about: (iiii) players refused to play on their own, because of salaries not being paid ?


    No, AFAIC Ugra is in green, financially. But reading several leaks supporting (i). As I predicted earlier, the pharmacokinetics of the drug in question is unknown and the four key players were left off to avoid the disqualification. I would call it a lesser evil. Funny enough this situation has been predicted by Dinamo Moscow press sec in mid March, but then everyone thought he was joking.


    Quote

    But whatever, russian volleyball truly delivered some stories this season:


    • Belgorod, Lokomotiv short of money
    • record breaking WL season
    • Ilynikh beaten into intensiv care
    • Muserskiy out of OGQT
    • Dinamo`s strange euro cup performances
    • Obmochaev

    And i haven't even mentioned Meldonium yet :white:


    I don't think those are the real volleyball stories and those are actually separate stories. More like the branches of the same tree. My vision is that there were two main drivers defining Rus volleyball life over this season: (i) the NT problems and (ii) the falling ruble and sanctions. The poor WL performance and the NT crisis were overall fruits of the conditional departure of Alekno back in 2012 ("I am leaving but I may come back if needed" = I need to take some rest and spend a couple of vacations with my family but then when this chap screws up I'll be ready to take the team to Rio.) Obviously "the chap" did his best to impress and achieved the initial goal very well, with the caveat that the post-olympic opportunity of bringing some fresh blood into the NT was wasted. The second component of the NT trouble was the lack of focus. There could have existed two or even three NTs, each one participating in different competitions. This all doesn't help to create a strong united outfit. To me, the biggest bizarre was the situation when the team travelled to US but the head coach stayed at home - the priorities are very unclear in this case. I believe The NT problems are the fault of the Federation; the ruble and sanctions issue are obviously not their fault.


    Belgorod was v much afloat this season but they were well exposed to the factors above that materialised into a pressure from the NT/Federation and the flat domestic season. The sick health of their boss, the unclear prospects for the new arena and the fact that their opp became the best paid player in their team. Although he's a fantastic opp and by far the best foreign transfer for Belgorod, noone can predict e.g. the reaction of the famous MB whose nominal dollar salary kind of went down. However the most unnoticed for Belgorod is the fact that truly buried them this season: they've kicked out their coach in the summer but then invited him back on a short notice, just to kick out once again. The replacement, a local boy, has very clearly demonstrated his tactical skills vs Trento/Stoychev. Another local boy Kosarev and a son-in-law of the CEO Khtey didn't have to travel to Asia looking for jobs, they're conveniently pushing the ball basket and proudly wearing their jerseys. I have to say, it is a mixture of parochialism, narrowmindedness and nepotism rather than the budget cut that brings Belgorod down (although the budget cut did take place, no doubts). The truly silly thing is that Belgorod was in a similar situation e.g. back in 2012 but the lesson hasn't been learned.


    The Ilihykh story is very unclear. He hasn't aired a single accusation as yet, although he is at liberty to do it now. The Obmochaev story is not a story and nothing new. (The divorce is a story, no doubt). Muserskiy had an acceptable excuse. He also has an abdominal muscle problem and his condition was unclear. One can notice that he doesn't hit with the whole body and prefers to tip all the time). I agree it all looks obscure but the true reason for that is not the modus operandi of the Federation and clubs but also a lack of public interest to volleyball. There are just no decent knowledgeable "yellow" journos who would report these details to the public; people who write about/present volleyball in Rus are either former players (knowing the subject but unable to connect sentences w/out f-words) or professional journos with sad biography (for whom e.g. Gamova is a setter and for a back-court attack the team gets three points).


    Dinamo has simply overestimated their abilities ("their" doesn't stand for Zaytsev here). Of note, they preferred to promote the second coach, upon freeing the experienced Marichev, and hired a newbie second coach. The erratic pattern was very palpable in their planning not just performance. The best example was a five-set clash vs Kuzbass a day before their trip towards Bodensee but overall the collection of five-setters against all sorts of teams tells a story of naive tactics. And again we have the flat regular season as one of the reasons, plus the (temporary?) departure of Marichev who decided to focus on women. Which is once again an NT business.