2015 CEV DenizBank Champions League

    JW should have played with Belogorie :lol:

    Quote from raylight

    I watched the Belogorie - Halkbank today. Everyone speaks about how spectacular was Juantorena /which is true/ but in the golden set Sokolov spikes 6 out of 8 points and blocks 1 of 3, for total 7 out of 11 points. That is not subpar performance, that is top level in important moment /not typical for him lately/


    How about the actual match?
    Maybe this is because in the golden set Sokolov took 8 out of 11 passes, Juantorena only one, Kubiak zero. Thankfully Sokolov finally delivered.
    No matter how he plays, Sokolov is the first and second choises for setter Ulaş then it is Juantorena and Kubiak. The way Ulaş plays , Halkbank's success will only depend on Sokolov . And this is not the logical way.

    This is old school volleyball in which the opposite takes all. Not great for Halkbank, but good for Sokolov. He needs more spikes to decrease the error rate. He scored 6 of 8 passes, which is great for set to 15.

    Quote from scarpetta


    How about the actual match?
    Maybe this is because in the golden set Sokolov took 8 out of 11 passes, Juantorena only one, Kubiak zero. Thankfully Sokolov finally delivered.
    No matter how he plays, Sokolov is the first and second choises for setter Ulaş then it is Juantorena and Kubiak. The way Ulaş plays , Halkbank's success will only depend on Sokolov . And this is not the logical way.


    Have you ever heard that 1st choice spiker depends on opponents tactics, block and field defense instructions? Sometimes dicussions here are totaly pointless and missed.

    I'm not denying that Sokolov was fantastic in the golden set. He won the golden set alone.
    Kaziyski come on I had an opportunity to watch majority of Halkbank's matches this season. This is the story of the season not spesific for this match. It is not because opposite player is Sokolov, this is Ulaş's setting style.He is too dependent on the opposite player.
    And if it is because of tactics, how about changing your strategy if it doesn't work. Halkbank was helpless in the second,third and fourth set.

    Considering Bernardi substituted him both in the second and third set, this must not be Bernardi's exact plan.
    Whatever the reason, I hope they will play a more balanced offensive game against Zenit. This includes more middle and backrow attacks.
    By the way, I hope Lube will suprise us tomorrow

    Quote from scarpetta

    Considering Bernardi substituted him both in the second and third set, this must not be Bernardi's exact plan.
    Whatever the reason, I hope they will play a more balanced offensive game against Zenit. This includes more middle and backrow attacks.
    By the way, I hope Lube will suprise us tomorrow

    Not giving to Juantorena to pipe is like not letting Grozer serving with jump :lol:

    Quote from Kaziyski

    CL is total joke. Today Loko trashed Tomis, now Perugia is doing the same to JW, Resovia to VfB..

    Come on, we can't say it is a total joke :) I agree the group stage of the CL is not what it used to be anymore, we've discussed it many times. Every year twice (before it starts and when it ends), to be more precise. But we can't write off the playoffs because Jastrzebski underperformed in Perugia. They struggled at home and the game was quite balanced last week. Friedrichshafen had their weak moments in Rzeszow, I'll give you that, but they are just a bit weaker and still tried last night. Do you Remember the first game in Germany and they way the hosts started? The pair Lokomotiv vs Tomis is another story, Tomis used half of the bench in Novosibirsk. Besides, I am not really sure if the head coach Stoev traveled with the team at all. They are not the first and won't be the last team to arrive in Novosibirsk without many ambitions/players. In Romania, Lokomotiv was just superior. Together with Piacenza vs Zenit, this pair was the most easily predictable one.


    With Halkbank vs. Belogorie and Lube vs. Skra, I can't really say that playoffs are a total joke :) It is a totally different problem that three of the top teams were drawn in the lower part of the playoffs. But we've had the same scenario in previous years as well when Jastrzebski (twice), ZAKSA and ACH (partially) took advantage of it.

    I think that CL will become much more interesting and unpredictable if more russian players go to play abroad and this can happens for exemple if Russian federation allows more foreigners then just two to play in a russian league. In this case some good local players will not have secured placed in russian teams and they will want to go abroad. For exemple if russian crisis because of european embargo continues the money they receive in Russia will start to reduce in comparison with salaries in other countries. We can not deny the fact that Russia has the strongest local players in Europe and so they just do not need so much foreigners. Of course at the moment this does not seem so possible but one day can happen. There are some small number of russian players who take the challenge to try themselves in another countries with different style of volleyball but there are not so much yet and definitely no the best in the moment. And i mean the change will happens if players from the best four russian teams Zenit, Novosibirsk, Belgorod and Dinamo Mosocw do that. Maybe the situation is somehow similar with Brasilian players. More in Europe, more quality teams while they do not so much concurence in south america club's championships.

    Quote from YavorD

    Come on, we can't say it is a total joke :) I agree the group stage of the CL is not what it used to be anymore, we've discussed it many times. Every year twice (before it starts and when it ends), to be more precise. But we can't write off the playoffs because Jastrzebski underperformed in Perugia. They struggled at home and the game was quite balanced last week. Friedrichshafen had their weak moments in Rzeszow, I'll give you that, but they are just a bit weaker and still tried last night. Do you Remember the first game in Germany and they way the hosts started? The pair Lokomotiv vs Tomis is another story, Tomis used half of the bench in Novosibirsk. Besides, I am not really sure if the head coach Stoev traveled with the team at all. They are not the first and won't be the last team to arrive in Novosibirsk without many ambitions/players. In Romania, Lokomotiv was just superior. Together with Piacenza vs Zenit, this pair was the most easily predictable one.


    With Halkbank vs. Belogorie and Lube vs. Skra, I can't really say that playoffs are a total joke :) It is a totally different problem that three of the top teams were drawn in the lower part of the playoffs. But we've had the same scenario in previous years as well when Jastrzebski (twice), ZAKSA and ACH (partially) took advantage of it.


    OK "joke" too heavy word but there is no drama at all. After losing 1st set Belgorod trashed Halkbank, Loko trashed Tomis in 1st match (wont take 2nd in this comparison), Resovia trashed Vfb in 2nd as well as Perugia JW. Now Zenit 25-13 vs Piacenza in 1st set.. no excitement at all, gaps between teams are just too big...


    I don't look Playoffs through big "names", SKRA vs Lube is a big clash but 3:0 and 20+ diff for Poles in 1st match are tragic from my point of view :D

    Lube is showing good spirit tonight. Pity they didn't win the first set. Hope they can keep it exciting as long as possible.

    Very good game in Poland tonight, a lot of long rallies :)

    Lisinac best scorer of the match, Uriarte new demigod of setting :obey:

    Quote from raylight

    JW should have played with Belogorie :lol:

    I think the two main points behind the choice of these pairs were avoiding: (i) replays of the group stage games (e.g. Belgorod - Treia etc) and (ii) the situation whereby three teams from the same country can qualify for F4. JW - Belogorie was just impossible from this point.

    I think they should organize tournaments like in soccer - the goal to be the best team to win. They don't treat volleyball as sport, but as something they want to spread to more hosts, like a virus.

    Quote from raylight

    JW should have played with Belogorie :lol:


    Dont forget that JW played without two basic OH- Bartman and firts of all Kaliberda. Is the same as if Perugia played without Fromm and Vujevic. With Kaliberda and Bartman JW would be completely different team- obviously better.


    Congrats to Skraa. Great game, great win. Now Perugia, strong opponent but Skra present outstanding form now :box: :box:

    Quote from deian1302

    I think that CL will become much more interesting and unpredictable if more russian players go to play abroad and this can happens for exemple if Russian federation allows more foreigners then just two to play in a russian league. In this case some good local players will not have secured placed in russian teams and they will want to go abroad. For exemple if russian crisis because of european embargo continues the money they receive in Russia will start to reduce in comparison with salaries in other countries. We can not deny the fact that Russia has the strongest local players in Europe and so they just do not need so much foreigners. Of course at the moment this does not seem so possible but one day can happen. There are some small number of russian players who take the challenge to try themselves in another countries with different style of volleyball but there are not so much yet and definitely no the best in the moment. And i mean the change will happens if players from the best four russian teams Zenit, Novosibirsk, Belgorod and Dinamo Mosocw do that. Maybe the situation is somehow similar with Brasilian players. More in Europe, more quality teams while they do not so much concurence in south america club's championships.

    I agree that making Russian players play abroad is a good idea. It was nice back in 1990s when essentially whole NT was playing in Italy. The crisis may help here, true, but here is a little "but". There needs to be a foreign league which would be able to provide a competitive salary and a matching level of competition. Is there anything like 1990's Italy available today? I doubt it... also we should remember that, even in the crisis, the wages of the pro volleyball players in Russia are going to be way above of what their Soviet "ancestors" were paid (who received a normal salary like all mortals :)). Everything can happen but my feeling is that the only segment of players available for European leagues would be chaps like Botin/Ostapenko, i.e. not bad but without chances of getting a spot in a big Russian club.


    Regarding the limit for foreign players in Russian clubs, I am pretty positive that it will stay as is for quite a while. There is simply no incentive to get more foreigners as the clubs are doing OK-ish on the European level, even with current restriction. At the same time, the NT struggles to find a pair of local outside hitters.