Bulgarian Superliga 2011/2012

    I didn't see any thread about this so I decided to put one. If it's unappropriate you can delete it.


    So, today started the National volley league or Superliga.


    Here are the teams:
    CSKA, Marek Union Ivkoni, Levski Volley, Pirin Balkanstroy, KVK Gabrovo, Arda Kurdzhali, Cherno more BASK, Neftohimik 2010, Slavia, Botev, Victoria Volley, Montana Volley


    Results of some first leg matches:


    Marek 3:2 Levski
    CSKA 3:0 Cherno more
    Montana 3:0 Slavia
    Arda 3:0 Neftohmik


    Generally, I think that our championship is a lot weaker than previous years. Many good players went to play abroad. CSKA is weaker without Portuondo, Mayio and Todorov. I haven't seen the new Brazilian Carvalho but I don't think je will replace the three of them :lol:
    Pirin is weaker without Penchev and Mitev. Levski is an enigma - Bratoev and Simeonov are back but... Marek are without Vulchev, however, they seem a strong contender for the 2nd place. I look for surprises with Gabrovo and Arda.

    :lol:
    I was waiting for Yavor to start this thread as he did it last year, but he doesn't seem too interested of this year eddition.


    Overall CSKA will be weaker than previous year, but that will open up chances for few other teams and the legue will be more unpredictable.
    CSKA will more likely keep a place into top 3 teams, but their title in not booked as it was last year.
    Few teams will battle for a place in F4: Pirin, Marek, Gabrovo, Levski, Neftochimik 2010 maybe also Montana and even Arda may put a surprise :lol: .
    This year we will watch mostly new faces on court and some young talents may rise!
    I am very curious to see how Pirin will manage. I have supported them last year as they made a good team, but why didn't keep Mitev is a mistery. Now he is back to playing in Arda together with Neshev...Also I am eager to finaly see into play the Niki Penchev's yong brothers - twins Chono Penchev and Rozalin Penchev. I do hope at least Chono shows some potential. :whistle:

    I watched Marek-Levski and I was surprised in a good way by Zlatan Yordanov and in a bad way by Georgi Bratoev. Those twins had future but they'll remain only talents. There's a slim hope for Valio but he plays more matches in NT than club. The macedonian Giorgiev is promising but he is weak in the libero-style setting (don't know how it is in English, down setting).


    Anyway, Marek were 2-3 classes over Levski but they underestimate the oponent 2-3 times. They could've won easily by 3:0. Besides that, nothing impressive.

    Yeah, sorry about that, I have been extremely busy in the last two weeks, that's why I couldn't open up the topic, but will soon catch up and update rosters, rankings and so on. Also have some internet delivery time (that's how it is abroad :D ) problems which prevent me from being online more often these days, but as I said I will be back strong very soon :)


    Ok, first in a row - they called the championship Superliga :roll:? how niiiice :heart: :thumbsup:
    Second - Neftohimik 2010 ? Does it mean that Lukoil are no more sponsor of the team ?(
    And yes, I agree with you that the level of our championship fell unfortunately. Maybe about three or four years ago, I really was internally convinced that in next years our league would be only getting better, but now it is again going down. I remember that back then I followd our national league very close and didn't miss a single match on TV, I was even getting annoyed when I had to miss the beginning of some match, because in some days school ended in 18.30, so I was in a hurry to get home on time to see at least the rest of the game :lol:

    Wild Wild West!


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    " There is nothing better than this"


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    Quote from triglav_kran

    I watched Marek-Levski and I was surprised in a good way by Zlatan Yordanov and in a bad way by Georgi Bratoev. Those twins had future but they'll remain only talents. There's a slim hope for Valio but he plays more matches in NT than club. The macedonian Giorgiev is promising but he is weak in the libero-style setting (don't know how it is in English, down setting).


    Anyway, Marek were 2-3 classes over Levski but they underestimate the oponent 2-3 times. They could've won easily by 3:0. Besides that, nothing impressive.

    Simeon Aleksandrov was 2-3 classes over everybody on the court yesterday. He made several spectacular pipes almost like Dante and you say nothing impressive?Or the way he scored 5/5 at position 4 to level the game? Or Bratoev's powerful serve? :wavy:

    Quote from raylight

    Simeon Aleksandrov was 2-3 classes over everybody on the court yesterday. He made several spectacular pipes almost like Dante and you say nothing impressive?Or the way he scored 5/5 at position 4 to level the game? Or Bratoev's powerful serve? :wavy:


    It's true, I forgot to mention Alexandrov. He was like a God compared to other players but I will also be like God if I play against the 2nd squad of the kindergarden. When he was in the front Levski made 3-4 points in a row every time in the 3rd and 4th set. But you can't judge his play on a match against team like Marek. If he play like that against CSKA - ok.
    As for Bratoev - his serve irritated me. Why? Because he didn't serve like that in ECH... And you are a stats' man, you'll agree that the huge amount of Marek blocks tells something about Bratoev's setting. Levski's reception wasn't that bad to say that it wasn't his fault. :)

    Where did you find the stats? The pdf in bgvolleyball.com is not filled with data for the players.


    About block, Bratoev played with the most reliable players in attack - Alexandrov and Marinkov, this is the reason for the block. About the serve - I think Stoychev used him for his float, because he doesn't make mistakes with it.

    I watched part of the game between Levski-Marek and I was a bit surprised. There were a lot of powerful serves and very strong attacks. Just the players are very young and there were some silly mistakes. I think Alexandrov should be given a chance in the NT, just I think he is something like 1,90 tall, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm kind of worried about CSKA, not about the Superleague, but Champions League, because they didn't keep the cuban and no foreigners at all.

    Quote from Anormalen

    I watched part of the game between Levski-Marek and I was a bit surprised. There were a lot of powerful serves and very strong attacks. Just the players are very young and there were some silly mistakes. I think Alexandrov should be given a chance in the NT, just I think he is something like 1,90 tall, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm kind of worried about CSKA, not about the Superleague, but Champions League, because they didn't keep the cuban and no foreigners at all.


    Simeon Aleksandrov is 1.94 cm and with high jump and very explosive
    About CSKA - they may buy Brazilian opposite, NT from their U21, he is now 22 years young :)

    Quote from raylight


    Simeon Aleksandrov is 1.94 cm and with high jump and very explosive
    About CSKA - they may buy Brazilian opposite, NT from their U21, he is now 22 years young :)


    Last news is that they didn't buy the brazilian and Portuondo and Stefanov is 38 years ol if I'm not wrong. So, I expect big embarrassmentsin CL :(.

    Quote from Kaziyski

    so CSKA is without Portuondo in CL? :wavy:


    Yes, they didn't have money for 2 foreigners.


    This year the level of the league will be ridiculously low. CSKA will be champions again, unless of course something extraordinary happens. They'll need to put more efforts than last year though

    Quote

    Second - Neftohimik 2010 ? Does it mean that Lukoil are no more sponsor of the team ?(

    Yes, kind of. They dropped the name of the main sponsor and significantly reduced the budget. This year's team is definitely the weakest one we've had for 9-10 years. Half of the roster is comprised of younsgters from the junior team, some of them I have played with/against, they are good for junior level volleyball, but they will need a lot of time to adapt to senior level. Even the coach Plamen Hristov announced the main goal in front of the team this season is to reach the middle of the ranking - something that was our main goal 10 years ago before the investments (to some extent) by Lukoil.

    1st round:


    14-October


    Levski Volley - Marek Union-Ivkoni 2-3 (19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 11-15) http://bgvolleyball.com/files/volleyball/stats/8127.pdf
    CSKA - Cherno more BASK 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21)
    Arda - Neftochimik 2010 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-18 ) http://www.bgvolleyball.com/stats.php?id=8122
    Montana - Slavia 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-23) http://bgvolleyball.com/files/volleyball/stats/8123.pdf


    15-October


    Pirin Balkanstroy - Victoria Volley 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-21) http://bgvolleyball.com/files/volleyball/stats/8125.htm
    Botev Lukovit - Coco Volley Club Gabrovo 0-3 (20-25, 19-25, 22-25) http://bgvolleyball.com/files/volleyball/stats/8126.pdf


    Standings:


    1 - Pirin Balkanstroy 3
    2 - CSKA 3
    3 - Coco Volley Club Gabrovo 3
    4 - Montana 3
    5 - Arda 3
    6 - Marek Union-Ivkoni 2
    7 - Levski Volley 1
    8 - Slavia 0
    9 - Neftochimik 2010 0
    10- Botev Lukovit 0
    11- Cherno more BASK 0
    12- Victoria Volley 0


    Team rosters are under construction...

    Why CSKA are without stats this year? Isn't that obligatory?

    Last year they were first with stats, I hope they will return to that