European Championship 2017 Azerbaijan&Georgia

    I really dont know what to expect from this match. It is really unpredictable.
    I dont know which team will kill itself first :whistle:

    Congrats Turkey!!!!! Guldeniz really played well especially the kill that brought them to match point. Hande and Smarzek are almost the same age. I hope hande can be as good as smarzek though. I wanna see the guldeniz-gamze connection vs Russia. Russia is a slower team and i think it can be effective. But ofc guidetti likes naz very much.

    Guidetti is saved in this match but he won't be that lucky in the QF facing the Russian team. Anyhow he's cool a funny guy rich of expressions :-)


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Edited once, last by samsara ().

    I'm very positive now for the second match against Russia. Match itself was already pretty close but both Turkish Opps couldn't get a single point. Meryem killed about 25 balls today I think which is super promising for the match against Russia. Naz was really good today and left all Neriman, Meryem and Güldeniz with single blocks or no blocks. Except for set 3 when Gözde came in we played our best match so far and not as crazy and unorganized like other matches.


    In Poland Smarczek and Wolosz played really good.


    Quarter finals it is! :drink:

    So we are out of ECH.
    Congrats to Turkey team!
    Even if Poland nt is out I must say that I didnt except that our girls could play like today. I saw fight. Its a good experience for this young girls and I hope that future will be better and this roster will not change so much.

    What to say? Great work by Poland, I wish they took it to a 5th set. Smarzek was totally out of her usual performance today, rest did great, especially the libero gave life to Poland with her digs!


    I'm not hopeful for Turkey from this point. It is not because girls are bad but Guidetti is far too stubborn or doesnt want to put his friends down. Otherwise how can someone explain why Gözde stayed in the match in 3rd set while she gave the set to Poland all by herself? Naz is having a terrible performance and this match doesnt change it. Meryem is back to the team, she was fine at points today but she never is a reliable and makes so many silly errors still. He still uses either Gizem Örge or Merve Dalbeler but never plays with 2 libero system. The list goes on. So same Turkey lost to Russia in group stage, why should they win now? I don't see a reason since nothing changed.


    Unfortunately bringing Gamze to the game wont work anymore either because it is too late, she didnt play even a 1 full set with the team yet. If Guidetti tried Gamze-Polen, Neriman-Guldeniz, Eda-Kubra, Örge/Dalbeler against Ukraine and today, I would change my mind. I would even be fine with Gözde or Hande instead of Neriman at times or Neriman as opposite but now it is too late to experiment. It will hopefully be fun to watch Gamze's team beating Guidetti's team in Turkish league and CL this season :super:

    To sum up Turkey here, without writing paragraphs is: I don't trust this team at all.


    Why do we make every team we play look like the Brasil Olympic winning team? I was thinking the break we had and playing Ukraine and Poland to limber up would be what the doctor ordered but this team is handicapped, it's a little bit broken. I expect us to bid farewell against Russia, at least we got to the QFs somehow, that is an achievement.


    I left out so many things to say, I don't want a rep as mr negative.


    I applaud Guldeniz, she gets a lot of flack but she does such a great job life saving work for us on occasions.


    Also Polen didn't step on court today, Guiddetti got that right at least.

    Any stream for Germany - Bulgaria ??


    I can't watch CEV-youtube stream because of Dutch TV bought the rights for this tournament (but they only broadcast Dutch NT)

    Quote from flyingdutchman

    Any stream for Germany - Bulgaria ??


    I can't watch CEV-youtube stream because of Dutch TV bought the rights for this tournament (but they only broadcast Dutch NT)


    I hate that! TV channels buy the rights and stream the matches of their own NT only and therefore blocks the youtube channel! You can try sport1.de they will stream it on free tv and maybe webstream but can‘t guarantee if it will work.


    I agree fully, I don't know what makes Meatballs think playing with Polen would be a good idea. Don't know if he watched her because she was starter after Russia match and she was very bad. I normally agree with him and I agree with him about Gamze too but not seeing Polen today was a relief. I would use Opp sub as Hande btw instead of Polen.

    Quote from filipinofan

    Congrats Turkey!!!!! Guldeniz really played well especially the kill that brought them to match point. Hande and Smarzek are almost the same age. I hope hande can be as good as smarzek though. I wanna see the guldeniz-gamze connection vs Russia. Russia is a slower team and i think it can be effective. But ofc guidetti likes naz very much.


    I would say Hande being weaker than Smarzek while both at the same age is all about on their physical appearance. :gone:


    Hande is a pretty girl. Smarzek has an unconventional look.


    I'm not saying beauty makes you weak... the brazilian women would want to reject that notion but being not the pretty girl of the group makes you want to be better cause they cannot get by on their looks alone. So they have to work on what they got to be more outstanding than the others especially in sports... :win:

    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

    Ger v Bul Somehow disappointed in Germany so far, they have played it like it's a Grand Prix or a Montreaux so far, they haven't really raised their game like German teams do on most big Tournaments in sports, I wouldn't be surprised if they pull off a win, if they manage to test themselves and put in some passion playing to their strengths.

    Hande was dealed as the top future player of the Turkish NT, but I don‘t agree on this. Being MVP in a tournement which is not that important and playing against players who maybe never entered a Champions league court never playef trained with star players star coaches yet doesn‘t mean anything for me.


    If you compare Hande with players in her age, she is waaaaaaay behind of that. Just compare for example Smarzek and Handes career so far.


    And look at Boskovic she is a star she is the future of Serbian Volleyball how old is she? Same age as Hande and please correct me if I am wrong but wasn‘t she a „no name“ before WCH 14 and played her tournement and every club wanted her in their teams? Ecz Vitra got it and made a long contract for the future of the club. It is even said that they trust her soo much that she should retire at Ecz Vitra. Some people said, why trying Ebrar in a tournement like this where she hasn‘t played an important role and hasn‘t proved herself in cruical matches yet? Who was Boskovic before WCH 14? What did she prove?
    Because of this Hande won‘t make it far. I know exactly how she was also dealed after ECH 15, and the headings in this forum in turkish media and what happened in 2 years? Not much, she is going backwards than further.

    Altinli, Polen is not my favorite opposite either but Hande is simply horrible, her weight doesnt allow her to jump any longer and she makes more errors than good for her team. Meryem was good today but did you see how many stupid errors she made in crucial points, especially hitting straight into net? And they were quite good sets.


    I would not judge Polen from her Ukraine performance. She played with 42% against Bulgaria which is clearly much better than Ukraine and Poland. Against Ukraine, if you watch it again, I suggest that you note everytime Naz gave a terrible set to her, I am really sure there were like 10 sets which went straight into the Ukrainian block, almost looked like a set for Ukrainian hitters. She still did fine with 38%. Honestly I prefer Neriman as opposite and Gözde/Guldeniz duo as OHs although Gözde is really bad. I hope they will prove me wrong but I bet Meryem will not show half of what she did today against Russia.

    I saw Polen get bad sets indeed and then I saw her get some ok sets which she got blocked by literally two fingers and that happened twice. After seeing her get blocked by fingers multiple times I'm simply done with her. She is way too weak but is smart, I see much potential at her but 100% wasted. Meryem made some simple mistakes indeed but at 18-15 she did turn it to 18-19 which is probably why the match even ended 1-3. I agree I don't think she'll be as good vs the strong Russian blockers and in this case Hande could be used imo. I don't know if we have enough firepower to beat Russia with the players mentioned. So I really think we have to hope Meryem surprises us and plays something similar to today or even better Hande plays a match finally in this tournament. Güldeniz and Gamze are great btw you as a GS fan must be really happy :obey: (And I as a FB fan a little jealous.)

    As you can now see, with good service and strategic play working well even Germany can threat Bulgaria. I guess, this could become another five setter...

    Great left-handed opposites are just too few.Polen could get by because of her height but that doesn't explain why undersized opposites are better than her.


    I prefer right-handed opposites anyway... I feel like they could adjust more to the sets than the lefties.

    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