setter ferreti and tomkom > lloyd
middle foluke > arrigheti
libero castillo > thomsen
lokomotiv might have an advantage with bujis and havlickova in attack but i dont see them being insane in defense next season omething which rabita clearly has a big advantage on
I'm surprised by some statements...Lokomotiv has huge amount of money ?? I can't imagine Lokomotiv spent more than Rabita or Azeryol 
About Rabita <---> Lokomotiv
I think Rabita has a deeper roster (they have so many good players..) but Lokomotiv could be the better team. There will be no problems regarding language or cultural things; Most of the players know each other well. Despite his poor results in Sopot, in my opinion Teun Buijs is a very good coach and I think he picked the players very carefully.
I'm surprised by some statements...Lokomotiv has huge amount of money ?? I can't imagine Lokomotiv spent more than Rabita or Azeryol
Well you should imagine unless you have seen some papers that say other?)) People who follow it imagine it pretty well)) 
Aneta and Valentina, Buijs family and rest didn't come there for food and bananas. We both perfectly know that They came there because this year Team gives away all the money in the world to become 1st and if they don't become champions with this money then...they are manchester city 
Despite his poor results in Sopot, in my opinion Teun Buijs is a very good coach and I think he picked the players very carefully.
NO need to say badly because about Teun. He is a fine coach and was a great player. I wish him good luck.
Also there shouldn't be any illusions to Rabita about Cubans after year of not playing. If any RAbita fans are reading this - Go get fine attacker (Havlickova or Montano caliber).
I'll repeat once again - Havlickova isn't reliable hitter in key moments - she loses her head in key moments, so I can't even compare her with Montano and I can compare her with Skowrońska 
pure average numbers can't be proof 
Display Moresetter ferreti and tomkom > lloyd
middle foluke > arrigheti
libero castillo > thomsen
lokomotiv might have an advantage with bujis and havlickova in attack but i dont see them being insane in defense next season omething which rabita clearly has a big advantage on
Ferreti better than Lloyd??? Maybe prettier you mean, but surely not better.
Rabita has clear advantage in defense? Well Rabita from 2011-2014 and Rabita 2014/2015 will be 2 different RAbitas because there are 4 players (Cuban) who are in the roster and nobody yet knows how they perform because of more than year of official inactivity.
Skowronska is the most expensive player at Rabita and if they choose to play Cleger (OPP) as 1stAZE then Skowronska and Palacios (2nd AZE) have to receive. And then booyakasha - there is no defense from the last years that you were talking about.
The only true part is castillo and thomsen. but rest, Lokomotiv should smash them this season, no other way....
Well you should imagine unless you have seen some papers that say other?)) People who follow it imagine it pretty well))
NO need to say badly because about Teun. He is a fine coach and was a great player. I wish him good luck.
Also there shouldn't be any illusions to Rabita about Cubans after year of not playing. If any RAbita fans are reading this - Go get fine attacker (Havlickova or Montano caliber).
I only said: I can't imagine. I haven't seen papers
So, according to you, Lokomotiv spent more money than Rabita 
Clearly man, I am not sure if you have seen Carli last year but she was dreadful, while Ferretti is very underrated: there must be a reason why pretty much all the spikers she set for played at their best with her.
Ferretti is definitely better than Lloyd and some people underestimate her. She can set so smartly and uses her spikers pretty well - just notice what Piacenza achieved with her in last season - she used all her teammates perfectly, inclusing many balls to MBs 
Lloyd is of course weaker setter and definitely much less experienced.
And I don't think that coach will ruin defence. I think that Castillo with Cruz should be starters, then we'll have either Palacio and Cleger or Palacio and Silva or Silva and Cleger 
and 2nd option is for me the most likely
Clearly man, I am not sure if you have seen Carli last year but she was dreadful, while Ferretti is very underrated: there must be a reason why pretty much all the spikers she set for played at their best with her.
Ferretti is definitely better than Lloyd and some people underestimate her. She can set so smartly and uses her spikers pretty well - just notice what Piacenza achieved with her in last season - she used all her teammates perfectly, inclusing many balls to MBs
And I don't think that coach will ruin defence. I think that Castillo with Cruz should be starters, then we'll have either Palacio and Cleger or Palacio and Silva or Silva and Cleger
Underestimate??
- First of all ferreti was never underestimated. It is lloyd who is underestimated by Karch. Lloyd is much more explosive setter than ferretti. Sorry but Conegliano squad could not be compared to Piacenza's. Piacenza full of stars while conegliano was only Lloyd who carried the team.
- 2nds Ferreti is injured and knowing about her inconsistency and ability to become fat - I would like to put 5 bucks on that she will be as fat as on this picture by time she fully comes to training:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26564830@N07/6138122140
With regards the OHs - I agree with you. It will be either Cleger/Palacios/Skowronska or Cleger/Silva/AGAIN SKowronska. As long as Skowronska or Palacios have to receive even 12 balls per game - Rabita has got a problem.
About reception: I don't agree because Cruz with Castillo deal with it quite good, so Palacios shouldn't have significant problems.
About Ferretti: aren't You ignorant and rude?! Ferretti is in training! And she'll probably go to WCH, she's recovering from injury and I don't think that she'll get fat so quickly Ferretti had comfort in Piacenza, Lloyd had shaky reception in team, but she couldn't correct it by her setting perormance 
I think that You overstimate both Havlickova and Lloyd... are You pro-Lokomotiv fan 
About reception: I don't agree because Cruz with Castillo deal with it quite good, so Palacios shouldn't have significant problems.
About Ferretti: aren't You ignorant and rude?! Ferretti is in training! And she'll probably go to WCH, she's recovering from injury and I don't think that she'll get fat so quickly
I think that You overstimate both Havlickova and Lloyd... are You pro-Lokomotiv fan
I like your comments - But why do you think that Cruz will be on the court when Skowronska is on the team and there have to be 2 AZE-Cubans)). Do you ever think that Skowronska will sit on bench?
Lloyd carried team to top teams level despite shaky reception, while Piacenza players had supreme performance.
I like your comments - But why do you think that Cruz will be on the court when Skowronska is on the team and there have to be 2 AZE-Cubans)). Do you ever think that Skowronska will sit on bench?
Lloyd carried team to top teams level despite shaky reception, while Piacenza players had supreme performance.
I don't think you understand that Cruz will be on court whatsoever... The only question is if she'll play together with Skowronska or Palacio as OH.. Palacio/Salas - Skowronska won't be an option..
I prefer this line-up for Rabita in league:
Nootsara/Ferretti (S) - Palacios (OH1) - Akinradewo (MB1) - Skowrońska (OP) - Cruz (OH2) - Silva (MB2) - Castillo (L)
Salas and Skowrońska are options for OH1, Horvath for OH, Dixon for MB1, Krsmanovic for MB2, Jacob as L shouldn't be used really often, maybe from time to time as backrow help.
1) Both setters are good options, few players have connection with Nootsara. Ferretti is creative and I hope that she'll be ready 
IMHO there's no clear setter. I wonder who set balls to players on training camps in last weeks
2) I don't think that Skowrońska agrees to be OH once again, so she must be OP. Cruz must be here because she's allround OH and keeps reception - OH2, so there's a place for Cuban(Azeri) as OH1 it'll be probably Palacios.
3) Skowrońska will be OP and Cleger is good powerful sub for her with high reach, so I don't worry.
4) Akinradewo is high-scoring MB, so she'll be MB1, 2nd slot must go to Cuban (Azeri), it's a place for Silva as MB2.
5) No doubts about L poisition - Castillo is just brilliant.
A question mark is physical condition of Cubans, but they're in Azerbaijan for a quite long time, so I suppose that all must've trained some here even though they had break in official games.
Akinradewo fortunately came back, maybe she's not as good as she was before this long break, but there's space to come back and improve
And Lokomotiv's line-up can be this (including 2 local players rule):
Lloyd (S) - Buijs (OH1) - Arrighetti (MB1) - Havlickova (OP) - Rosso (OH2) - Abdulazimova (MB2) - Kiselyova (L)
Kubinova is option as S, Chantava as OH, Djerisilo as OP or OH, Steenbergen as MB and Thomsen as L. Maybe they'll find someone else as OH...
Overall:
S: Nootsara-Ferretti > Lloyd-Kubinova (2nd S on similar level gives high advantage)
OP: Skowrońska-Cleger > Havlickova-Djerisilo (Havlickova is too inconsistent in key moments unlike Skowrońska and Djerisilo's shape is for me even bigger question mark than Cleger's, moreover Ivana is a bit fragile and probably getting weakaer in last years)
OH: Cruz-Palacios-Salas-Horvath > Rosso-Buijs-Chantava (Rabita has wider bench, starters can be comparable, but I wonder how will Rosso do with Rabita or Azeryol, meanwhile Buijs is stron hitter, but quite weak and often hidden passer...)
MB: Akinradewo-Silva-Krsmanovic-Dixon > Steenbergen-Arrighetti-Abdulazimova (wider bench is a plus once again, moreover Arrighetti is quite unstable and Steenbergen is still weaker than Krsmanovic)
L: Castillo-Jacob > Kiselyova-Thomsen (no comparison about first L, about 2nd hard to assess because Jacob is unknown)
I don't think you understand that Cruz will be on court whatsoever... The only question is if she'll play together with Skowronska or Palacio as OH.. Palacio/Salas - Skowronska won't be an option..
Agree, but I think that Kasia wants to be back as OP, I wonder how do passing skills by Cleger look like all Cubans are quite universal players, so I think that even Cleger as OH1 isn't a bad option, but it maybe an unnecessary risk, so Palacios/Salas as OH1 is still safer
Agree, but I think that Kasia wants to be back as OP, I wonder how do passing skills by Cleger look like
Of course.. That's what I said at first, that she'll want to play as OPP. Let's see how things will work but I hope to see Cleger as a starter 
Hello guys. Thanks for interesting posts and opinions.
The things are much different
Time is the best thing to show everything Lets see INSHALLAH
Volleyball is not mathematics but it is CHEMISTRY
Thanks
Hello guys. Thanks for interesting posts and opinions.
The things are much different
Time is the best thing to show everything
Volleyball is not mathematics but it is CHEMISTRY
Thanks
You're right Ilgar, pure mathematics can't show everything, especially average numbers
Sounds fair, but it would be great to hear more opinions about Loko-Rabita this season. Maybe anyone else can comment on who they think should peform better and why?
Sounds fair, but it would be great to hear more opinions about Loko-Rabita this season. Maybe anyone else can comment on who they think should peform better and why?
I certainly agree with Kondzio and USAvolleyfan on this discussion.
Lloyd is a good setter for sure, however, she has always some injury issues and let's face it she has never showed phenomenal performance except her first year in Busto. Nootsara is incredible setter, one of the best in the world. Yet, I believe Rabita's roster suits better to Ferretti's setting, thus I believe she will be starters. Still on the setter position rabita is better than Lokomotiv since having a good setter as backup is great in the case of injury or when double sub is necessary. Lloyd is injury-prone player, what will Lokomotiv do with Kubinova in the case of injury of Lloyd?
About MBs, you are totally overrating Abdulazimova, I watched her, there is nothing special about her. If that 2 Azeri players rule will apply, she must be starter, which will totally decrease the level of the team. Akinradewo is the best MB in the world after Thaisa&Fabiana whereas Arrighetti is already far away her prime although she is still a decent player she can be only match up-Krismanoviç with her current form. Due to azeri player restriction (it is so funny that they can still use naturalized player as Azeri 
) Silva will most probably be second MB. Performance of Cuban players is a big quesiton mark for everybody however you are exaggarating a lot. Although they were inactive for official matches, it doesn't mean that they spend their last 2 years by eating pizza in front of TV I am pretty sure that they have been trained by Rabita for a long time. They are a big investment for Rabita, why do you think Rabita would be so stupid by not caring about their physical condition 
Regarding Opps, Skowronska is one of the unique technical Opps, she can play in different positions on pretty well level. I don't know which kind of statistic you are talking about but I trust my eyes and she showed decent performance on reception and still kept her attacking on a good level Yet, Havlickova is not a reliable attacker for big teams as we saw it last year, she is mentally fragile and can easily collapse. I wouldn't bet on her much for a trophy Djerisilo was awful even before she gave a break, hence I would doubt that she would be back in a better shape than Cleger.
Lasty about OHs, most probably Palacios will be starter next to Cruz. Castillo-Cruz reception line can cover any bad receiver, by the way Palacios is not that bad receiver (better than Bujs for sure) On the other hand, Bujs will be a big problem at reception of Lokomotiv. Moreover, Kiselyova is not such a good libero to cover Bujs at reception. I like Rosso a lot, she is one of rare allround players. I still think that Palacios-Cruz duo is on the same level with Rosso-Bujs if not better.
I don't talk about liberos since it is a very obvious choice.
Thank you for your comments as well.
No, Rabita is not bad team and their organization is one of the best in Aze. So i am sure they don't allow cubans eat pizza tv and spend all their time in bars (I mean I hope).
So far USAvolleyfan, serdar, kondzio say that Rabita is stronger than Lokomotiv prior season. I say opposite.
Anyone else who wants to make prediction? Who else can vote? Let the voting begin!
Rabita - Loko
So far score is 3:1