Italy - Serie A 2012-2013

I watched the last 3 sets. Apparently Piazza's invention is totally inefficient now when the element of surprise and no analysis by the opponent teams is gone. So, it's good that he is not that stubborn donkey. Also, I respect the decision to bring back Sokolov in the game when Grbic asked for it. Some other coaches would interpret that as questioning the coach's authority (no matter by whom, player like Grbic or not) and would not make the change out of spite. But Sokolov played bad, he was not the one who won the tiebreak, although he made the last point. He was inefficient, had lots of ups and downs. It was one of his bad days, and a great player he is, he spiked around 4-5 ppg in one of his bad days. The guy who won the tie-break was Wijsmans with his immense serves. Absolute bombs!

And Cuneo is definitely weaker than Cuneo 3-4 years ago.

Wijsmans and Grbic are a lot older. Kohut and Rossi are jokes. Henno then was better than De Pandis now (although the difference is not that big and De Pandis should be NT starter!), let's say Sokolov = Nikolov (although Nikolov is classier and better technically, but let's add the age variable), Parodi was a monster when he played in Cuneo, Ngapeth is too unstable.

I expect really interesting games between Piacenza and Macerata. With the current form of Macerata, I guess Piacenza are favourites, but the fucking refs are constantly pushing Macerata forward, they also made some bad decisions in key points in favour of Macerata in the second game vs Latina!

I expect that Trento will sweep Cuneo, however I wouldn't like it so.

let's charge with all our strength c'mon!!
i believe in the final, even if we'll start 0-1 if macerata will beat latina(as i think)
go guyssssss go Piacenza!!!
moreover because, as in 2009 when we won the title, we faced perugia in the quarterfinals, macerata in the semis and, if..........., trento in the final
destiny....who knows.....

Even La gazzetta dello sport's journalist is begging Macerata to solve their problems and perform better. It is not a new thing that they are favored by the referees. You know they won't let their stars Zaytsev, Travica and Savani to be outshined by the Cubans.

Look the stats of Sokolov and define "bad"

Quote from raylight

Look the stats of Sokolov and define "bad"

Did you watch the game? Or you follow games just by looking at the stats?

I'll define you "bad". He played below his level during the last three sets which I followed. His serve was not the powerful serve we're used to expect from him. For the three sets he had only one streak of two consecutive Cuneo points and not because of his serve, but because of Grbic block and opponent errors. The serve itself didn't do any damage. He has 56% but do the stats tell what kind of attacks he missed? Was it vs. tripple or single block? Was it impossible to kill or highly likely? Because Tsetso made several annoying mistakes when he got block vs single or scattered double block.

For a great player Tsetso is turning to be, 56% attack and 22pts in 5 sets in an important match vs team like Modena is not impressive, it's even below average.
Saying that, I can't accuse him of anything, as nobody can keep up a constant super level all year long, but we can't just shut our eyes and say that black is white.

And also, I'm still not convinced that during important moments, Tsetso is the most reliable option in attack. But that's just me.

I agree that it wasn't Sokolov's best game. I wouldn't say that his performance was poor, but let's just say that he was a bit inconsistent.

I also think too that Cuneo should stop using him as middleblocker, because it doesn't work this way. Not that Rossi is good MB, but he is not worse than Sokolov in my opinion. I respect too that Piazza listened to Grbic and didn't dismiss his opinion. That doesn't happen that often. And yes Wijsmans deserved to be the MVP of this game. Not that he didn't make mistakes (they all did), but he also delivered in crucial moments of the game.

However if Cuneo play like this Trentino would have it easy to advance in the final.

On the other hand I think that Piacenza is a team that could run Macerata for their money. Piacenza are very stable team, very strong and I think that they have really good chances to qualify for the final.

I think that Henno is better than De Pandis because he is more experienced. However De Pandis has the chance to become really good libero and I do think that he is better than Bari and should be started in Italian NT. As a whole Cuneo has some unstable players (Sokolov and Ngapeth) and some experienced players (Grbic, Wijsmans) that sometimes can get tired. So it all depends whether the experienced guys are full rested and the youngers are stable. If that's valid, they could play good and they could even potentially beat some good team that have slight hesitations (personally for me this is the reason why Cuneo beat Macerata and Trentino this season). I don't think that they could do in more than one game in this playoff series though.

Quote from triglav_kran

Did you watch the game? Or you follow games just by looking at the stats?

I'll define you "bad". He played below his level during the last three sets which I followed. His serve was not the powerful serve we're used to expect from him. For the three sets he had only one streak of two consecutive Cuneo points and not because of his serve, but because of Grbic block and opponent errors. The serve itself didn't do any damage. He has 56% but do the stats tell what kind of attacks he missed? Was it vs. tripple or single block? Was it impossible to kill or highly likely? Because Tsetso made several annoying mistakes when he got block vs single or scattered double block.

For a great player Tsetso is turning to be, 56% attack and 22pts in 5 sets in an important match vs team like Modena is not impressive, it's even below average.
Saying that, I can't accuse him of anything, as nobody can keep up a constant super level all year long, but we can't just shut our eyes and say that black is white.

And also, I'm still not convinced that during important moments, Tsetso is the most reliable option in attack. But that's just me.

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I watched the game. And thanks to the stats, one bad impression can not wipe 22 good. That's what stats are about. What I saw is how Sokolov and Grbic won the 3rd and the 4th set. I am glad you put high the bar for him, but he was better than Celitans and this is not bad for me

This decided the match

Quote from dus@n

They are playing on their 40-50% today, as well as Trentino both matches

Do you see now what I have been talking about? Now Macerata is on near maximum while Latina is not able to do anything This looks like cadets vs. seniors

On paper Macerata and Trentino are the favourites but in reality both of them are underperforming and far from their best so I think anything can happen in these matchups.
Zaytsev is having a fantastic season, probably the best player in the world, he is the 60% of Macerata but Parodi and Savani (because of injury) are underperforming in the offensive end. At the start of the season they look like an unbeatable team, dominating Trentino but as the season progress they lost their form.But they still have the best and the most talented squad . I think especially Savani's form will determine their faith.
Despite having a monster in the middle as Simon and the talented De Cecco ,Piacenza couldn't beat a great team this season.Zlatanov is finding his form but the second OH position is a big problem. I think their block isn't good enough to stop Zaytsev. Adding this to possible referee bias I don't think they will beat Macerata.

I don't understand what is special about Cuneo. They are best an above average team and they overachieved this season in Champions league because of Macerata's mistakes. (the final-four must the worst of CEV's history) Yes they have talented players like Sokolov (a bit overrated), N'Gapeth and their libero is one of the good suprises of the season but in normal conditions they have no chance against Trentino. Their only chance is Trentino's terrible form.
For years Trentino dominated everything because of their fantastic block,service discipline and fantastic OH's .They were always an average receiving team but they were compensating it with their OH's beautiful offensive performance. This year despite having the same squad, they are a totally different team in my opinion. This year their main offensive option is their opposite not the OH's. Their best players are Stokr, Djuric and Raphael !!Their OH's were usually outperformed in the important matchups by their less talented opponents. This year Juantorena is having his worst season in Trentino ,totally lost his effectiveness in the serve. (maybe because of Mikasa).The more he becomes cocky and arrogant the more his performance declines. Forget being the best player in the world ,he wasn't even a top 5 player in Italy this season. When the service doesn't work ,the block also loses its effectiveness. Bari isn't tolerable anymore. They will still win the series but I think they will lose in the final.
My prediction:
Macerata-Piacenza -----> Macerata
Trentino - Cuneo ---------> Trentino

In the Final;
Macerata-Trentino ------->Macerata.

Sokolov is not more overrated than Mikhaylov or Grozer
About the analysis:
Parodi is a shadow of himself in attack ever since he had that injury, he was beast in Cuneo. Savani is among the best servers on the planet, but he is very poor in receiving. Macerata can win if they put him as classical opposite and Zaytsev and Parodi receive /Zaytsev is good all over but he is not the best spiker despite his good technique/. About Trentino - Juantorena didn't lose his serve, the teams adopted to it. His serve is very stable at high power, and uncomfortable to receive, but not the most powerful /Kaziyski, Zaytsev and Sokolov are the players consistently serving over 120km/h). His other elements are sill on high level so he is still world class player. Stokr is playing good but that's all he can give. Juric can make a difference in a match just like Simon, and Simon can win vs Macerata alone if he has a day, especially with the best setter of the league - De Cecco. I don't think there are clear favorites in these two couples and maybe we will see 5 matches in both series.

I agree on 100% with everything scarpetta wrote, apart from that Cuneo is an above average team. No matter how weak was this year's Final Four, the finalist and the 4th team in Italy is not just an above average team. If a team with players like Grbic, Wijsmans, Sokolov, Ngapeth and De Pandis is above average, then only 8-10 clubs in the world are more than above average.

As for Sokolov - depends on what you mean by overrated. If you mean that he's overrated being one of the most talented young diagonals in the world - he is not overrated. If you mean that he is overrated being one of the top 5 best diagonals in the world - yes, he is overrated. He has not become such. Yet.

About your analysis - I have doubts on Macerata's consistency. I don't know to what extent they will be pushed by the referees, but I think they are totally beatable by both Piacenza and Trentino. Which doesn't mean they won't be favourites vs Piacenza and with 50/50 chance vs Trentino.

I also agree about your opinion for the Trento-Cuneo clash. I can't imagine Cuneo eliminating Trento in a series of matchups.

I think everything can happen... What you already wrote is the truth... btw I will support Piacenza

No Raylight I don't agree with you. Juantorena's serve was the beautiful combination of power, consistency and precision. It could be one of the best shots in volleyball history as Bagnoli says.Many considers him as the greatest server ever. Right now there is no power and precision. He is always hitting at one spesific direction( exactly to the middle of the court )with an average power.
It didn't loss its effectiveness because of the other teams adaptation ,it is because he simply can't produce the shot anymore. I don't think it is just because of Molten/Mikasa change.

triglav_kran- This is what I'm trying to say.They try to introduce Sokolov as the greatest opposite in the world which he isn't.

Ravens will kill you!

He is in love with Sokolov XD

Quote from scarpetta

No Raylight I don't agree with you. Juantorena's serve was the beautiful combination of power, consistency and precision. It could be one of the best shots in volleyball history as Bagnoli says.Many considers him as the greatest server ever. Right now there is no power and precision. He is always hitting at one spesific direction( exactly to the middle of the court )with an average power.
It didn't loss its effectiveness because of the other teams adaptation ,it is because he simply can't produce the shot anymore. I don't think it is just because of Molten/Mikasa change.

triglav_kran- This is what I'm trying to say.They try to introduce Sokolov as the greatest opposite in the world which he isn't.

Why is it changed then?

Sokolov has the potential to be the greatest. So far he produced a lot /in NT in the last couple of years, in Trentino and Cuneo/ We will see can he realise his potential.

About Piacenza, they haven't shown how they can play yet - wait to see vs Macerata what will happen with ball distribution