Friendly NT Matches

    Can any of our German fellows try to find the stats? Brazilian federation sux...

    Quote from Meatballs

    Wolosz is a system setter. I agree Serdar that she is not as versatile as other setters. However I also think that when it comes to playing in a fast system, Wolosz is probably the best setter who can do that. I don't think Naz and Maja will be as succesful in a faster system for example, though Cansu & Poulter can definitely do that. We can also add a few Japanese setters in the list of system setters.


    It is very surprising though to see how worse she gets in a different system, I was not expecting this.


    I agree comments on Lavarini. He is becoming a big flop, first Novara and now Polish NT. Don't know who is a better alternative though.

    During these 3 matches Wolosz couldn’t set 2 balls to the same place, it was all over the place. Even when reception was perfect her sets were pretty bad.

    Lavarini is a bit tough story as he cannot use few players and he got no team from Nawrocki. It’s like building from scratch, nothing comparable to Santarelli Serbia situation.

    He couldn’t use Stysiak and Wolosz for the most of the season. Then when they came back they are out of shape plus we lost Czyrnianska and Lukasik, basically 2 of 4 main OHs. So it’s a bit hard to judge his job.

    Am I the only one that feels like NTs are just starting to choose Italian coaches for the sake of it rather than looking for what might be best for their team.


    Lavarini is a bit overrated in general if you ask me, sure Korea had one surprise match during OGs carried by a team of (Olympic) veterans. But after that they look worse than any NT ever so how much did he really built on I wonder...

    In Poland we've had like a decade wasted with Polish coaches, sometimes directly from male volleyball (Makowski, who was a coach of Plusliga's Bydgoszcz at that time, or Nawrocki with no prior experience with female vball), so going for an Italian coach with a great resume was more than expected choice. So far, it looks very mediocre at best, but perhaps Lavarini needs more time, we'll see.

    Quote from user

    Am I the only one that feels like NTs are just starting to choose Italian coaches for the sake of it rather than looking for what might be best for their team.


    He is a bit overrated in general if you ask me, sure Korea had one surprise match during OGs carried by a team of (Olympic) veterans. But after that they look worse than any NT ever so how much did he really built on I wonder...

    Maybe. We all thought Lavarini was a good hire when it was announced.


    I think hiring Antiga would've been a good move in hindsight. But that's 20/20.


    I think there's just a saturation of Italian coaches in the market. There's just so many more compared to everyone else. (and most of them have more name recognition whether they deserve it compared to their peers or not lol)


    (for the most part) American coaches stay here, Brazilian coaches stay there, Turkish coaches arent very good (Sorry not sorry lol) and as Realista said... they've used Polish coaches before for awhile.


    Don't Italian coaches have the most complex means to keep their coaching license? (like classes and stuff?) Makes sense imo

    Quote from user

    Am I the only one that feels like NTs are just starting to choose Italian coaches for the sake of it rather than looking for what might be best for their team.


    He is a bit overrated in general if you ask me, sure Korea had one surprise match during OGs carried by a team of (Olympic) veterans. But after that they look worse than any NT ever so how much did he really built on I wonder...

    I disagree, Korea looked decent when they chose to in the World Cup as well. And don't forget they almost directly qualified to the Olympics against Russia but couldn't finish the job.


    This from a bad WCH where they only beat trinidad and tobago then went home.


    And realistically, 2020 Korea without the twins was not gonna do well against USA and Serbia anyways.

    Quote from user

    He is a bit overrated in general if you ask me, sure Korea had one surprise match during OGs carried by a team of (Olympic) veterans. But after that they look worse than any NT ever so how much did he really built on I wonder...

    I wouldn’t write him off so soon. Yes the VNL and the performance they showed in the friendlies were disappointing, but there were so many injuries that were out of his control. He played the VNL without a real Opp and their best OH was then injured in the tournament. Stysiak was just back to the team from injury and played her first few matches in months. It’s expected she wouldn’t look good when facing the best teams imo (even her season in Monza was also like a rollercoaster).
    He seems to have conflict with Smarzek causing her leaving the NT is the only factor I can think of that he should be directly responsible to. But with Smarzek’s questionable mental conditions after all the things she went through, it’s a big question mark whether she could really help the team even if she’s here.
    I’d give Lavarini more time to see what he can build for the Polish NT. The NT had their own weaknesses & they weren’t one of the best teams before he took over it. We had hopes because there are a few talents from Poland, but just a few months plus those injuries wouldn’t make them suddenly become very competitive against the top teams.


    Besides I don’t think he should be accountable for the current collapse of the Korean NT. The Lee sisters + Park were supposed to be the core of the Korean NT after the retirement of KYK & other veterans, and he did gave them lots of time on court back in 2019. If the sisters were still there, they wouldn’t look THIS bad but we all know what happened to them.

    Lavarini did a superb job with Korea and it's unfair to discredit a 4th place in OG, no matter how surprised everyone was by it... We could look from another angle and say that it spoke volumes about how great his achievement was... And it was a no-brainer Poland choosing him... he could score any job he wanted after that... His work in Novara has been underwhelming, I agree, but I think he deserves more time to be evaluate in Poland... His team is not really thaaat spectacular and they are adapting... It could be better, of course, but it's not the end of the world, yet...

    I don't think comparing these two coaches is fair at all. One is given an established team that had a system for years (like it or not), whereas the other one is given a complete mess in every expect. Furthermore, they are yet to play a major tournament so I don't understand what makes you guys think Santarelli is a success. Sometimes, somethings don't click and coaches leave after a short amount of time, it happens, however, Lavarini needs more time. I agree, he has been disappointing in Novara, total failure in fact, and how he couldn't handle his personal issues with Smarzek is just plain stupid, but that doesn't mean he is a failure. Guidetti took Turkey in 2017, the team was just terrible ( I don't care they won 3rd place in ECH, they were just so boring, so much so that I am yawning right now writing these when I think about this lol ), he saw that it wasn't going to work and restructured in 2018. That did not happen in one day.


    I am not saying I am perfect or anything but I feel like we, as people in general, tend to draw a conclusion too quickly. Some are more inclined to do that. A player plays a good match and oh wow he/she is the best. or vice versa.

    For how long are we going to use Korea's 4th place in Tokyo as an excuse to absolve Lavarini? Korea was 4th in London too with another coach. Look at what he has (not) done with Novara so far. Besides the 4th place in Tokyo, what did he actually accomplish so far? I've said it a million times before: having Gabi and Natalia in great shape playing together makes any coach's job easier. It's not like he took a bunch of young and unexperienced players and put them in another level like Bernardinho ou even Zé or some foreigner coaches have done already before.

    Quote from user

    Am I the only one that feels like NTs are just starting to choose Italian coaches for the sake of it rather than looking for what might be best for their team.


    He is a bit overrated in general if you ask me, sure Korea had one surprise match during OGs carried by a team of (Olympic) veterans. But after that they look worse than any NT ever so how much did he really built on I wonder...

    I agree that he is overrated. That game was purely due to KYK's monster performance rather than Lavarini's mastermind tactics.


    He had everything to build a team to challenge Conegliano but he flopped big time. I see that Smarzek is missing but it shouldn't be excuse since it seems like Lavarini is the reason who didn't want her.


    Santarelli's success in short amount of time without Maja and boskovic speaks volumes.


    Still we need to wait for this tournament before writing off Lavarini but it is fair to say that he is not meeting high expectations a lot of people had about him

    Belarus and Russia are playing some kind of match. And that is hilarious to me :lol:


    Thank you Putin aka Hitler.