2014 FIVB World Grand Prix

  • And one more thing now turkish team is really a team as leadership of neriman and gözde but when darnel returns it cant be lets wait and see :gone: i hope they will go on with this current roster

  • Congrats Turkey! It was a great answer to the people claiming that Turkey did not deserve to be in the finals etc.
    Although I had to come to work, I watched all the game in detail :cheesy:


    Gözde and Neriman, both did amazing today. Naz still has some troubles in setting in crucial moments, especially in rallies to Gözde. Her sets have been off 3-4 times in a short period where Gözde had to tip the ball simply. Our MBs, especially Bahar did a really good performance besides that horrible setting failure in 3rd set. Kubra was not that great today, but as a team they simply put one of the best MBs, Thaisa off the game. However I still believe that the team needs to develop block/ defense thingie. When I thought of the servers in Turkey today, I could not find a name that served bad actually. However in the middle of the 3rd set, serves started to get higher and slower. I assume that was due to condition.


    For Brazil, Tandara was amazing :obey: . If she doesnt get injured, I think she should play instead of Sheila. Carol was amazing as well! I feel bad for Ze Roberto because it is impossible to make a selection between these 3 MBs. I also liked Gabi, she is a really smart girl and stabilised Brazil after she entered the game. For a young player, she is really cool! To me all these players made the difference today but it is also important to remember that they entered the game fresh while most Turkish players were already getting tired. Brazil has really good subs but when I look at the Turkish subs, I feel quite worried.


    For Neslihan's injury, if she is not able to play in WCH, Barbolini HAS TO invite Esra Gumus back to the NT. She plays double the better than Meliha and Guldeniz. :win:

  • BIg money of Turkish League paying off here.


    Gozde is a beast!

  • I agree! I think Barbolini did a great homework in that sense but as many people complain, he never has a B plan. So when Tandara, Gabi and Carol entered the game, he could not find good solutions.


  • Brazil's main issue at the moment is the consistency of the setter Dani Lins - throughout this competition she has been quite inconsistent - but Brazil's middle players and outside combinations most of the time are able to play through that. Today was another example. Yes - the passing was not great, but they lost a lot of points in transition, when they had control of the ball - because of poor choices and inaccurate setting. You can see Ze Roberto's frustration with her because he cant seem to get her to focus consistently for a whole match. Her best game was London 2012.
    Against a very well drilled and mostly consistent team - this was a huge problem. Unfortunately apart from Dani Lins, there is no one else near her level for when she is not playing well. Fabiana (back up) hasnt been great at all. however, no team has every perfect position - and for Brazil- this is their problem. It is worse when Sheila - who could normally do something with most sets, is not playing well either. However, very good work to at least get a point from this match - and good to see the subs do a really good job -this bodes well for the future.


  • Exactly, that is the only way to win. Turkey treated Brazil as any other team.
    Generally being confident is the key. I for one sure that Turkish girls have got high confidence levels, which only few teams have.


    And basically that is because these girls with their clubs, won major club competitions, so that develops their winning attitude. At the end you begin to perform better in critical situations with less pressure.


    For ex, Kubra won European and World Championships with Turkey NT youth teams, these definitely help as player development.


    I won't be suprised a bit if Turkey wins gold in this grand prix.

  • Dani Lins struggled a lot to find the right timing with Sheilla today, got really upset with that and lost complety her focus. She improved in the course of the game, but it was a performance with ups and downs. However, she's Brazilian best setter by far.


    Garay made one of her worst games, just 18% in reception and 3/22 in attacks. :call:


    Anyway, it was good to get a point. Even in a bad day the team showed fight power, at least. Very impressed with Carol, Tandara and Gabi. Carol really deserves the third MB spot in the WCH. :flower:

  • And congrats to Turkey! Neriman made a great game and Sonsirma was just unbelievable! :obey: :obey: :obey:


    Toksoy with 4 aces. I never thought I would see that, especially against Brazil. Hahaa. And she blocked very well too.

  • Well those kind of comments for Meliha are too harsh! Fist of all in her first season with Senior NT she is playing a F6 of a very prestigious tournament and she is playing as a starter. Second of all she is not playing her real position and maybe if you see her play as OH and do a bad job then you can talk. I explained earlier why I think she is having problems attacking form the right side, and now I am more convinced in that - due to her arm swing and approach. She has a special arm swing that doesn't allow her to hit like she can from zone 2 (that can change with practice of course) and also she has never been hitting from there till now. Also she has been playing beach volley till recently and as you all know there the approach is very different and also you don't hit from the ends of the net but rather in the middle. So I don't think she or anyone else is 'guilty' of how she performs. I and everyone else should see her play as an OH and then criticize. And IMO she had been receiving fairly well.


    Bahar :rose: :rose: :rose:
    Gozde :super: :super: :super:


    Of course everybody understands Meliha is young and not ready for this stage ( I can write 6 paragraphs about her İlbank's coach :lol: ). But she is vital for Turkey's future and has to give us more promising signs like Gabi . Nobody expects a great performance (!) from her right now but this is a great opportunity for her and she is wasting it. I believe she can do better.

  • Japan is probably the best team at bringing out the best level in their opponents - good to have them in the final round


  • Of course everybody understands Meliha is young and not ready for this stage ( I can write 6 paragraphs about her İlbank's coach :lol: ). But she is vital for Turkey's future and has to give us more promising signs like Gabi . Nobody expects a great performance (!) from her right now but this is a great opportunity for her and she is wasting it. I believe she can do better.


    I also think she can do better, but I think she is doing a great job serving and digging, and she has been passing good today. She can improve her attack but as I said she has a weird approach.. Have you seen how many times she kind of rolled the ball into the deep court because it was too low or fast for her.. also many times she first jumped and then realized the ball was going much wider and then stretched her arm and hit the ball almost from the ref stand.. Cuban setters use to spike like it but's it's mostly because they run from across the court, but she is just having problems with locating where the ball will end and her timing..


    EDIT: About giving promising signs. She already gave them at EL and if Massimo wanted to see more of that he should have moved her to OH. At least he could have done it for one game, set or whatever..

  • Just love Miyashita, the setter, is positioned to middle block when in front of the net :)

  • Congratulations for Turkey :thumbsup: playing without real OP, with only 2 strong wing hitters and still managed to win it 8o Gozde is doing great job, but I wonder what will Barbolini do with OP position ?( if he really wants to have good receiving OP he can try Merve :wavy: neither Meliha nor Guldeniz didn't convince most users here :lol:


    some Brazilians had weaker game, especially Garay (3/22 spikes :what: ) and Thaisa without any kill block :whistle: Tandara and Carol had nice enters during game, but it wasn't enough...

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

  • Japan playing with 5 OHs basically?? 8|

    It's Manabe's sytsem :lol: :rolll:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

  • I also think she can do better, but I think she is doing a great job serving and digging, and she has been passing good today. She can improve her attack but as I said she has a weird approach.. Have you seen how many times she kind of rolled the ball into the deep court because it was too low or fast for her.. also many times she first jumped and then realized the ball was going much wider and then stretched her arm and hit the ball almost from the ref stand.. Cuban setters use to spike like it but's it's mostly because they run from across the court, but she is just having problems with locating where the ball will end and her timing..


    EDIT: About giving promising signs. She already gave them at EL and if Massimo wanted to see more of that he should have moved her to OH. At least he could have done it for one game, set or whatever..

    My reaction about Meliha is towards media and people that are trying to create an image which exaggerates her performance. Meliha is the best alternative in the roster for that position now but she has to do much better than this if she wants to play in WCH. For instance, I agree that it is difficult play in zone 2 and her arm swing is different but she can at least try different approaches to the ball such as stepping from inside to outside as Saori often does to make block outs. She often has single blocks infront of her and I'm sure she is capable of doing such blockouts. I also agree that Barbolini should move her sometimes to zone 4 and Neriman to zone 2. Today we saw a really good attack from Neriman from zone 1 and I am sure the team will be more efficient in that way. Especially Neriman, Gözde and Kubra trio in the front row can lock teams well.
    I also realized that there is a serious mistrust in the team against Meliha. If you check the balls that Gizem K sets, she keeps setting to Gözde or Neriman even when Meliha is at zone 4 in the rotation. It was the same with Naz. She set the ball to Neriman 3 times, even when she saw that she was on the floor after a defense.
    Finally I agree many issues but Meliha should realize that this is another level and I hope she will get there. This is Kubra Akman's first WGP too but she is the best blocker of the tournament.