2015 European Championships - Netherlands and Belgium

    Quote from ossubtus

    i must be hearing some word in turkish that sounds like djubra…


    i have a question about seda tokatioglu. i had always seen her as a backup and not impressed at all: slow, ponderous and not very agile. but then i rewatched some matches at the WCh and she was the starter and she had a lot of kills. what do our turkish posters think of her and why isn't she in the team here?

    Seda is bad. She is used as offensive OH sometime because Barbolini loved her for some reason and I think Neriman was injured. She is not a good receiver and like you said, very slow approach to the ball in attacking. Reminds me a bit of Diouf but definitely have a much better technique. Though she is very mediocre. We will see what Guidetti is planning to do with her in Vakifbank this season.

    Maja Ognjenovic said that Serbia want to play against Belgium because of last ECH.


    Italy said that they already thinking about Russia, and that Croatia is little barriers before Russia. :D

    thank you for your replies, and i meant to ask all, not just our turkish friends… : p


    i think polen and g. yilmaz are so much better than seda and yeliz basa, but as i said, she had a lot of kills against BRA at the WCh and other matches when she was a starter OH (with sonsirma). she's a tall girl and i guess she can kill the ball when needed, but oh… is she slow and mechanical, like a robot.


    about diouf, i think it's not easy to move well when you're that big. you can see she's listed as same height as gamova but gamova is so much leaner. diouf is just built big. i think she can be effective but, talk about slow… even brayelin martinez is better, i think, but she's also much thinner and more agile. with all her height, diouf can be a good server though.

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    I think Seda can be pretty effective as both OPP and attacking OH. Problem with her is she is inconsistent and also very blockable. You see when she gets a bad set for example, she doesn't try to go high hands, or block out, she hits hard and tries to 'break' the block and it doesn't actually work. Also she is injury prone.. slow in defense, her block gets tooled a lot. If there was no Gozde Yilmaz I would take her, but luckily there is Yilmaz who can also play OPP and OH and Hande Baladin


    i agree with you except her blocks...she is a good blocker (if i didnt misunderstand your expresssion wrong)

    Quote from ossubtus

    thank you for your replies, and i meant to ask all, not just our turkish friends… : p


    i think polen and g. yilmaz are so much better than seda and yeliz basa, but as i said, she had a lot of kills against BRA at the WCh and other matches when she was a starter OH (with sonsirma). she's a tall girl and i guess she can kill the ball when needed, but oh… is she slow and mechanical, like a robot.


    about diouf, i think it's not easy to move well when you're that big. you can see she's listed as same height as gamova but gamova is so much leaner. diouf is just built big. i think she can be effective but, talk about slow… even brayelin martinez is better, i think, but she's also much thinner and more agile. with all her height, diouf can be a good server though.


    Polen didnt start well. i hope we can watch better matches from her. on the other hand, Naz should trust in her and set more..i think she can help the team..
    Seda hadd played usefull matches..i prefer her as OPP due to her reception but she is more efficient on zone 4..Yeliz Başa would be the last option to choose :D i would prefer Meryem Boz or Ceren Kestirengöz to Yeliz Başa in the NT

    my two cents on the couples :



    Bel - Cze : Bel has home court adv...i think Bel will advance to the QF..Belgium is making more of its players involved than CZE.. still i expect a good match



    Ger -Hun : Germany is the fav..German persistence and serves will make them prevail in the end against Hungary otherwise German players are not unstoppable



    Bel - Pol : Poland is the fav but i wonder about Belarussia's performance against Poland...seems it wont/maynot be an easy match for Poland



    Ita - Cro : i think this will be the most exciting match...im confused about Croatia...which one is true Croatia....losing to Belarus or winning against Russia..if They can play like they did against Rus then they can beat Ita...on the other hand Italia is a very experienced team and knows better how to play these matches...

    I think it more depends if Croatia will play like they did against Russia or against Belarus. I think that today they have very good confidence but againt they had confidence against Belarus and they showed :down: . We will see if they can keep high level.

    The game between Germany and Hungary will most likely end 3-2. Hungary is so far one of the best serving teams of ECH and Germany reception is not at its best. So it will be a clash of two good serving teams, but I'm sure Hungary can get 2 sets and make the game interesting.

    Quote from ravens#7

    Giovanni Guidetti is building a powerhouse. Not sure if they are a gold medal team already, but let them train with the best coach of nowdays a few years and you will see Netherlands among worldwide top NTs soon.


    I certainly hope so, since they are my second favourite NT, but I would hold my horses just yet. It is still too early.

    Quote from mariuszj1939

    Serbia may suffer soon because of World Cup long tournament.

    If we lose, it certainly will not be because of exhaustion, but because the opponent played better (and maybe with a bit of choking from our side). Yes, World Cup is a very exhausting tournament, especially since we played so many 5-setters, but:


    1)Players had a not unimportant 10 free days
    2)Because there were quite a few weak teams (thank you FIVB! ;) ), our starters did not play some 3 or 4 matches
    3)Our 4 best players (Ognjenovic, Boskovic, Mihajlovic, Rasic) did not play against Romania, so they will have 3 days of rest before the quarters.


    Not to mention that one of our greatest rivals, Russia, is much more likely to be tired, because Marichev apparently does not understand the concept of the word "rest", and because Goncharova played the entire summer, with equal intensity throughout (the fact she is not dead on her feet by now is a testament to what a physical specimen she is).

    Quote from crovolley


    Italy said that they already thinking about Russia, and that Croatia is little barriers before Russia. :D


    Really? :what: I hope not!
    I watched a bunch of interview and if I recall well nobody said something like this... In case, the opposite...



    Vabo, why is Diouf supposed to be a good receiver since she hasn't to?
    And lately imho she is getting better even in defense. So, spike (without technique, I agree, but still hard enough to make points more often than the others with more technique), serve and defense (not as good as others, but honestly better than I expected considering she is kinda giant). And sometime block, even if only thanks to her hight. Plus, it seems to me that she really care and I love her attitude, but that is subjective. So, she is like half good as she can potentially be improving her technique and to me she is not 'beautiful' to watch (technically speaking, and I love technical players, like Bosetti), but she is useful, especially against fiscal teams.
    BTW, I hope Bonitta will give Centoni a chance, at least in the double change.

    Yeah it was on our National TV, Sport News. They said that in some interview coach of Italy said that. And that Croatia is so ready for this matche. Hope so ^^


    It will be funny to watche Katarina Barun against Christina C. And Guiggi :D and Fabris is going to play with them in Novara next year :).

    Here's some of my views on my favorite teams.


    Netherlands : Guidetti :super: I mean hey, look at their roster, no such superstars like Gamova or Castro, nevertheless, they're showing how important team harmony is in volleyball. I'm falling in love with Lonneke Slöetjes every time I watch her. One thing I disliked so far is the small amount of chances the MBs got. Dijkema should use De Kruijf and Steenbergen more often if it's possible. Debby Pilon-Stam has been very good in digging and reception, I keep my fingers crossed for her. I'm more than content to see her back with such a good shape.


    Russia : So far not so bad, one loss, but Croatia were stronger in the match. Obmochaeva seemed very tired and not surprised why, thanks to Kosheleva they got two wins from Belarus and Bulgaria but I want them to play with more team combinations. With Zaryazhko back, Kosianenko can use the middle much more than she did in the whole summer. Pasynkova's current shape is also a question, one game she contributes a lot by serving, attacking and covering her teammates, but in another match she can be a disaster, I really hope she decreases passing errors for example.


    Belgium : Rousseaux is definitely missed, okay, her reception is terrible, but what about Vandesteene? she's a weak hitter so that can't contribute as much as Rousseaux does. So basically Belgium's play works like this : Van Hecke-Heyrman and Aelbrecht and sometimes Leys, quite easy for opponents. Courtois hasn't been bad so far, however, I want some better performance from her. (Btw, her brother Thibaut seems to be recovering well.)


    Croatia : Ivana Milos :drink: She's definitely playing a wonderful tournament so far, one of the team leaders for sure, both in attacking and blocking. Fabris on the other hand has been such a huge disappointment, others are okay, Topic tends to play a lot better in NT apparently. Poljak, still a monster in block, Usic very inconsistent, but nothing to blame her for being that, she's always been like that. Great to see Barun back. Bozicevic seems to have been criticized quite a lot, but she's only 20, no major tournament experience, she's apparently not even able to manage her nerves, I think she's playing fairy well. Grbac :whistling: Croatian match is definitely up to her hands, hopefully Brcic gets to play as starter versus Italy. I just noticed that Grbac has outstanding connections with Milos, but not Poljak...


    Czech Republic : Pity that they couldn't get a win against Germany, Havelkova has been playing very well in this tournament.


    Germany : Not so bad so far, but I'm doubtful they can manage to take some medals as they did in the last ECH. Hopefully Fürst accepts to play in NT again. Oh, speaking of MBs, why does Brandt play as starter, not Pettke?


    Poland : Great fights against Netherlands and Italy, I think Poland are a bit too unlucky to be in that group. Bednarek-Kasza has a better connection with Wolosz finally and she's showing good performance in attack. Maj needs to be better IMO on the other hand. Regardless of their final results, this team is definitely worth attentions. Werblinska, Skowronska, Kurnikowska, Efimienko, Grejman, Bednarek :heart: So many beauties.

    i think teams like Italy-Germany even Belgium have this concept in their volleyball : make one more dig and give your opponent a chance to make a mistake!

    so Croatia should lessen its unforced mistakes.they are physically a much better team than Italy..it wont be easy for Italian players like Bosetti-Delcore etc to overcome Croatian block


    key words for Croatia : make less mistake and set-receive better

    Only because of good connection between Milos and Grbac, i like Grbac but Brcic is using much better balls when we make bad reception, and we make a lot of bad reception, that is strange because she is so tall and moving so fast for 191cm setter. She just need chance from Angelo.

    Am I the only one who finds Bernarda Cutuk as hot as Sieczka? :whistle:


    Can't wait for CRO-ITA. Ajde Hrvatska! :drink: