2015 CEV DenizBank Champions League

Quote from TimHH

Perugia with quite impressive numbers on their victory in Maaseik. Overall they have 69 % in attack and Christian Fromm was absolutely on fire (78% attack, 78/64 % receiving). I already noticed that lately his receiving stats got better in the italian league as well. If Grbic really manages to turn him into a decent receiver then . Some nice moves by De Cecco as well. He can really shine in that kind of matches and of course the attacking numbers speaks for his setting as well

http://www.cev.lu/Competition-…hStatistics.aspx?ID=26713

I couldn't watch the game, so these were exactly my thoughts when I saw the numbers of Perugia. You can't do much against a team with such an attack efficiency. It seems like Noliko were close and could do something more only in the first set when they were trailing by a point at 20-21.

It looks like there are more players and staff in the gym in istanbul than real audience

Paris leading now 2:0

I read some comments from Jastrzebski they wont to win Plus liga and qualify for Playoff 6 in CL. After watching this match I can say there is no way for that. Their serve is that weak that Divis and Camejo are recieving without problems, like on practice Bartman as OH is the biggest joke, he cant hold on simple float serve, even Volvich is aiming him

Kurek is particularly quick and ready in defense and reception, at least more than usual...is it because he's against Belgorod or what???

Quote from TimHH

It looks like there are more players and staff in the gym in istanbul than real audience

Paris leading now 2:0

you're right...these clubs (Fb,Gs etc) always boast about the number of their supporters..

Lube lost the fourth set in an incredible fashion.. I really don't understand how or why at this level and at home too!

Quote from Ophadece

Lube lost the fourth set in an incredible fashion.. I really don't understand how or why at this level and at home too!

It wasn't a high-level game overall but it looked that the attitude of the Lube players was very wrong. Although the trio Kurek-Kovar-Baranowicz can deliver all kind of surprises in the end of the set. Treia may not qualify from the group now. They are unlikely to get any points in Belgorod while both French and Turkish sides may have better chances as they will compete with Belgorod's bench.

Quote from Bartek

No 8 from Tours VB has interesting serve language.

It's Pinheiro. But why, what did he do? I don't think his serve is strange, but perhaps he did something unusual

Jastrzebski wasn't convincing at all yesterday, true that. Lokomotiv had problems turning the game around despite trailing by a set. However, had the refs correctly given the block in instead of out on Lasko's situation at the end of the first set, Lokomotiv might've even won it in three sets. I have no clue as to why the Russians stopped playing at the end of the first set. A wrong referee's decision, followed by a very incorrectly given yellow card to Volvich was to me the reason for the loss in the opener. Also, Divis got blocked 1 on 1, Zemchenok, as usual, also failed to deliver when Butko set him the ball. But overall Lokomotiv is a step or two ahead in the group despite Moroz's absence. When is he supposed to come back, by the way?

Friedrichshafen with a first win. It's been long since they last scored a 3-0 in the Champions League. 65% in attack overall says a lot about how focused they were last night after the fiasco against Posojilnica.

Wow, Berlin is leading 2:0 in Rzeszow, whats going on.....

Mark Lebedew happened.

That was quick, tough beating for Rzeszow and some serious booing after the last ball (followed by some applause a bit later).

Big choice of OHs wasn't really an advantage for Rzeszow this time. Lotman (3/8 ) and Buszek (2/12) were subbed for Penchev (3/8 ) and Ivovic (2/10), so things didn't exactly got better.

On the other side of the net Kromm (18/28 ) and Touzinsky (9/14) did very well for Berlin and both middles contributed as well. They could even compensate a rather weak Paul Carroll (4/20 ).

http://www.cev.lu/Competition-…hStatistics.aspx?ID=26665

Quote from Bartek

@ Yavor

For me Pini has the most aggressive float I have ever seen.

Hmm, good point. His jump serve is also quite good. To me, he is one of the setters with greatest variety in serve types. Here I would add Raphael, Depestele, Grbic, Tischer, Bruno. The list can go on, no question about it. I like Birarelli's float serve as well. In terms of bomber setters, I would mention Travica, Zhekov, Pankov, Ball. But I won't go into details that much. However, it's an interesting discussion.

Last night's win in Spain versus Teruel was Bulgaria's first away win in the Champions League since the 2004-2005 edition when Levski Siconco beat Vojvodina Novolin 3-2 in Novi Sad. Back then we had Zhekov, Boyan Yordanov, Uchikov, Aleksiev, Gaydarski, Ananiev, Stoykov competing for Levski. It's a known problem for Bulgarian clubs when they have to play away from home. Most of our wins are in Bulgaria. During these almost 10 years CSKA and Marek Union-Ivkoni were close to snatching a couple of tie-breaks in away games, but couldn't in the end. Marek actually lost 2-3 exactly in Teruel two years ago, so they got their revenge now. However, the match last night was more emotional than of high quality.

The away win of Berlin is surely a surprise. Berlin struggle to win in straight sets sometimes even in the Bundesliga this year, let alone in Rzeszow in the Champions League. I would gladly watch the match on replay later this week. I am curious to see if Resovia were that terrible indeed.

This post is specially dedicated to Martin Stoev, the head coach of Tomis Constanta. I don't even know where to start. First, during the time-outs he speaks in Bulgarian ONLY, whether because he doesn't speak any other language (which is fine, but he doesn't have an assistant or a translator) or because there are 3 Bulgarians and 2 Serbians in his starting 7. However, this is no excuse as there are Romanian players as well, all of his MBs, for example. Hence, we cannot talk about team tactics because his messages don't reach all players. Second, he doesn't know the names of his players. He referred to one of them "pass the ball to that guy sometimes" (instructing Zhekov). Third, the instructions he gave to Zhekov, the playmaker and setter, were not to related to tactics in any way. "You cannot play only with Ventzi (Simeonov)" and "pass it to that guy sometimes" seems more like school, non-competitive or definitely non-professional volleyball. Fourth, there simply are NO tactics or whatsoever. I am sure he doesn't know the opponent if he had ever watched/studied them prior to the match. None of the instructions to his players had anything to do with the way Roeselare are playing or have changed their rhythm. Because they have. Fifth, at 12-17, practically in the middle of the third set, he is already talking about the fourth set.

That being said, I am very disappointed that the results achieved by Tomis are solely due to the players only. I don't see Stoev's contribution. They are just a group of great players, at least for the group stage of the CL (Zhekov, Simeonov, Janic, Rosic, Spinu), and they practically have to learn to play together themselves. I don't see how Stoev got a better coach. Results have little to do with his work, credit should be given to the players in his case. Again.

Talking about the game itself, I should say that Roeselare changed their rhythm after the lost first set and in a few minutes, unless they vanish, they should be on top of the standings in Pool A. And quite deservedly so. Tervaportti got more diverse in his setting, Tuerlinckx got more clever sets and stepped into the game. I have to admit Tomis started to make more unforced errors as well, but it's all related, of course, to the way Roeselare began to challenge them more. A weak game for Zhekov, he has been very inaccurate throughout most of the evening. What surprises me is his weaker defending tonight, I hope it's not due to some injury.

The libero Dejonckheere should be a NT starter, in my opinion.

Stoev spoke Romanian for the first time tonight, I apologize. But it might be too late now.

Quote from YavorD

But it might be too late now.

No, it wasn't
5th set is on the way. Thanks for posting, i would have forgotten about the match. I rely enjoy the atmosphere in Belgium......