CEV Champions League 2017

    Tillie has been missing for over a month now and there was (is?) a serious danger he might not play again this season. Recently, however, I've heard that he might even be back for the home game against Belgorod. Hope so, Zaksa really needs him, Buszek does not provide nearly as much quality.

    I expected more from Zaksa too, also being the only Polish team I can cheer for since the other two are playing vs Italian teams ^^


    Belchatow-Lube was a good match imho: SKRA put on a good fight, blocking quite often (even if Sokolov still managed to attack with 70%) and receiving well Lube 'serve-bombs'.
    I also had the sensation that Lube was overall in control, but also that was never truly safe until the set ended.


    Modena didn't played really well imho, but they proved once again they really are tie break beasts!
    Positive note: 16 blocks (5 by Holt, 3 by Piano), something quite unusual for Modena.


    About Piano, imho – despite being a worst server and attacker compared to Le Roux – he should play more, he often came handy to the team and has a positive attitude that can help.
    Still, consider my judgment partial, because I'm a fan of him as italian player and as a person, for what I can get not knowing him personally.

    I don`t think Resovia is a poor team. And if they had Gavin Schmit I bet they would have won.


    I feel bad for Gavin, he is always injured. I wonder when he will be back??


    Very disappointing with the Polish teams, will be very embarrassing if all 3 gets knocked out.

    Quote from Mamdani

    I can't be satisfied. We won 3-2, despite we should have won 3-1 against a poor team like Resovia. I'm still angry for the way we gave to them the 3th set :wall:


    p.s. I'm pretty disappointed by Zaksa

    Quote from Kk15


    About Piano, imho – despite being a worst server and attacker compared to Le Roux – he should play more, he often came handy to the team and has a positive attitude that can help.
    Still, consider my judgment partial, because I'm a fan of him as italian player and as a person, for what I can get not knowing him personally.

    I agree, plus he is member of the NT which happens to be a OG silver medalist. And how can a player like him be a bench player? That is his country, his league, I find that pathetic to be honest. In Brazil not even in a million of years you will see a member of the NT sitting on the bench. But in Europe they have this illusion in any league that a foreign player is always better than a local player ( Le Roux is a better server when he get it in, and that does not happens very often).


    edit: Watching Gabrielli Nelli on the bench is pathetic also. A young player with a lot of potential must be on the court playing full time to develop his skills.

    Istanbul BBSK is the 7th in the standings in Turkish league
    i thought Berlin would win
    i dont know much about Berlin's strong points as a team
    i dont expect much from Istanbul BBSK
    i expect a 3-0 or 3-1 win by Berlin for the return match
    if Berlin is not a weak team as Istanbul BBSK for the CL playoffs


    men teams of Turkey are weak for the CL this year or CL is much stronger than before..at least i can say that Halkbank is far from its best days/rosters
    Arkas,Istanbul as well

    It's so strange, because BBSK has Rouzier, Le Goff, Marechel, and they won ECH and had Olympics experience. I would expect that they push the team to somewhere better... Is it the coaching problem, or injuries?


    I agree with you on IBB and Berlin comment. I don't like Istanbul BB's local matches in Turkish league. However they played well and I still can't believe how they won the game. I think next match will never be easy for Istanbul BB. Berlin will make it.


    On the other side I think Fenerbahce would play instead of IBB at CL. Fenerbahce would have better results than IBB.

    Quote from ZMu

    It's so strange, because BBSK has Rouzier, Le Goff, Marechel, and they won ECH and had Olympics experience. I would expect that they push the team to somewhere better... Is it the coaching problem, or injuries?


    i dont follow mens' league much
    bcz of that
    i dont know what their main problem is indeed

    Quote from rbdfabio

    I don`t think Resovia is a poor team. And if they had Gavin Schmit I bet they would have won.


    I feel bad for Gavin, he is always injured. I wonder when he will be back??


    Very disappointing with the Polish teams, will be very embarrassing if all 3 gets knocked out.


    Gavin WHO? :call: Do you mean that Canadian guy who wasted his talent by spending most of his career in irrelevant clubs in irrelevant leagues (Asia) and that never had enough courage to face better opponents in stronger leagues like Italy or Russia (except 2012)? The same guy that in the last 2 years had so many injuries that he's not anymore the good player he used to be before? I cannot be afraid of him when in my league I am used to deal with Hernandez, Atanasjevic, Zaystev, Sokolov etc. :thumbup:


    Anyway, we shall see next week

    Per un pir, un pam un persec per na brogna e na rumleina, nuetr'a sam d'la Ghirlandeina nuetr'a sam da rispeter




    Edited once, last by Mamdani ().

    Quote from YavorD

    I only watched the first and part of the second set in Belgorod and I should say I am also disappointed by ZAKSA, I had expected more. I will re-watch the match this week, I can't say much right now, I am curious what happened. First of all, they had Tillie missing. Does anyone know why? ZAKSA started the match just like anyone would expect them to and I was surprised to see the final score later. I was hoping ZAKSA could be the only Polish team, despite the unlucky draw, to advance to the next round or at least step up this week. They still have a match at home but there is a serious chance we see all Polish teams get eliminated in this round :|


    It is worth watching the game in question as I think it was more complex than what one would think straight away. Apart from pretty obvious pressure from the service line there was seemingly quite a bit of tactical work done "on-the-fly" to eliminate the middle attack. This worked only partially but Belgorod was overall successful in pushing the game to the sides of the net, hence the outcome. As I wrote above, had Zaksa had a serious opp, things like these may have no life threat but with Konarski's back court performance things do get difficult. Overall, very poor concentration for Belgorod but a tactical win in the end. On a separate note, it's been long since I've seen Muserskiy enjoying that much freedom. Yes, he's been blocked on a couple of occasions but otherwise he did whatever he wanted. The defense on the other side was like "daddy, is this an elephant?"


    However, the most mysterious game was that of Dinamo Msk vs Arkas. It did look one-sided, to be fair but guys, how do you like the numbers like these? I have to say, this looks like there is a non-volleyball trouble going on.

    About the tickets for the final4, now they also opened two sector 'first ring - vip' at 135 euro, on the side of the benches.
    Again, I wonder why not giving the chance to choice these seats to people that bought the tickets earlier.
    I guess they'll do the same for the second ring...

    Quote from Mamdani


    Gavin WHO? :call: Do you mean that Canadian guy who wasted his talent by spending most of his career in irrelevant clubs in irrelevant leagues (Asia) and that never had enough courage to face better opponents in stronger leagues like Italy or Russia (except 2012)? The same guy that in the last 2 years had so many injuries that he's not anymore the good player he used to be before? I cannot be afraid of him when in my league I am used to deal with Hernandez, Atanasjevic, Zaystev, Sokolov etc. :thumbup:


    Anyway, we shall see next week


    I wouldn't insist that Schmitt is the best opp in the world but it is obvious he does belong to the same group as Zaytsevelli, Sokolovelli, Hernandelli etc. During the season in Rus league, Schmitt pushed his team up, pretty much a lone warrior on the pitch, not less than that. Vanya Zaytsev, in contrast, spent time pushing the ball basket across the court, complained abt his injuries, prepared for NT season and demonstrated his price tag.

    Quote from powsoff

    It is worth watching the game in question as I think it was more complex than what one would think straight away. Apart from pretty obvious pressure from the service line there was seemingly quite a bit of tactical work done "on-the-fly" to eliminate the middle attack. This worked only partially but Belgorod was overall successful in pushing the game to the sides of the net, hence the outcome. As I wrote above, had Zaksa had a serious opp, things like these may have no life threat but with Konarski's back court performance things do get difficult. Overall, very poor concentration for Belgorod but a tactical win in the end. On a separate note, it's been long since I've seen Muserskiy enjoying that much freedom. Yes, he's been blocked on a couple of occasions but otherwise he did whatever he wanted. The defense on the other side was like "daddy, is this an elephant?"



    I watched it. It was a very entertaining match with some big question marks. Let's get into each party involved.


    Perhaps ZAKSA might look differently with Tillie in the starting line-up, but Buszek was surely not the sole reason why ZAKSA underperformed in Belgorod. They had to deal with Belogorie's tough serving which would be a problem for any team. Konarski has probably been enjoying the best season in his career, but he was needed indeed by Toniutti, he didn't quite play as an opposite you expect in the squad of the Polish league leader. Even in his best days you can see the guy is limited and that would be a potential problem. Deroo also received some difficult sets against a relatively well-organised block and he did a very nice job apart from a few situations in the notorious third set. That was a moment that was, to me, inexplicable as ZAKSA failed to take advantage of a 17-13 and then 22-19, I think, lead. And the attackers made mistakes from the first line, too. ZAKSA's whole new mentality under De Giorgi's guidance relied on fulfilling those chances and in Belgorod they just collapsed (partially affected by the team on the other side of the court, of course). And it wasn't like Belogorie played a perfect game, they were vulnerable at times and yet ZAKSA, both in the second and third set, didn't use those moments. A 2-3 defeat would've given them different chances in the return leg. I agree with powsoff, the Polish defence and MOSTLY the handling of tips, mainly from Muserskiy, weren't on a level you would expect. ZAKSA played way better on the two occasions against Dinamo, hence the disappointment that they couldn't handle Belogorie since the beginning of set 2. However, I think this can be considered as a day off more or less, as I haven't seen them play like that often, or at all recently. I refuse to believe they don't know how to handle tips, for instance, or that these mistakes will just appear out of nowhere and will result in a serious decline.


    Now, credits due where credits are due. Belogorie, no matter that they still have some living legends on court, is a quality team. They may have played bad or unconvincing at the beginning of the Russian domestic season and during the CL group stage, but now this team seems improved. From one side, Marlon is playing his role. He has never been a risky or ingenious setter, his game lacks many mistakes and even glamour, yet he has always done what he has been required to do. His style fits this year's Belogorie very well, I believe. He is surrounded by tall, powerful, not necessarily fast OHs and middles and often Belogorie's game is about just killing that ball without all the dynamic other teams provide, e.g. Toniutti's ZAKSA. I didn't see a tactical masterpiece on their field, but I saw a relatively convincing side with a good bench. Also, Belogorie has always had great servers in its roster and every once in a while they will enjoy a good day. Tetyukhin delivers when he is needed, Muserskiy, absolutely agree, did whatever he wanted. Also, kudos to the subs, both Iereshchenko and Teryomenko, especially the latter, were decisive. Teryomenko might have easily displayed his best volleyball this season, he hasn't received so much court time. Their serving game helped them a lot and were surprisingly good in defence. Talking about digs, I was impressed by the dig performance of Teryomenko and Zhigalov.


    I dare to say I expect a Golden Set in Kedzierzyn-Kozle. I doubt ZAKSA will make all those mistakes again, probably Belogorie wouldn't be able to serve all the time like that. The tie is still pretty open, but we would need the Poles to step up. The good thing is that Belogorie, after the unfortunate acts/decisions/outcomes/performances against Perugia and Halkbank, played like a serious contender. Based on the age of some of their players and the vision of their head coach(es), it is questionable what this year's Belogorie's peak might look like and whether they can ever reach it.

    After winning the first two sets, it seems Istanbul is sending sets 3 and 4 to Berlin almost voluntarily. Ok, they still have two chances in the tie break(s) but still this tactic looks a bit questionable....

    Argh, both teams spared the thrill for the end. 16:14 for berlin, golden set now in berlin :super:

    From 0:2 to 4:2 8o thank you BBSK for the helping hand in set 3 and 4.


    Awkward match, Berlin played terrible in first two sets but somehow Istanbul stopped playing afterwards and it looked like they were only waiting for their chance in sets 5/6. But not pushing berlin in these sets didn`t pay out obviously. Carrol was great in sets 3456 and also Ruben Schott overcame difficult moments and had great actions in the tie breaks :thumbup: