CEV Men’s European Championship 2019 - hosts France, Slovenia, Belgium and the Netherlands

    Russian fans are adamant why Mikhaylov was barely used, at least he could have changed something this I agree. Also, it seems clear to me Russia's game depends highly on Volkov-Kliuka duo, if one of them starts to under perform Russia looks kinda lost. Poletaev had a good game however scoring 20 points


    Also, people are roasting Sammelvuo for his roster choices basically they are saying there wasn't a complete distinction who was a starter vs who was playing as reserve. And this affected the chemistry with the binders. Kobzar's setting was not nearly as convincing compared to VNL for example.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    Russian fans are adamant why Mikhaylov was barely used, at least he could have changed something this I agree. Also, it seems clear to me Russia's game depends highly on Volkov-Kliuka duo, if one of them starts to under perform Russia looks kinda lost. Poletaev had a good game however scoring 20 points


    Also, people are roasting Sammelvuo for his roster choices basically they are saying there wasn't a complete distinction who was a starter vs who was playing as reserve. And this affected the chemistry with the binders. Kobzar's setting was not nearly as convincing compared to VNL for example.

    If you check how many errors made by Volkov and Kliula today, you are not surprised why they lost this game. Errors (including serve, reception and spike) made by Volkov was 11, and Kliuka was 12. This OH duos contributed totally 23 errors in a 4-set game.


    It reminds me of the game RUS vs Bra in WCH 2018. They led 2:0 and lost to Brazil at 2:3. Russia made totally 38 errors in that game.

    If Russia can not improve their reception and can not control the unforced errors, they have no chance to win big titles like Olympics, WCH or WC.

    Quote from LDvolley

    Neither European Ch nor VNL are serious competitions. No one should worry or get too happy about performance in them. I mean, in last euro we saw Germany and Belgium in semis...


    The only relevant and 100% serious competitions in modern international volleyball are WCh, OG and their qualifiers. Unlike 20 years ago, nothing else matters anymore.

    Don't know why but I have exactly the same feeling...


    European Champion should gain something more than title... Olympic qualification or at least WCH...?

    Who says that ECh doesn't matter? Just because a favourite lost against an underdog, it doesn't mean the tournament itself is worthless. I can imagine non-european doesn't get this but ECh has always been very very important for both coaches and players and of course for fans as well

    Yesterday, Slovenian national air carrier cancelled almost all of their flights for the next two days. There is no possibility at the moment to move from Amsterdam to Ljubljana for Polish team...:white:


    Update:

    Polish government will send charter flight for the team.

    CEV gets red card from me. Adria announced their strike few days a go...

    Quote from andrea

    Kudos to Slovenia for winning such a big game against Russia. Is it the first time in vb history that Slovenia beats Russia?


    While it's not impossible for Slovenia to win as an underdog, what's hard to believe is that they still grabbed the victory with their offense being highly concentrated at the left wing, due to a weakened, aging Gasparini. Their OHs, Urnaut and Cebulj, seem to have unlimited stamina to handle such a heavy duty of all elements of volleyball throughout the game.

    Let me join in congratulating and showing appreciation to this Slovenian team. I thought the same while watching Gasparini during the ECH so far. He seems more dangerous from the service line compared to his usual duties as opposite. Urnaut and Cebulj had to carry the team forward, but they were also helped immensely by the two MBs. Also, it had happened rarely that Cebulj plays so consistently and efficiently. Usually, he is the one from the duo OHs that gets subbed, their overall motivation playing at home, however, is insane. At one moment I got worried about Urnaut's heart, he spent more energy celebrating than scoring. And just when you think they might have endless stamina, it would usually run out. They can't go on forever like this. In the best case scenario, they won't play the final at home, providing that this whole madness continues against Poland, too.


    What I am mostly impressed with is Slovenia's serving consistency going throughout the last two matches. I thought it was a fluke against Bulgaria, you wouldn't normally keep it up for another match, yet it continued versus the Russians.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    I don't think Slovena is playing anything special, Russia is killing themselves thru their errors

    Whereas Russia did indeed make tons of mistakes in that match, you can't diminish Slovenia's contribution. Everything about their performance in the last two matches was special. The service runs which committed forced errors on their opponents' fields, the rallies, the fights, the defence, the transition, the team spirit, and last but not least, the special home support.

    Quote from LDvolley

    Neither European Ch nor VNL are serious competitions. No one should worry or get too happy about performance in them. I mean, in last euro we saw Germany and Belgium in semis...


    The only relevant and 100% serious competitions in modern international volleyball are WCh, OG and their qualifiers. Unlike 20 years ago, nothing else matters anymore.

    Let me explain to a delusional Argentinian why this is not true. I agree about the WCH and the Olympics, of course, but don't exclude Europe's continental championship's importance to its participants. The ECH is, of course, a very serious competition. I agree that the winner should get, I don't know, an Olympic ticket or a WCH automatic berth, for instance, but this doesn't lower its value by any means.


    Germany, Slovenia and Belgium played in semis not because the other teams didn't care, but because the level in Europe is good and you get a lot of trouble if you underestimate someone or just enjoy a bad day (e.g., Russia last night). The Olympics is a great venue, but it has few teams, including such who, as Nikola Grbic rightfully protested, won't make it to top 8 at a ECH otherwise. Reaching the Euro semis has often been more difficult for Russia/Poland/Italy than reaching the semis at the Olympics, for instance. Let me do a simple exercise that supports this argument. The back-to-back WCH Poland have only appeared in 2 ECH semifinals since 2011 (not winning the previous one, now is the second time). The 2016 Rio silver medallists Italy were pounded by the mentioned Belgium 2 years ago and might not make it to the semis this year either.


    Yes, I know you can't keep your level up throughout the entire Olympic period, you can't even keep it up for a whole summer. There are two other aspects to the ECH placements. First, it is usually scheduled in September/October, at the end of the NT season, when energy might be deficient. Especially with all kinds of tournaments and qualifiers like in 2019. Second, there are now various hosts in Europe and a lot of smaller teams get an extra push when playing at home. Which often causes surprises and makes the tournaments more interesting. Slovenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, just to name a few, might overachieve at home.


    So, no, the ECH definitely matters. Especially these days when a lot of good European teams are not even allowed/invited to take part in WCH/Olympic qualifiers.

    Yes, well....

    I think this title simply isn't as big as an incentive as it used to. Players just want to go home already and sometimes big stars opt out of it (I recall that Zaytsev didn't play it last time).

    I don't think Slovenia would stand any chance with Russia in a WCh or OG qualification match. You can easily notice that when a qualification for those 2 competitions is on the line, the results become way more consistent and upsets way more rare compared to ECh or VNL.

    any link for the game?

    France outplayed Italy in 1st set. Now Italy is playing with Nelli and Zaytsev as outside