Brazilian Superliga 2017-2018

Why was Renan benched anyway?

PV has been constantly playing much better than Renan. Have you been watching the league?

Quote from Rains

That's true. This is a weird semi-final.

I really want Taubate to win for Dante Amaral but SESI is quite strong. Sada is their only known venom but if Taubate knocks them out of the playoffs then this is SESI's gold to lose.

SESI seems to be a better team on paper. William has the magic touch. I thought Bruno-Lucas combination is deadly but William-Lucas is a complete different story. Douglas Souza seems to be playing good in most matches, I really hope he will step up his game even more with the NT later. And Murilo did fairly well as libero. Maybe his wife should consider the same.

[quote='saishuu','index.php?page=Thread&postID=360299#post360299']So, yeah. Seems like Leal has given up on this season after signing with Lube. Taubaté is leading the semifinal against Sada by 2 games to 0. I do not even recall if this has ever happened with Sada before, at least since they began their winning streak. Not seeing them in the finals would be bizarre.

Agree about 'leal' - I started noticing this at the club world championships when it was obvious Leal was just frustrated with his team and wasnt in it really for most part. He seems to be most annoyed with the libero (who does annoy me as well actually lol), and he really misses William's setting. It was good though to see Isac laying with a lot of passion. I have always seen him as a kind of Renan...good height and potential but never really quite there. He really tried to take more control in the last match.

Taubate must have realised the weakness of Cruzeiro from the club champs - their passing - and they really exploited it in the last match, which made their block - defence very effective. It also helps to have a motivated Wallace..

Sidenote - Saishuu.. whats your opinion on what the national team needs most for the next cycle? I worry that the level of Lucas and all the other middle players is so far apart that they really need to work on that area. Souza is too inconsistent, and they have had to bench him for all the important matches in the last two cycles - luckily Eder was able to step in for a bit - but he is no longer there. I wonder if it may be good to consider Sidao again? He seemed to be playing better and better in the season.

Quote from Rains

Bruno-31
William-38
Raphael-38

I think the setter needs the most change ASAP. Bruno will be okay for atleast 5 more years but Raphael and William should be given more rest especially for less important tournamenets like VNL and friendlies.

Agreed. For some reason I feel the middle is the most vulnerable, but considering the failure of Murilo Radke to become the next setter. The next hopefuls are too short - i.e second setter of Sada and setter of Sesc.. so there is a bit of a problem there you're right.

In this Olympic cycle they are going to have to stick with William or Rapha... I don't really see anyone else..... However even that will be ok, I still think the middle position is going to be a bigger problem for them.

Quote from saishuu

I think the NT needs to invest in giving more playing time to some new OHs and MBs. Setters are okay (William, Raphael and Bruno), as well as opposites (Wallace, possibly Alan) and liberos (Thales and Brendle). The big gap I believe falls in those two positions.

Lucão is getting near the end of his NT career judging by his age alone, as well as Éder. So I'd give more time to Isac, Otávio and some possible newcomers like Flávio. I think Maurício Souza peaked in 2016 and that was it. He's gonna hang around for years still, but I don't think he's that decisive anymore. Sidão is way past his peak - same as Riad.

As for OHs, it's time to let Douglas play more. Sure he's having a very shaky season, but the guy is an Olympic champion and has barely played for the team. I'd also call other players like João Rafael, Henrique Honorato and Fábio, who had really good seasons in their respective teams. Other than these, I expect we'll see the same faces until at least 2020.

I think we have the same opinion generally. I think OH there is potential, and agree about Douglas - not sure where he will rank with Mauricio, Lucarelli and Leal (when he joins next year).. ...not sure about the status of Lucas Loh, or Rodrigino.. I worry about Souza and Isac as starting MBs .. maybe they just need to develop more confidence in owning that position, but thats a elatively weak combo.

Quote from Rains

I think Mauricio is ahead of Douglas. He doesn't rely on his jump and explosiveness like Lucarelli and Joao so even if he gets injured, his level will stay the same.

I think Douglas needs to focus on his fitness. I have a feeling Honorato and Rodriguinho will be better than him if he stays petite or twinky like that.

My only wish is for Honorato to get a couple more inches with his height. I still think he's going to be better than Joao. He looks stronger physically and has better technique. Joao is so kamikaze that I believe he is always seconds away from a serious injury.

Quote from Rains

I think Mauricio is ahead of Douglas. He doesn't rely on his jump and explosiveness like Lucarelli and Joao so even if he gets injured, his level will stay the same.

I think Douglas needs to focus on his fitness. I have a feeling Honorato and Rodriguinho will be better than him if he stays petite or twinky like that.

My only wish is for Honorato to get a couple more inches with his height. I still think he's going to be better than Joao. He looks stronger physically and has better technique. Joao is so kamikaze that I believe he is always seconds away from a serious injury.

Lol so agree with you about Joao. I really like Honorato and he seems to have better shot selection than Douglas. I like Douglas for some reason, I think he can be very consistent which is important for Brazil's type of play. I wonder what happened to Matheus Dos Santos from the u23 team? He looked like he had potential as a middle player...

Quote from saishuu

Matheus just got called by Renan Dal Zotto for the first NT trainings! He might play some smaller tournaments with some other young guys.
His team (Vôlei UM Itapetininga) also just reached the finals in the second division of Superliga yesterday.

Thanks for the update.. I really liked his play in both attack and especially blocking.