CEV Champions League 2019

    Quote from charalampos

    Very bad season for Conegliano. Playing against an opponent like eczacibasi is not easy but they couldnt even win easily a team from germany.

    conegliano is overated team big time it sure does have some really good players but once they are pressured on serve their game collapses and they dont have such good opp that can score out of system like boskovic the entire team is very set dependent which aint the case with the rest of best team of europe even some lower ranked teams have really good out of system gameplay

    Quote from maeloveyang

    when you are in important time, you should set your ball to the main player in your team. sometimes we complaining Naz because she set balls to slotjes when they have a hard time instead of zhu at the start when they cooperate. remember how vakifbank won imoco last year?Naz replace cansu and set balls to zhu even though zhu hurt her foot. she set stable balls to zhu.look at the balls after 8:3 in the tie match.....nothing to say.

    Naz's setting to position 2 is not so good. I feel like Sloetjes can't spike the ball comfortably. But her setting to position 4 is better.


    Cansu Ozbay's setting to position 2 is mostly good. It's good for Sloetjes to spike. But her setting to position 4 is just very inconsistent.

    Vakifbank played probably one of their worst games recently. That is mostly due to Cansu performing terrible today, though I don't blame her, Guidetti was brave enough to take the risk to not transfer a 2nd setter and instead use (or not being able to use) an amateur as 2nd setter. I feel bad for Cansu because she simply has no luxury to perform bad since there is noone else who can save the day when she is sitting at the bench. Homematch can be an easy win for Vakif if they keep their usual serve and attacking tempo, but if Vakif loses the first set, I can see Cansu getting more stressed and shaky and pulling the entire team down. She is technically the best Turkish setter now but she is mentally weak, on the other hand Naz had very strong nerves in any moment of the matches she played.


    For the other matches, Italians should really change the ball they are using in their league. Yes, using molten allows easier serve receives, faster sets, variation in attacking, more rallies etc. which makes it more interesting to watch for spectators. But when you go outside your country and receive the ball like crap and can't defend, everything falls apart. I personally would prefer that whole world changes the ball to Molten, which does not float as much and allows more game time, but I guess this won't happen. So Italians better stop shooting their own foot.


    Btw has Malinov been performing like this whole season? She was simply terrible, I don't get the idea with fast sets when you simply cannot deliver them. All wing spikers of Scandicci looked like ordinary players with those sets.


    Looking at Imoco, I really wonder if Kim Hill will be in starting 6 of US NT this summer at all. Both Kelsey and Larson are having good seasons.

    Quote from Helios

    Naz's setting to position 2 is not so good. I feel like Sloetjes can't spike the ball comfortably. But her setting to position 4 is better.


    Cansu Ozbay's setting to position 2 is mostly good. It's good for Sloetjes to spike. But her setting to position 4 is just very inconsistent.

    I actually remember reading an interview of Slöetjes where she said she is getting the best sets when she plays with Naz. I remember her hitting alot against single blocks when Naz was setting to her, one of them was one of the best actions of last edition of CL.

    Quote from Meatballs

    I actually remember reading an interview of Slöetjes where she said she is getting the best sets when she plays with Naz. I remember her hitting alot against single blocks when Naz was setting to her, one of them was one of the best actions of last edition of CL.

    Of course one-on-one is good for the spikers. They don't face too many blocking hands.


    But I won't say "running sets" are definitely "good sets". In terms of the quality of the ball, Naz's settting to position 2 is not that good.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    Does Maja speak Russian? Or at least can she communicate with the Moscow players at the very basic level? I know Serbian and Russian are pretty different languages other than being Slavic

    After a few months an average person will probably pick up enough to be able to have a basic conversation at least. The biggest problem for mutual understanding between the speakers of these languages is that A LOT of words sound very similar, but have vastly different meanings. My favourite example is the phrase that would in Serbian mean "Your life is wonderful", but in Russian it's "Your stomach is red". :lol: Or a very, very common misunderstanding in which the Russian question "What's your last name?" would be understood by Serbians as "How's your family doing?"


    I'm loving these results :cheesy: Conegliano vs Eczacibasi is the only match I watched and I kept thinking, damn, if Maja had stayed, Eczacibasi would surely be the biggest favourites for the CL title. Still, I'm afraid their lack of blocking may come to bite them in the ass when it matters the most.


    Dinamo is a really good team and I think people were underestimating them because of their poor play in the beginning of the season. Now they're showing what they're capable of, and even though Vakif are certainly big favourites to win in Istanbul and come through, I hope Dinamo will at least make their life difficult.


    Fenerbahce :box: I just LOVE this team! Make the rematch nice and simple, please.

    I'm surprised how well Dinamo did, and their OHs had such a poor game. Imagine what they would do, if Havelkova and Scherban played at least a decent game. Zhu wasn't herself, Dinamo was well prepared for her. Sloetjes had a very good game, until later towards the end of the match. And I think Kelsey did a pretty god job, especially attacking, besides some forced hits into the block. Milena wasn't there at all. Cansu had many problems, with every hitter. I've never seen Zhu 'mad' at some teammate, she even showed her she likes higher sets. I expect them to regroup in the next game

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    I'm surprised how well Dinamo did, and their OHs had such a poor game. Imagine what they would do, if Havelkova and Scherban played at least a decent game. Zhu wasn't herself, Dinamo was well prepared for her. Sloetjes had a very good game, until later towards the end of the match. And I think Kelsey did a pretty god job, especially attacking, besides some forced hits into the block. Milena wasn't there at all. Cansu had many problems, with every hitter. I've never seen Zhu 'mad' at some teammate, she even showed her she likes higher sets. I expect them to regroup in the next game

    look at datas, zhu still is better than sloetjes,robinson and goncha. but when it comes to important time, robinson and sloetjes always make errors. and look at all mbs and spikers,Cansu should take a lot responsibility for this loss of the match. and Rasic is also bad at the first three sets. spike out and no block. Gunes may pay all her attention on her boy friend. we can see zhu has find her tempo in 4th and 5 th set.but Cansu seems are afraid og the ball and it is like throwing bombs. slow the tempo and set high ball after 8:3, they can win. weak metallity.

    Quote from sandianando

    Gio opinions regarding their lost last night. He's so positive.

    why wouldnt he? honestly i think vakıfbank has better chance than other two turkish teams for semi final.i know it sounds absurd. but italian teams has the potential to beat turkish teams. i dont think moscow is up to beating vakıfbank twice in a row. i expect an easy 3 set match from vakıfbank next week. i am sure they'll make necessary adjustments.

    Quote from maeloveyang

    look at datas, zhu still is better than sloetjes,robinson and goncha. but when it comes to important time, robinson and sloetjes always make errors. and look at all mbs and spikers,Cansu should take a lot responsibility for this loss of the match. and Rasic is also bad at the first three sets. spike out and no block. Gunes may pay all her attention on her boy friend. we can see zhu has find her tempo in 4th and 5 th set.but Cansu seems are afraid og the ball and it is like throwing bombs. slow the tempo and set high ball after 8:3, they can win. weak metallity.

    I know she did, that's why I said, she wasn't herself. Comparing her just to her usual performance

    Quote from USAvolleyfan

    I know she did, that's why I said, she wasn't herself. Comparing her just to her usual performance

    I got it. but Russia team has high block,when your set cant distract mbs you should set high balls. no offense to cansu,but she play the worst matches so far. whe you have a 8:3 lead at tie match ,as a strong team ,how can you lose it?that is what i dont understand. It is the first time i see zhu complain that the ball is short in the court so far. I find it is easy to guess who cansu will set to. first sloetjes,when she cant kill,robison is next. when robinsin cant kill ,it is zhu .when the team has a lead,she seldom set to zhu.when you was catched up, it is zhu.anyone can guess it.when akman in the front row,people can ignore her........ anyway,hope they can play better next match.

    Guidetti writes like Trump on twitter, very aggressive with a lot of exclamation marks, superfluous punctuation and poor vocabulary/grammar. His english is beyond deplorable. I noticed someone picked on runnerupster ´s English, but Guidettis is 100x times worse. For a coach who likely carries a lot of his communication in English with for ex. players from China, Serbia or Netherlands, it´s remarkably second-rate. Is this man really considered some clever intellectual? For me, he seems to be all about testosterone and "wild" energy, hardly a "thinker". The definition of a "boyish" fake or pseudo alpha-male. Some players might obv. like this, but "down to earth" women like Sloetjes and Haak might be very annoyed with this personality. Overall it doesnt go in line with the sterotypical Dutch or Scandinavian (Swedish) mentality at all. Its very, very hard for me 2 see that Haak would relish under such a guidance unfortunalety. She is an extraordinarily calm and quiet woman, an overthinker, a bit like "Ferdinand the bull".

    It is always the same thing. When Zhu does not play her best they loose. When Boskovic is having a day off they loose.


    And games like this is the perfect opportunity for their teammates to show up... But as usual they are nowhere to be found.


    But when Zhu and Boskovic are playing well of course they play well as well.


    Anyways. Im waiting for the day Vakifbank and Vitra will win a important game when Zhu and Boskovic are not playing well and carrying the entire team to victory and show they are not just supporting cast to the 2 best players on the planet.