Germany - Volleyball Bundesliga (VBL) 2018-19

It was a very strange match in Unterhaching. Heynen didn't even use Boladz and Protopsaltis, only the latter came in when Petras started to really struggle. Boladz mde perhaps more damage in the few serve attempts he had than Malescha for the entire match. An overall unsatisfactory performance by the setter-opposite duo for VfB. Both Boladz and Protopsaltis looked fine, I doubt they had been injured, so perhaps Heynen wanted them to rest before the Chaumont match, which, however, ended even worse for the Germans yesterday.

At the other end of the field, Tirol Haching from Innsbruck-Munich (only the partial name Haching is a reference to the former German club) looked a bit nervous at the beginning. Later, however, they managed to find their rhythm even if they miraculously dropped some set points. On those occasions, you would think they are perhaps too "green" to handle even a not-fully functioning and partially resting Friedrichshafen side but they prevailed on the long run. A weird match indeed, with some nice rallies and drama but not really of superb quality.

I couldn't watch the hybrid team much these past two years, to be honest, but Gelinski seemed quite decent in those matches I could watch, with some solid sets and game organisation. No idea what he was like before the Tirol era but as Tim pointed out, perhaps he matured. Quite normal for a setter past 28-29, as a matter of fact. I am finally going to watch Haching Tirol live in the middle of January when Trentino arrive to Munich for the CEV Cup. I will have watched Gelinski by then and will let you know my impressions on him.

Are we going to see two Russells in USMNT this year? I'm not a big fan of Kyle Russell but he is playing more efficiently than Patch and there's no one that is remarkable for USA anyway besides Shaw who played lights out in PanAm Cup.

I wonder if Grankin will play tonight. Kuhner is not looking bright for Berlin with all his high balls to his outside hitters. I don't exactly feel Grankin can do better but something have to change quick.

Edit: Grankin Patch on the Double Sub

Grankin's got to be the first setter of choice at this point.

The problem with Berlin is their serve failure rate. Just too much to keep this game closer than this.

What't wrong with Sport1 website? The TV live just shows a picture and with weird sound.

Berlin's new problems are always popping up in crucial moments and it comes in droves. Poor Grankin. He's playing well but those mistakes are just too untimely for his Bundesliga debut.

Grankin have to be very careful with his MB attacks. Friedrichshafen are good defenders.

OT: Vfb Friedrichshafen have to be the best-looking team in the world. They are all so dreamy.

Quote from TimHH

Don't know, i had the same problem. i am watching via zattoo.

I just watched the last part of the game on LiveTV, but the quality was really poor.

Quote from TimHH

Berlin's performances so far have been pretty bad. Their key transfers either played bad/inconsistent (Zimmermann, Patch,Jendryk) or were constantly injured (Reichert).

Zimmermann's performance wasn't good. However, Grankin cannot play for CEV CL. He and Kühner need to improve their performance.

Reichert has had two big injuries. He still needs some time to reach his best status.

I just wanted to ask who of the two setters needed replacement in order to recruit Grankin but it seems Berlin need a fresh "start" in the middle of the season. If I am not mistaken, Nicolas Rossard was also recruited recently, having terminated with Szczecin, although Berlin still have Watten. It looks like some urgent investments/patches were needed in order to boost the team's title chances.

Even without the two new reinforcements, Berlin still had, in my opinion that is, the best roster in the league. I remember watching their match in Friedrichshafen earlier this campaign and things looked quite alright, despite the early league phase. With the players available, they could/should have performed/developed otherwise from then on. We talked about players underperforming but the head coach certainly plays a role here, too. He must've insisted on some of the players he brought from France/the French league, yet he seems unable to deliver with them. Enard is among the culprits for sure. Their Champions League campaign is also chaotic, having been beaten by the two Polish teams. Their next two matches at home vs. Trefl Gdansk and then away in Maaseik will grant them nothing with the display from last night. This is perhaps their lowest point since the project took a serious turn some 8-10 years ago and it is curious to see how they react. I agree with Tim that they might sacrifice the regular season position for a more composed play-offs input but with the Champions League encounters approaching and the pressure from the club management and the supporters, allegedly, I guess they will look for results immediately.

On the other side, with Berlin clearly off the match, Friedrichshafen played a typical Friedrichshafen game and, thus, the score was no surprise.

After another devastating defeat, this time against Trefl Gdansk for the Champions League at home last week, Berlin finally showed some muscles and came back from a 2-set disadvantage in Dueren. They still played terribly in the first two sets and some subs were needed in order to make it work, most notably Tuia's appearance on court. But then again it was far from very convincing and on Thursday comes the next challenge - away in Frankfurt (live on Sport 1, free TV that is).

On the other side, it was the first time this season I finally had the chance to watch Dueren more closely. They have gathered a very good roster this season and yet, similarly to Berlin, they obviously underperform. If we look at their last two home games, 2-3 defeats after taking 2-0 leads against Herrsching and Berlin, respectively, we might see that their problems are also psychological and not that much technical. They are capable of playing very decent volleyball, demonstrated that also over the weekend, but the amount of defeats and lost points when they appeared to have been in charge of games is just ridiculous. Pity because they deserve a far better league position with this roster.

Quote from TimHH

While i agree on your overall assessment that Düren has a decent roster this year i don't agree with your last phrase. Imho they lack a bit of balance and are overly dependant on Gevert, who is strong and powerful as always but, unfortunately for Düren, can easily run out of steam nowadays. Kocian's fast sets are not always helping either, so i do think the reason they may give matches out of hands is probably more technical than psychological. And with the top6 teams being that balanced this year, the more stable and balanced teams imho have the advantage.

But Düren still has chances to work up the ranks, for example with a win in Lüneburg on Wednesday. The Alpenvolleys on Saturday impressively showed how to do it: By simply serving Lüneburg off the court (17 aces)....

But anyway, from what i saw (set 4+5), the match against Berlin was very entertaining, including a lot of trash talking and emotions in the end. This would have been a very good tv match.

Of course, Gevert is a bit far from his best days, but still good enough for Dueren, in my opinion. Surely not (much) worse than Prolingheuer whom they had until last year. Gevert is also surprisingly Dueren's only listed opposite. I don't think, though, that he is trusted more than he should for an (only) opposite. Sauss and Lacassie are an interesting OH duo. Sauss especially is quite attack-oriented and I liked his contribution against Berlin most of the time. The Frenchman is the reception specialist, quite typically for a Frenchman, and yet he does quite well in offense. Kocian's distribution seemed fine in that single match of Dueren I watched, can't go much further. There are certainly technical aspects which Dueren need to clear, it can't be just psychological, but they had a 2-0 lead and comfortable cushion in the third set against a shaky Berlin and yet they dropped another match in a similar fashion.

Very disappointing performance and recent form by UV Frankfurt. Friedrichshafen didn't do anything special, apart from their usual tough-to-beat transition and patience, to get an away straight-set win. And whereas we can excuse a single defeat, it's been a while since Frankfurt actually closed a match in their favour. I watched them live in Herrsching where they also dropped momentum, there have been 3 CL defeats already in 2019 and a series of unconvincing results in the Bundesliga. It is true that they are a young team, yet they started the season quite well and you wouldn't expect such a sudden form drop. Karlitzek is not enough to carry them on his shoulders, the more experienced Schwarz is often subbed by Fragkos, having been recruited recently, Mrdak is not super reliant either, and last night there were obvious problems in the middle, mostly the block organization, and in transition side-out. If there is something positive, there will enjoy a small break in the Bundesliga, with only a CL visit in Roeselare on schedule until the beginning of March, but they will then have a run of away games for which they better rest and prepare well.