Turkey NT 2020

  • Time to open up a new thread for 2020:drink:


    The most important tournament for this year is of course the Olympics. Gui has to make a good plan to have his team at peak in Olympics. I dont expect him to play with A team all VNL. I havent seen any news about VNL finals being held by Turkey recently but I really hope federation can do that. This way Gui can try all his players knowing the finals are in the pocket. My prediction for 18 players (taking into account the rumors that in VNL all teams can have max 18 players list) :


    S: Naz Aydemir, Cansu Özbay, Buse Ünal

    OPP: Ebrar Karakurt, Meryem Boz, Gözde Yılmaz

    OH: Hande Baladın, Meliha İsmailoğlu, Fatma Yıldırım, Şeyma Ercan, Tuğba Şenoğlu

    MB: Eda Erdem, Zehra Güneş, Kübra Akman, Beyza Arıcı, Yasemin Güveli

    L: Simge Aköz, Aylin Sarıoğlu


    I dont expect any big changes in the roster compared to last year. Gio will stick to his players that he made to the Olympics and worked with past 3 years so Gamze, Neriman or Gizem Örge wont have a chance I believe.


    The players didnt have much court time in the league should play all the VNL so my ideal starting seven, at least for the first 3 weeks, is like: Cansu/Ebrar, Meliha/Fatma, Kübra/Yasemin or Beyza, Aylin. Especially the important players of the A team Meliha, Ebrar and Kübra should play as much as possible to get their confidence back.

  • Wow you forgot Asli Kalac? She is the third 3 MB in the Olympics squad :D


    I think the 18 player thing did not pass through.


    I would add Cagla Akin in the setters list.

    Gözde Yilmaz unfortunately will be there since Ebrar will be the main opposite during VNL and Meryem will rest. Though I would prefer Derya Cebecioglu as bench opposite.


    Among MBs, I think Eda and Zehra will rest most while Kubra and Asli are expected to be on starting six often. They might be benched by Yasemin Guveli.


    OH position is annoying, Turkey has such a limited pool of players for this position. But I guess Hande Baladin will rest most. I would actually keep her at bench, resting actively, while using her as bench opposite/OH instead of Gözde Yilmaz.


    I agree on the liberos. Gizem Örge will probably not come back to the NT. Simge needs a rest too, but Aylin is very shaky. Lets see who will Guidetti pick as 3rd libero, Ayca Aykac?

  • Kadir I agree about everything on your list except Beyza instead of Asli. (And I'm not a huge fan of Asli at all) I feel like that might have been a mistake on you anyway/or you forgot.


    Pls no Ayça Aykaç or Cagla Akin lol 😆

  • Also if one of the MBs don't accept to be a bench-warmer/VNL player(though VNL is important now) than I'd call Janset Cemre Erkul! She has had steady growth the past couple years, always picking a team she can be a starter at and now she is one of the top blockers of the league

  • Kadir I agree about everything on your list except Beyza instead of Asli. (And I'm not a huge fan of Asli at all) I feel like that might have been a mistake on you anyway/or you forgot.


    Pls no Ayça Aykaç or Cagla Akin lol 😆

    Actually I didnt forget Aslı. I love her passion and she was having a great performance in first half of the season but her performance has dropped a lot after Olympics qualification tournament in January. The other reason is she has been in NT for many years (although she is still young) but she didnt impressed me in NT whenever she got a chance to play. On the other hand Beyza looks so much better than last year, she is so much faster now, and Yasemin has really developed a lot. Our MB position can be one of the best in the world and it is really hard to be part of it when there is legendary Eda and great Zehra. However if Eda wont play in VNL like last year Zehra,Kübra,Aslı, Yasemin,Beyza can be rotated week to week. But I believe Gui will pick 3 MBs to Olympics and two spots, Eda and Zehra, are locked and the other one will be Kübra most likely.

  • I think Asli should be the 3rd MB for sure. She has never get a real chance to play in NT before. But she is in a great shape this season. That's why she should definitely be a starter with kubra during VNL to show which one of these two deserves it more. I don't see realistic chance of Beyza going to Tokyo. I think Gui should invest in Yasemin more instead of Beyza who will not be anything more than another version of Büşra Cansu:whistle:


    I think OH positions are also up for grabs. Hande and Meliha will be there most probably. The last two could be either Şeyma and Fatma or Gui might take one of these two and use Aylin Sarıoğlu as defensive specialist.


    I hope Gui will give rest the following players whom I think have a safe spot:

    Naz Aydemir-Meryem Boz

    Eda Erdem-Zehra Güneş

    Simge Aköz


    I think VNL core team should be as following:


    Cansu Ozbay-Ebrar Karakurt

    Kübra Akman-Asli Kalac-Yasemin Guveli

    Fatma Yıldırım, Şeyma Ercan, Tuğba Şenoğlu

    Aylin Sarıoğlu


    This team would be still competitive to reach final 6 and some bench players could show if they deserve to be in final Olympic roster or not. I wouldn't be surprised if Gui would play with Hande in VNL since she is still young and spent half of season on the bench.


    I agree that Derya Cebecioğlu and Cemre Erkul should be with the team in VNL

  • I know people are really biased towards Asli and this mostly comes from either her being a GS player for many years or her being short.


    Fact is she has been awesome this season. Did you notice that her performance dropped significantly because GS changed setters all of a sudden? I watched all broadcasted matches and Nilay gives terrible sets to her, that's also probably the reason why Nilay gives very few sets to her, simply because she cannot.


    Asli at the moment is way ahead of Beyza & Yasemin. With a proper setter and a solid chance in the NT, I am sure she will deliver well.

  • No, Neriman should never come to the NT unless Gui leaves. Looks like they have bad chemistry. If you asked this question before Olympic qualifiers, I would say certainly yes, but now, it is too late.

  • I agree that the level drop of Asli in second half of season is because of setter change. She was constantly beast mode on when Çağla was the setter

  • My reason for not being a huge fan of Asli is not because she is a GS player (I don't care about FB-GS rivalry) and I like some short players, even pushed Janset here.


    My problem with her is I don't find her quite reliable and I find her very error-prone and this is something I still haven't seen her improve much on. She makes errors when you need her to not do them, like hitting wide a lot. Yes I still think she she should be called over 1 of Yasemin/Beyza personally. Also I liked Asli's serves usually even if they're error prone and her energy on court. But I think Eda-Zehra are locked followed by probably Kübra for now for Olympics.

  • It is rumored an important player is transfer to a rivalry and GS changed their captain to Guldeniz a few weeks ago and Asli’s performance dropped. It is believed Asli is that player and it sounds suspicious.


    This is simply their bad management style. They did the same thing to Gamze and now to Asli.

  • Giovanni gave an interview and talked about the preparation to Olympics.


    He will use 16 players for VNL and take it seriously. There re many things to improve.


    Ps; It was before than Turkish Federation reached to Fivb about hosting VNL finals. It might change Gui's ideas. But he clearly said that "You can't perform well In Tokyo, if you spent long time on the beach".


    Olympics are not like WCH or EC. Much shorter and earlier.


    Core team would be like;


    Naz Aydemir-Cansu Ozbay

    Ebrar Karakurt-Meryem Boz

    Eda Erdem-Zehra Gunes-Kubra Akman-Asli Kalac-

    Hande Baladin-Meliha Ismailoglu-Seyma Ercan-Fatma Yildirim

    Simge Akoz-Aylin Sarioglu


    Add 2 of Buse Unal-Yasemin Guveli-Tugba Senoglu for VNL


    Cut Aylin and Asli from roster for Tokyo.

  • I hope turkey won't reach their top form during the VNL and performa bad during OG. This is exactly what happened during 2018 WCh:down:

  • I hope turkey won't reach their top form during the VNL and performa bad during OG. This is exactly what happened during 2018 WCh:down:

    WCH'18 started in 29 of September.


    Olympics will start in 25 of July.


    The difference is more than 2 months.


    There is almost no time time after VNL for reaching top form. Eda/Naz/Meryem would skip 1 or 2 weeks but we should take VNL seriously and Gui should rotate all his 14 players like in Vakifbank.

  • Cagla the who? You mean Cagla who is around more then 10 years and gotten many chances both in respectable clubs and NT and never showed anything or improved a bit? Who still looks like an inexperienced player and could not even set a proper ball to OPP, and you want to take her for NT? Really? Why don’t we invite Damla or Ece Halicioglu, too? lol


    If Gio wants to invest on a setter, it should be Buse Unal, not Cagla. I don’t know if Buse would improve but it has been seen many times Cagla won’t improve and it is pointless to invest in her.

  • Cagla the who? You mean Cagla who is around more then 10 years and gotten many chances both in respectable clubs and NT and never showed anything or improved a bit? Who still looks like an inexperienced player and could not even set a proper ball to OPP, and you want to take her for NT? Really? Why don’t we invite Damla or Ece Halicioglu, too? lol


    If Gio wants to invest on a setter, it should be Buse Unal, not Cagla. I don’t know if Buse would improve but it has been seen many times Cagla won’t improve and it is pointless to invest in her.

    I don't agree with you on this. Çağla indeed improved a lot this season. I don't know why GS changed to Nilay now but while Çağla was playing she has done a very good job distributing balls. Her connection with Asli was especially really good.


    Im not big fan of her and I like Buse Ünal too, but saying Çağla didn't improve is simply not true

  • No.


    All Çagla can do is set short sets, and when I mean short I mean like only middles level short. Lol, that's it. Umu11 is 100% right. Her setting approach is just weird, even her short sets are not quick so her attackers are always struggling.


    Maybe she improved a little, not enough though she can't even keep starting spot for her team vs. a old veteran.


    Umu is right that there is simply no other player that has got the opportunities she had and she is not proving herself so pls don't waste the NT time that people like Buse Ünal (with some actual talent) can use.

  • Cagla the who? You mean Cagla who is around more then 10 years and gotten many chances both in respectable clubs and NT and never showed anything or improved a bit? Who still looks like an inexperienced player and could not even set a proper ball to OPP, and you want to take her for NT? Really? Why don’t we invite Damla or Ece Halicioglu, too? lol


    If Gio wants to invest on a setter, it should be Buse Unal, not Cagla. I don’t know if Buse would improve but it has been seen many times Cagla won’t improve and it is pointless to invest in her.

    Yeah because NT is a place where we should train and improve players. This idea has always sounded dumb to me. NT is a place where players who are ready to play in there should go, not someone who wants to get some experience. Besides that, I dont remember seeing Cagla in the NT for I don't know how many years. She had a fine season in the first half, started the second half quite bad but seriously, which of the local setters are performing well?


    -Gamze? She is getting chances now and destroying her team.

    -Cansu Özbay? Probably the best alternative but is not playing consistently anymore due to Maja's existense, she also looked shaky last time I watched her.

    -Buse Unal? Yes I like her sets to zone 4 and her serves, she is also a tall and a good prospect, but she can't set well to anywhere else on the court. Though I agree she is young and can learn (meanwhile, there are only 2 years of age between her and Cagla, so she is not that young either).


    There is simply noone else except Naz who looks like a decent local setter unfortunately.

  • Cansu Özbay is on a WHOOOOOLEE other level compared to Çagla, no need to even compare, she still gets time too.


    And Çagla did get chances not that many years ago in VNL and other tournaments and she was next level terrible so no, she couldnt set to anyone and looked scared. No need to force mediocre (and that is a compliment) GS players.


    What we mean with VNL as a chance for players as Buse is simply talented players showing themselves (since Naz and Cansu are locked for OG 2020) on the other hand your Çagla used it indeed as a training center for years and we're not fond of that.


    For next cycle in Olympics, Naz could still play, otherwise I'm gravitated towards Özbay-Ünal duo for sure. They complement each other also, our block would be dead with Çagla and Cansu. Cansu is a more nervous player so a calmer player like Buse/Naz complements them. Cansu has her creativitity and energy for her, Çagla is Cansu without everything that makes Cansu good lol