Russia -Superleague 2019-2020

    This thread is late but I think ,especially now that the Play-off are starting , this is necessary so that we can discuss about the result of the upcoming matches.

    Because of the Zenit kazan slight downfall and also because some club improved roster compared to the last year season , this year I believe that anyone of this 6 team can win the championship:

    Novosibirsk:they have good players on every position ,their foreign players are the polish Setter and World Champion Fabian Dryzga and the OH and European Champion Marko Ivovici.They also have a solid bench with new comers like russian setter Abaev,and OH Rodichev and opp Kruglov(who played for the russian national team in the World cup).They have victories in this season over teams like Dinamo Moscow,Fakel,Kemerovo and Zenit ST. Petersburg.


    Zenit Kazan:evenif they fail in the FIVB Club World Championship,the Supercup and CEV Champions League and losing agains teams like Kemerovo,Fakel(twice) and Surgur Region(for some reason) they still have world class palyers in Sokolov,Ngapeth and mikhayilov and a deep roster.They just can't find a combination of players that would work.They won the Cup tho,finish 2th in the regular season and have victories over teams like Zenit ST.Petersburg(on every encounter between those 2),Novosibirsk,Kemerovo(in the Russian Cup),Dinamo Moscow.


    Kusbass kemerovo:The reigning champions of the russian superleague (2018-2019 season) ,also the winners of this year Supercup and also the team that is in the Semis of the Cev Champions League ,have some problems with the injuries this season.They had a good start this season , but their first match in the CEV Champions League superstar Oppsite Viktor Poletaev landed awkwardly on his right leg and could not help his team for a long period of time.Now he is back and in full form but now Yaroslav Podlesnykh is the one injured(he was on the last match against the polish club Zaksa so that means that his recovery is almost finished). Kemerovo is a solid club,with good chemistry between players,with one of the best opposite in the world right now in Viktor Poletaev , the russian national team setter Igor Kobzar and maybe an underatted outside hitter in Yaroslav Podlesnykh.Oh and also a beas of a libero ( the finnish Laurie kerminev).If all their players are healty they have a strong chance to win the Championship again.


    Zenit St.Petersburg:They improved their roster semnificately by adding the VNL best middle Blocker Ivan Iakovlev and mb Philipov, they lost Pavelk Pankov and added Dmitry Kovalev(some people might say that this is an upgrade but this is discutable).They have really big hitters in the 35 years old Opp Georgy Grozer and Oreol Camejo.They are a relatively new club but strong financiary and ambitious.they are similiar with Zenit Kazan regarding the play style , mediocre passing but elite spiking and serving ,relying a lot on the wings to get the points.

    Dinamo Moscow:A team that got really good from the last season ,losing Grankin but getting Pavel Pankov in his place ,also Sam Deroo Steven Maar and Maxim Zhigalov.They finished 5th the regular season and from this 6 teams that I will present here they have the least chances to win the championship,even with their new and improved roster.


    Fakel Novyi Urengoy:The team that finished 6th the regular season is a team that struggled with injuries the whole season, starting the season whitout Dmitry Volkov and their setter and captain Igor Kolodinsky,and sort after this two were back Egor Kliuka,maybe their best player, got injured.They are a team who struggles with passing ,mainly because the OH,Egor kliuka and Dmitry volkov,are exceling at spiking ,blocking and serving their passing isn't that great,even tho they have Erik shoji(one of the best libero in the world right now who is trying his best to cover a lot of space in defence).their new OPP player is starting to find some momentum and only the absence of Egor kliuka is stoping them from getting in top 3(and maybe a new setter will help too).


    With that said, what are your opinions about this season ? How will you rank this 6 teams? And what are your predictions for the upcoming matches ?

    You can watch the matches here:http://www.volley.ru/


    Mar 15, 2020 Yenisei Fakel 3 : 2
    Mar 15, 2020 Ugra Moscow Dinamo 1 : 3
    Mar 15, 2020 Belogorie Zenit St Petersburg 0 : 3
    Mar 15, 2020 Dinamo LO Kuzbass 1 : 3

    Next matches will be held next weekend with limited public . I hope Fakel play better and advance to final 6 (if it will still happen)

    I saw Kliuka on the bench in the last match so I hope he can play in the next match.Even tho Bogdan was good for fakel.I feel that they lost against Yenisei because of their weak reception(#18 of Yenisei scored 8 aces alone and kirill had at least 2) and also because they couldn t put enough pressure on Yenisei with their serves (Especially #3 o fakel ,why is he a starter?, he wasn t a starter ,this season, even for Belogorie).Padar Had ups and downs and fakel's main setter just downs(#7).The only other interesting match could have been Belogorie vs Zenit ST.Petersburg but was a easy win for Zenit.The only think I like to watch at Belogorie Belgorod this season are their young players.Semichev look like it will be a great player in a few years.

    I think Fakel will advance and win their next match. Bogdan is not anywhere near Kliuka and I don't think they will go further if Kliula will still not play. Re Semyshev, I agree he is very promising indeed in a few years he will compete as starter with Russian NT.


    So Moscow became the first team to advance to Final 6 after their opponent withdrawed from the competition. I think it will be Lokomotiv vs Zenit for the Gold medal

    Quote from GodDamned

    What is the format for final six?They will make 2 groups(3 teams each) then after one round robin the first 2 teams of every group would go to semis?In the semis will be 1A vs 2B and 1B vs 2A?I really don t know.Does someone know?

    Well if the follow Final 6 format there is no other way I guess, Top 2 teams in the pool advance to SF. By the way, good thing I'm not the only one following Russian League here :drink:

    Btw earlier today, Lokomotiv beat Zenit SpB in the Semi-finals of CEV Cup in a very close match Lokomotiv won 3-1.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    Well if the follow Final 6 format there is no other way I guess, Top 2 teams in the pool advance to SF. By the way, good thing I'm not the only one following Russian League here :drink:

    Btw earlier today, Lokomotiv beat Zenit SpB in the Semi-finals of CEV Cup in a very close match Lokomotiv won 3-1.

    Correct,. Final 6 will be held from March 30 to April 5. Two groups will be formed. Semi-finals 1A x 2B, 2A x 1B , 3rd ranked teams in each group will play for 5th place.

    Quote from inc0gnito

    Btw earlier today, Lokomotiv beat Zenit SpB in the Semi-finals of CEV Cup in a very close match Lokomotiv won 3-1.

    Yeah, I saw a big part of the match.Zenit's new coach(Tuomas Sammelvuo) prefers Roman Poroshin over Dmitry Kovalev,you will think Kovalev is the better setter.Maybe he likes traditional setters more.The match was very close ,everytime this 2 teams meet is always a good time(3:2 win for Zenit in the regular season, 3:1 for Novosibirsk in the retur).But I feel that some decisions by kovalev in the 4th set lost the match.Setting to Iakovlev in a non-favorable position when the score was 18-16 for novosibirsk(spoiler:Iakovlev got blocked quite a lot by the opposite middles) and setting to Ursov when the score was 23-21(I believe,not sure) for novosibirsk.That frustrated Grozer quite a bit,who had a great game and for sure wanted to hit all those sets.

    Strong game by Savin(16 spikes,1block,2 aces) and the middles(Kurkaev 8 spikes,5 blocks and Dmitry Schcherbinin 9 spikes, 4 blocks). on the Zenit st.Petersburg side ,well, Grozer did good (22 attacks (54% Eficiency),2 blocks, 1 Ace) and Philippov( 8 atttack(80% efficiency),2 blocks) but the rest of the players had under 50% efficiency(not counting the setters).


    There are any upcoming matches that you are excited for?

    Quote from GodDamned

    The Russian league is also post ponned.

    https://www.worldofvolley.com/…uspends-competitions.html

    Err bummer. I thought the matches will continue to be played with zero spectators. But for the sake of the health of the players, I think that is the best and logical decision.

    Quote from Ksenia

    According to a reliable source, the champion of the men's league will probably be determined by the results of the regular season.

    Now that Ngapeth was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19, I don't think Kazan caa play equal strength and play with the same roster so I'm good to just use the rankings of the regular season. The top three teams: Lokomotiv, Kazan, Kemerovo are top as is refelcted in the current standings. Moscow and Petersburg can play CEV cup next year, not too bad really. Fakel just missed out by being ranked number 6, but with the way how their season went, I think it's just about right and they can just set their sights next year.

    Verbov left Kazan and Alekno returns as Head coach


    On Thursday, the Zenit volleyball club (Kazan) announced that acting head coach Alexei Verbov had left the team. A 38-year-old specialist has left on his own initiative and intends to start an independent career. Apparently, Vladimir Alekno, who was forced to interrupt his active coaching and helped Verbov as a consultant, will return to the post of mentor of Zenit.

    t seems kliuka , Volkov and Shoji will stay in fakel for at least one more season.Christian Padar left.


    -Poletaev is going to Zenit SP.

    -Yaroslav Podlesnykh to Dinamo Moscow ?

    -Verbov , is the new Coach of Kemerovo.

    -Fabian Dryzga left Novosibirsk.

    -Dmitry Pashitsky will not stay in Kemerovo as well.


    Some news on Sokolov?

    And why are Dmitry Volkov and Egor Kliuka so stubborn to stay in fakel? I am sure they have offers from othee big clubs with larger budgets like Zenit Kazan and Zenit StP.


    Any thoughts?

    Kliuka is gonna play in Zenit SP as they are paying the buy-out to Fakel. Sokolov signed a contract with Dinamo Moscow for two seasons.


    Volkov was supposed to be the best Russian outside hitter, especially after his performance in the European Championship of 2017, but he has played irregularly last seasons.


    Some journalist are saying that Pashitsky is waiting for his Russian citizenship so that he can sign with Zenit SP.

    Really? Zenit SP is going to be the best club from the russian superleague.Btw any info about the setters that they are gonna have? They wanted Brizzard . If they will succeed in signing Brizzard , what setter would they keep? Kovalev or Poroshin?.


    I can t wait to see what fakel and kemerovo will do.Their rosters are a mess right now.


    Btw ,any info about Lokomotive future opposite player?I am guessing that s why they didn t want to renew with Dryzga.They are doing fine on the OH position.


    Honestly I can t for the next season.

    Poroshin is the less accomplished setter so it makes sense for him to stay there.


    Kovalev would need to find a new club unless he thinks he is able to start over Brizard which makes a foreign setter transfer pointless when they can add more quality to a non-setter position like a libero perhaps.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney


    Exactly, Lokomotiv has Abaev as setter so they didn´t renew Dryzga in order to sign a foreign opposite, Serbian Luburic. We will see if it´s a good choice (I don´t think so). I´m sure Kruglov will play a lot as Luburic is very irregular.


    Kemerovo wants the Polish opposite Muzaj. Fakel has announced the Croatian setter Zhoukosky, so they will have a Russian opposite (I guess Bakun).