China NT 2021

    China always gave me the impression of a team with a very deep roster. Maybe because the Olympic roster was so young in Rio, I assumed there will be even more players who would step up in the last 5 years but so far it looks like CHN is not at a place where they can reach finals with their B team. Indeed this team has one of the starters Zhang, who seems not to be in a good shape so far. I am curious why Lang didn't let Li YY also play in VNL, she is very young and needs to play on international level as much as possible. Or Lang is already convinced that Li will be the starter instead of Zhang.:teach:

    Quote from serdar

    China always gave me the impression of a team with a very deep roster. Maybe because the Olympic roster was so young in Rio, I assumed there will be even more players who would step up in the last 5 years but so far it looks like CHN is not at a place where they can reach finals with their B team. Indeed this team has one of the starters Zhang, who seems not to be in a good shape so far. I am curious why Lang didn't let Li YY also play in VNL, she is very young and needs to play on international level as much as possible. Or Lang is already convinced that Li will be the starter instead of Zhang.:teach:

    I was thinking the same thing too! This cycle (after Rio 2016) China didn't really develop any other new stars other than Li YY. I would've thought a young middle would step up to the occasion, but they're still so far away. Zehra and Yang Hanyu are from the same generation with Yang taking the U20 MVP title back in 2017. But look how far ahead Zehra is now in terms of progress while Yang stays behind. I honestly think that MVP award is what's keeping her in the mix for training, the NT is holding out hope that she can reach an elite level, but it's taking longer than expected. And we all know what happens to players who don't make enough progress to satisfy coaches, they get dropped.


    As for why Li YY isn't here, I think Lang Ping is going to use her as her ace player which is why she's hiding her. If you keep this same VNL roster and just replace Zhang with Li the results will still be the same in my opinion.

    Quote from serdar

    China always gave me the impression of a team with a very deep roster. Maybe because the Olympic roster was so young in Rio, I assumed there will be even more players who would step up in the last 5 years but so far it looks like CHN is not at a place where they can reach finals with their B team. Indeed this team has one of the starters Zhang, who seems not to be in a good shape so far. I am curious why Lang didn't let Li YY also play in VNL, she is very young and needs to play on international level as much as possible. Or Lang is already convinced that Li will be the starter instead of Zhang.:teach:

    I thought so too.

    Quote from jetmasters

    Blocking was weak and scoring was not there when needed. I would have given Zheng Yixin playing time. Wang Mengjie's passing was not good. I think she gets bailed out by Zhu and Gong too much. Starting MBs were bad. Yang Hanyu couldn't kill overpasses. First time seeing a choke serve. I think Zhang Changning was tired. Backups are not looking good so far for Tokyo.

    I was so looking forward to seeing Zheng Yixin also...perhaps LP has written her off already :|

    Quote from Julian Chow

    I was so looking forward to seeing Zheng Yixin also...perhaps LP has written her off already :|

    Zheng Yixin plays well at club level. At national team, her offense is good but her blocking is not up to coach's standard. I think that's the reason she gets left out during major tournaments. Last World Cup's roster was expanded to 16 so Lang Ping selected 5 MBs. Last Olympics Lang Ping selected 3 MBs. I think it will be the same this time since MBs are not playing well. So it will be hard to get selected since she has not seen much playing time.

    Quote from serdar

    China always gave me the impression of a team with a very deep roster. Maybe because the Olympic roster was so young in Rio, I assumed there will be even more players who would step up in the last 5 years but so far it looks like CHN is not at a place where they can reach finals with their B team. Indeed this team has one of the starters Zhang, who seems not to be in a good shape so far. I am curious why Lang didn't let Li YY also play in VNL, she is very young and needs to play on international level as much as possible. Or Lang is already convinced that Li will be the starter instead of Zhang.:teach:

    LYY and ZCN are both definitely going to Tokyo -- but it's still interesting to see LYY get the "pass" to not play first nine matches in VNL. Fun fact: Rio's roster was supposed to be for Tokyo, but.... they ended up winning the gold five years too early.


    From the photos that have been released during training and in Tokyo's test match, Li is with the rest of the A-team (i.e. Zhu, Yuan, Ding, etc) so that is some evidence that in Lang Ping's mind, it is at least worth investigating the Li for Zhang substitution as a long-term plan.


    Final 4 is a pipe dream at the moment. I hate to say this and I still hold out hope but tomorrow they are not likely to win against Turkey; against Brazil it is almost certainly a loss too. With 4 losses they'll need a perfect record to have a chance at the final four. The B team will have to win against Belgium and Serbia, who are pretty strong also. Unfortunately with 4 selected from 16 you simply can't drop unnecessary matches and expect to make the finals.


    And although the A team winning 6 matches is possible and I think they'd be clear favourites in five of them, the match with USA could realistically go either way so I'd expect us to place around 6th-8th in this tournament overall. Really, everything needs to go according to plan and the breaks need to go our way if we are to make the final 4. Guess it will be USA, Turkey, Brazil, and a 4th team.

    i think 4th team will be Japan. And I don't think CHN can win against USA who is the strongest roster of whole tournament

    Quote from jetmasters

    Blocking was weak and scoring was not there when needed. I would have given Zheng Yixin playing time. Wang Mengjie's passing was not good. I think she gets bailed out by Zhu and Gong too much. Starting MBs were bad. Yang Hanyu couldn't kill overpasses. First time seeing a choke serve. I think Zhang Changning was tired. Backups are not looking good so far for Tokyo.

    Subpar line-up, Zhang had to overwork with the team load which normally within the main line-up is distributed by more players, wing spikers, middle, in more balanced fashion, even nowadays Zhu has more teammates to share the load. Poor Zhang to lead the subpar line-up :D8o need to wait for the main artillery to fight properly.


    Libero also does not need to work that hard when the MBs do their functions as well as other parts, volleyball is truly a team sport, all elements must function properly to have a great team and great result. When CHN MB or attackers use tips too much and can't kill balls, and blocking does not work then I know bad ending will be the final outcome:D||


    In the meantime just hope this subpar line-up can do its best but won't hope too much.... but it's OG that is the highest goal of the team this year, not the VNL(!!! Lang might feel a bit upset yet she still remained sitting down the whole game, thus I knew she's just relaxed with the outcome) (and I think the team won't strive to play in the last four thus can leave earlier) :D:P thus just be relax albeit some displeasure remains... it tastes rather sour to spend 2.5 hours to watch and the team got beaten by just average team! And the very tilted Brit commentator working for CBC / BBC thru VBWTV, Lucas Clayton, praised too much the win by CAN team, said to be the very first time bla bla with his overly biases, added salt to the injury, acted as if this is Chinese main force, but casual watchers might not realize this situation :lol: :D


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    It might be Lang's very plan to not attend the last four so team could leave earlier, if the last four was the objective she would have brought along all key players and fielded them as necessary even though just partially while exercising the subs. I guess in her thought this is Just a mixing of field training to pick some subs for Tokyo with maintaining some position and keep some WR points to not decrease too much but the goal is unshakenly the OG!


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    An Jiajie subbing in Liu Xiaotong to throw away the lead and the set. Great coaching.

    Quote from jetmasters

    An Jiajie subbing in Liu Xiaotong to throw away the lead and the set. Great coaching.

    honest opinion, is anyone really impressed with Jiajie taking the head coach responsibility?


    Everytime he is assuming the role I always feel like he is lost. I understand that he is always with the B team but I never get the sense that he has leadership or if he is a tactician. He is simply just there.

    Quote from kittosuni

    honest opinion, is anyone really impressed with Jiajie taking the head coach responsibility?


    Everytime he is assuming the role I always feel like he is lost. I understand that he is always with the B team but I never get the sense that he has leadership or if he is a tactician. He is simply just there.

    I'm just hoping that when he actually becomes the coach the team listens to Zhu Ting or Yuan Xinyue instead and ignores him (and pray no more retarded substitutions)...

    My opinion after 2 weeks:


    Setter: Yao Di has no connection with middles and is pretty predictable. She has poor awareness and poor floor coverage, allowing tips easily. Sad reality she is the second option because Diao is just there as backup.


    Middles: Can't block and can't hit. I won't blame them for poor offense due to Yao Di but can't excuse them for not killing overpasses. I would drop Wang Yuanyuan and Yang Hanyu (both are soft and have poor reflexes) and try new middles instead if there are no improvements in week 3 and beyond. Zheng Yixin is my pick because she has a better offensive game and her blocking can't be any worst than Wang/Yang. Maybe I just like her pretty face?


    Hitters: Both Lius are on the decline. No expectations from Li Yao or Duan Fang. Duan Fang should try out as a marathon runner. Backup hitters are like picking your own poison situation. I can feel them mentally torturing Lang Ping.


    Liberos: Another sad situation here like backup hitters. Lin Li still has trouble with jump serves and errors. Wang Mengjie is not that much better but there is nobody else.

    Quote from kittosuni

    honest opinion, is anyone really impressed with Jiajie taking the head coach responsibility?


    Everytime he is assuming the role I always feel like he is lost. I understand that he is always with the B team but I never get the sense that he has leadership or if he is a tactician. He is simply just there.

    You shouldn't ask me about him because he is on my WOAT coaching list.

    Quote from kittosuni

    honest opinion, is anyone really impressed with Jiajie taking the head coach responsibility?


    Everytime he is assuming the role I always feel like he is lost. I understand that he is always with the B team but I never get the sense that he has leadership or if he is a tactician. He is simply just there.

    An is just a good deputy to Lang. He has his own merit within the team under the leadership of Lang Ping, which we all as outsiders won't comprehend the inner working. He's picked by Lang for his current position. But just few think that An will eventually succeed Lang as the next head coach. And until Lang Ping really resigns, we may not know who's the strong candidate for that post. Even if association has names, they may not be made into public at current stage for Lang is still on duty!


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

    Quote from Julian Chow

    ...in line with the plans to "not attend the last four" ?

    samsara

    First 3 weeks are just tryouts for players. You can tell by different lineups each match. Last 2 weeks are for practice to get off rust for A team. Two years without international competition is not good. Winning the whole thing was never the priority. But if B team can manage to get into playoff position, that would be a bonus.

    Quote from jetmasters

    No expectations from Li Yao or Duan Fang. Duan Fang should try out as a marathon runner.

    I'm sort of liking Duan Fang. She's new to me. Maybe I just like her running :)

    Quote from Julian Chow

    ...in line with the plans to "not attend the last four" ?

    samsara

    Don't overdo it, the current messy line-up just couldn't beat TUR :-) they would certainly lose be it 0-3 or 1-3.... I just wish that they would have fought better... but middles who could not block, could not hit the ball properly... I hate it when i see players -- be the middle even worse the wing spikers -- just tip and tip, basically just throw the balls to other side of court, when you couldn't kill the balls when there were opportunities you just invited opponent to counter attack and got killed-- so helpless :-) at the end. just accepted that this is a messy line-up, hopeless with the current configuration. Yeah, perhaps ZYX should be given more playing time to judge. WYY is disappointing. YHY is not convincing either. Big wonder who will be picked for Tokyo. After watching the VNL, now I have no idea :-) lol


    “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”