Italy - Superlega 2022/23

    It's rare to see a team that has such bad reception as Verona and managed to win against Modena.


    Their reception is so awful that Spirito only set 6 balls to all MB in 5 sets LOL :aww: Mozic, Keita and Sapozhkov all are talented attackers and kill tons of out-of-system balls.


    https://www.legavolley.it/match/36154


    Sapozhkov (220cm) has insanely high attacking point and powerful arm, very dominant when he is at front row. I recall he was a bit inconsistent and unstable last season in Russian League but this season with the guidance of Stoytchev he became more reliable and dominant even in some match.

    Quote from Colinaddicted

    well Milano had 3 match pts in set 4, leading by 24:21. Within few minutes it became 24:26 :wall::wall: Speechless.

    Ishikawa had a PERFECT ball at 24-23, don’t know how he managed to be blocked, really. Then Pesaresi happened, in Italy we say something like “don’t shoot at the red cross”, so i won’t say anything more.

    IMO Verona should pursue that trio. They have a lot of potential, are young and you can learn how to receive with experience…

    Keita and Mozic have contracts for the next season, the question is what will happen to Sapozhkov, he's very interesting choice either for Russian, Asian or even top CL-clubs (there were rumors about him and Trentino, but don't think it will happen with Dirlic, Rychlicki and then Atanasijevic getting rumored to join Trentino in the past couple of weeks). Keita is basically an opposite playing as an OH in terms of his defensive skills, so I don't think this is really a great to fit to pursue in the next years if they want to make a step forward. Obviously, Verona has its economic limitations (even Siena was able to buy-out their starting libero before this season, recently it is said that Milano will outbid Verona and hire Catania, who btw is awful for a month or so), but I wouldn't be surprised if they are a better team with all-round OH alongside Mozic, with Keita/Sapozhkov as an opposite. Their goal should be making it to the 4th or 5th spot in the regular season to play Civitanova in the quarterfinals, I wish they will.


    Btw. Takahashi is simply great for Padova in the 2nd part of regular season, he's outplaying even Ishikawa this season, at least statistically.

    Not a big fan of Blengini, but his substitutions in set 4 are critical of Lube's come-from-behind victory against Piacenza. Since Zaytsev was not ineffective in set 4, Blengini replaced the starters with Gabi and Diamantini (to maintain 3 local players on court). At 20:21, Lube was stuck at a rotation with only two quality spikers with Diamantini being a non-factor in offense. Blengini decisively sent Chinenyeze back to play an effective decoy for the spikers on both wings, while Lube still managed to keep both liberos on court for those few points.

    Quote from andrea

    Not a big fan of Blengini, but his substitutions in set 4 are critical of Lube's come-from-behind victory against Piacenza. Since Zaytsev was not ineffective in set 4, Blengini replaced the starters with Gabi and Diamantini (to maintain 3 local players on court). At 20:21, Lube was stuck at a rotation with only two quality spikers with Diamantini being a non-factor in offense. Blengini decisively sent Chinenyeze back to play an effective decoy for the spikers on both wings, while Lube still managed to keep both liberos on court for those few points.

    The backup libero substituting Nikolov in the back row for 3 rotations is the regular substitution for Lube. Without this, Chinenyeze cannot enter the court when Garcia is the OPP. In the last point, when Yant served, Zaytsev needed to be back to maintain 3 local players on court.


    MB has been a problem for Lube in this season. I wonder who will be brought to Lube for next season. Zaytsev can help with reception, which is good, but it's difficult for him to maintain high level physically throughout 5 sets due to the age. On the other hand, the young OHs are too young, inconsistent but also normal.


    Both Garcia and Zaytsev have vaid contracts for next season, but I'm not sure if Lube will make a change. Zaytsev's contract is too expensive for Lube. Lube wanted to resolve the contract, but he doesn't want to leave. Garcia's performance is okay, but lacking court time isn't good for him, especially when he is aiming to represent USA attending Paris 2024.

    When the match progress was completely out of Perugia's favor (1. Leon was out of shape; 2. consistent, immense service pressure from opponents), I'm very surprised that Anastasi didn't send Herrera on court in set 2 when Piacenza closed the 5-point deficit. Apart from Leon, Herrera is the other player in the squad who has the capability of turning a match around, and it's been already proven this season. It's a normal decision for most coaches to start with Rychlicki considering that he's more consistent and makes less mistakes and there's already Leon in the starting lineup, but when a team as strong as Perugia is losing momentum to such an extent, maintaining consistency is no longer the top priority for the coach. To me, Anastasi lost this match without even trying.

    not to go against realista, that surely know a lot more than me, but Modena without Ngapeth is shit. If the turkish rumors are true Modena is in danger.