Italian Women's NT 2023

    On the sidelines of the Fipav meeting with the Pope, Mazzanti spoke of Egonu's return to the national team.


    https://www.rainews.it/articol…fc-be7a-cfaa2a04bc79.html


    "Egonu? It will be a knot that we will untie later. There is an agreement not to talk about the list of athletes. Everything that comes out will be known in May"


    A very ambiguous sentence, but which confirms that there is a problem with Egonu and that the doubt will not be resolved before May.

    Quote from Colinaddicted

    i read the news that Paola is gonna make some statements regarding her availability to NT during Sanremo.

    Mazzanti clearly speaks of an "agreement" not to talk about the issue until May.

    If Egonu says something in San Remo, she clearly breaks the "agreement".

    I do not know what to say...

    It looks more like a soap opera than a volleyball question...

    Egonu is not italian, huh? Let's see what Italy what can do without Egonu. She's the main reason why Italy is back as title contender.

    Every country has bigoted racist people, let's not generalize it as common opinion of all Italians.

    Chirichella underrated :rolll:


    Someone here said a while ago that she is not as bad as people make her up to be, which I think is fair. But in no way is she underrated, she seems to always be a starter wherever she goes, NT as well, even became captain magically :cheesy: But her performance rarely shows greatness that her role suggests, she rarely seems to outperform the people that bench for her, certainly not enough where it justifies her continuous starter position.


    She is overly criticized because she is so average and overrated. Even in the U tournaments I remember her being worse than some Turkish mediocre MBs which shows how much chances she's been given and how much she has improved, which is great, however those chances simply could have been given to other, more talented players as well imo. There certainly is no scarcity in Italy for MBs.

    The biggest strength of Chirichella is probably the versatility of her game. She can hit in front of the setter and more importantly, she can run a slide that most other Italian MBs can’t. That gives her an advantage to be one of the starters in the NT & Novara for nearly the whole decade(!) even though she is often considered not the best MB out there.


    Her block isn’t the best but not the worst either among Italian MBs. She could block the best Zhu at her good days but sometimes not even able to touch the ball.


    Her versatility to fit in any system in her biggest strength but also her biggest weakness. She can do everything better than average, but can do none of those everything at the best level among world class MBs.

    Quote from user

    however those chances simply could have been given to other, more talented players as well imo. There certainly is no scarcity in Italy for MBs.

    I don't think so. There are only two Italian MBs who could do slide in NT these few years, one is Chirichella and the other is Lubian. That's her advantage to be a starter in NT with her other skills, simply not enough strong competitors. Most of the Italian MBs can't run slide attack unfortunately.

    Quote from Colinaddicted

    I don't think so. There are only two Italian MBs who could do slide in NT these few years, one is Chirichella and the other is Lubian. That's her advantage to be a starter in NT with her other skills, simply not enough strong competitors. Most of the Italian MBs can't run slide attack unfortunately.

    With such as strong OPP as Egonu who can literally can attack the ball from every position, the slide is not needed. On top of that if they add Antropova to the mix, I cannot think of a logical reason why Mazantti would choose Chirichella over Lubian, Danesi, Squarcini, and Fahr. Even Bonifacio, Grazziani and Nwakalor are better options.

    Quote from Andreavillar

    With such as strong OPP as Egonu who can literally can attack the ball from every position, the slide is not needed. On top of that if they add Antropova to the mix, I cannot think of a logical reason why Mazantti would choose Chirichella over Lubian, Danesi, Squarcini, and Fahr. Even Bonifacio, Grazziani and Nwakalor are better options.

    Italy is bless to have so many option for MBs….


    On another hand setter position….

    Quote from Andreavillar

    With such as strong OPP as Egonu who can literally can attack the ball from every position, the slide is not needed. On top of that if they add Antropova to the mix, I cannot think of a logical reason why Mazantti would choose Chirichella over Lubian, Danesi, Squarcini, and Fahr. Even Bonifacio, Grazziani and Nwakalor are better options.

    well, Squaricini is too short for international level and Fahr suffered two ACL her journey back to NT is still long . Graziani and Nwakalor are still newbies.


    As for the "the slide is not needed", I disagree based on strategic reason. Not to mention Paola's attacking from backrow is not as strong as it used to be.


    BTW, Paola can't hit from zone 4 now but that's off topic.

    How many times have Sqaurcini prove herself and you guys are still saying that She doesn’t have hight for international level.


    If She is not good for international level She would be in Conegliano first of all.