Serbian Women's NT 2023

Quote from jelena

I’ve been reading this forum for months now, first time actually posting anything. (be nicee )

My opinion on the Santarelli-Guidetti saga: I think that Santarelli bet on his coaching ability and ultimately decided that all the extra work with Turkey is worth the bigger salary compared to the Serbian NT. And Serbian NT bet on their players. And I would agree more with them. I think that the coach doesn’t move the needle as much as the players do, but i guess that the verdict on that will be after the next summer.

On the fit of Guidetti and serbian players: I don’t personally think that there will be any problems. I think that the hierarchy is much clearer in the serbian squad. Giovanni's style of coaching is probably closer to Terzic, and the girls were doing great stuff in that system for years. People have been saying that he is a more negative coach than Santarelli, and I would agree and point out that there is no more negative coach than Terzic so I don’t think that there will be any problems on that end.

My only concern would be with how much he decides to play our current main roster(Boskovic, Drca, Busa, Lozo, Stevanovic). We saw the consequences of the turkish NT choices to almost exclusively play their main 6 in every tournament. By the end of each tournament, their most important players were injured or not in a good enough form physically. How much of this management was on Gio and how much was on the turkish federation i can’t decide.

I think that last year's VNL gave such a boost of confidence to the players and it gave a chance for Santarelli to get to know every girl on the roster except Tijana - which everyone knows what she brings to the team. For example, it gave a chance for Santarelli to know the condition of Brankica, which you remember was in the starting six first game of VNL, but was only used in certain situations by the end of VNL; using Aleksic for the whole summer but putting Popovic in the finals when Maja's form fell a bit off, and with Mina giving you a bit more experience. So I think that it would be a mistake to only bring young players to VNL 23 and expect him to know the main roster very well considering such small gaps between the tournaments to actually train with them. Maybe starting with the young roster and then, every other week putting in some more experienced players, and if we manage to go to the final week of VNL to play with the main roster.

But I agree that we don’t need to worry as much about losing ranking points as some other teams so maybe a young roster for the whole VNL is not such a bad idea.

Sorry for the long post.

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I love long posts ! Welcome

Quote from jelena

Maybe starting with the young roster and then, every other week putting in some more experienced players, and if we manage to go to the final week of VNL to play with the main roster.

But I agree that we don’t need to worry as much about losing ranking points as some other teams so maybe a young roster for the whole VNL is not such a bad idea.

Sorry for the long post.

Maybe he can use Lozo and Popovic for vnl finals.

And only fully rest Drca, Stevanovic, Busa, Boskovic, Pusic and Aleksic. Because Lozo dont play much in Japan.

Bogdan  Janko

Guys with jelena arrive, and 2 naturalized ones Madden54 and Olcay12 our gang now have our starting 6, we only need libero

Quote from volleySrb

Bogdan  Janko

Guys with jelena arrive, and 2 naturalized ones Madden54 and Olcay12 our gang now have our starting 6, we only need libero

We should organize a volleyball game against Turkish roster Altinli  denzz  taylor10  Meatballs  MTS

Now imagine the level of drama from this game 😂

Quote from volleySrb

Bogdan  Janko

Guys with jelena arrive, and 2 naturalized ones Madden54 and Olcay12 our gang now have our starting 6, we only need libero

dibs on opposite

Quote from serdar

We should organize a volleyball game against Turkish roster Altinli  denzz  taylor10  Meatballs  MTS

Now imagine the level of drama from this game 😂

And if we put Lavarini on bench, and you guys Akbas, at least 4 red cards would be guaranteed

Quote from volleySrb

Maybe he can use Lozo and Popovic for vnl finals.

And only fully rest Drca, Stevanovic, Busa, Boskovic, Pusic and Aleksic. Because Lozo dont play much in Japan.

Just look up the dates, the third week of VNL ends on 09.07. and the ECH starts on 15.08.
Which is not as small of a period as i thought. But if we play the finals week and we would have only 23.07. - 15.08. to train without counting the days for travel. I think it all depends on what they decide to do with the VNL, whether they are trying to be competitive and get to finals week or whether they want to put the development of the players as the main focus which we have been doing before.

Quote from jelena

Just look up the dates, the third week of VNL ends on 09.07. and the ECH starts on 15.08.
Which is not as small of a period as i thought. But if we play the finals week and we would have only 23.07. - 15.08. to train without counting the days for travel. I think it all depends on what they decide to do with the VNL, whether they are trying to be competitive and get to finals week or whether they want to put the development of the players as the main focus which we have been doing before.

VNL final are on 16.7

We have 1 month for ECH preparations. Perfect for 10 days at Kopaonik

Quote from volleySrb

VNL final are on 16.7

We have 1 month for ECH preparations. Perfect for 10 days at Kopaonik

my bad, i looked at the men's dates. It's not too bad then.

to Kopaonik

Welcome, Jelena! A great start to what will hopefully be a fruitful posting career here. Also like the avatar!

Speaking of, I see you have finally put the same one you have on the Site That Shall Not Be Named, Madden.

Quote from Janko

Welcome, Jelena! A great start to what will hopefully be a fruitful posting career here. Also like the avatar!

Speaking of, I see you have finally put the same one you have on the Site That Shall Not Be Named, Madden.

I sure did ! Haha. Wait do you read that site ?

Quote from Bogdan

more of us read that site

some show their true face there

oh yea avid is obnoxious on there with his agendas lol

Quote from serdar

We should organize a volleyball game against Turkish roster Altinli  denzz  taylor10  Meatballs  MTS

Now imagine the level of drama from this game 😂

Damn am I too late to post this?

Also

Gif*

Quote from denzz

Damn am I too late to post this?

Also

Gif*

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I don't know about the timing, but at least you are using that gif in an appropriate context, and that alone is a huge change of pace.

Quote from Janko

I don't know about the timing, but at least you are using that gif in an appropriate context, and that alone is a huge change of pace.

Oh I know my gifs and where to use them

*cough* unlike others *cough*

Okay so… if I were to make the team for the VNL 2023 with the younger players, here is who I would choose and why.

Setters

Andrea Tisma - I really like her the most of the younger setters that we have. Granted, I only watched her in u21 ECH when she was chosen for the best setter, and maybe that was her best, but I really liked her setting choices and she was pretty good at all other elements as well.

Aleksandra Cirovic

*Jaksic had a great VNL ‘21 but she was so bad last year that I honestly lost all hope in her abilities. She would need a lot of work.

Outside Hitters

Aleksandra Uzelac

Branka Tica

Jovana Mirosavljevic - I really like her energy on the court, I think she could fill Busa’s role in the future, solid reception and defense and capable in attack. Watched some of her matches in Romania and even if she isn't getting you points from attacks she does so many things on the court that it's hard to take her out.

*Is there another reception-focused OH? Kockarevic maybe, but I watched some of her games this season and there are times when she makes so many mistakes in a row, when she losses focus and her composure it doesn’t look good.

Middle Blockers

Mina Osmajic - Ana Malesevic

Bozica Markovic - Hena Kurtagic

Opposites

Tamara Miljevic - I love how she has been playing for Jedinstvo this season, so solid in all areas; it’s tough for me to say if it would translate on a higher level but I think she is very coachable and very good at using the block and hitting the cross court shot. I would much rather invite her over Vanja Savic (had a really bad VNL ‘21 + I don't really watch her during club season).

*Sara Caric - If she can stay healthy

*Jovana Zelenovic - she showed last summer in that match against Thailand that she can put up numbers, it’s just a matter of her conditioning which I think can only improve with Vanja Bankovic.

*Both Sara and Jovana have physical limitations, so I would invite the one in better condition

**It’s tough for me to leave out Taubner from the list, but I think she needs a club where she plays on a regular basis. In the last couple of matches she was very hot and cold, but if she were invited I wouldn’t be mad.

Liberos

Bojana Gocanin - I watched her in a game tent vs jedinstvo and she was so good in that game. I think she improved a lot, and the invitation last summer might help her adjust better if she was invited again, and she already played in VNL’21 so she isn’t completely new.

*Tijana Milojevic - I think her last season with CZ was much better than Djurdjevic this season. And she went to China, picked up some experience playing outside of Serbia and against a different style of volleyball.

*Pakic is also having a great season in Zeleznicar but I still see some stupid mistakes every match. I would say that Gocanin has a bit better reception (could be just the games that I watched), but in a year or two, she could be better than Gocanin. If she's invited over Milojevic I wouldn't be mad at all.

If I were choosing a team mixed with experienced and young players (while resting the most important players) I would choose:

S: Mirkovic, Cirovic

OH: Uzelac/Tica, Mirosavljevic, Lazovic, Milenkovic

MB: Kocic, Osmajic, Malesevic, Popovic/Aleksic

OPP: Bjelica, Miljevic/Zelenovic

L: Gocanin, Jegdic

I like to match up the strenghts and experience of players. For example, VNL’21 Lozo and Lazovic were starting every match, but toward the middle of the competition, Lozo was replaced with Mirosavljevic in the middle of every set - why? - because Lozo didn’t have good enough reception and defense to stay on the court with Lazovic who also has bad reception, even though she is better in attack than Mirosavljevic. Lazovic was the main scorer in that VNL'21 and Mirosavljevic was a better fit with her. So I would choose 1 young and 1 experienced player, or 2 attacking-minded players and 2 blocking/reception-minded players. This is just for fun, picking players that have more potential and playing them to improve and develop regardless of the results might be better in the long run.

Another long post...

Another great post!

Quote from jelena

If I were choosing a team mixed with experienced and young players (while resting the most important players) I would choose:

S: Mirkovic, Cirovic

OH: Uzelac/Tica, Mirosavljevic, Lazovic, Milenkovic

MB: Kocic, Osmajic, Malesevic, Popovic/Aleksic

OPP: Bjelica, Miljevic/Zelenovic

L: Gocanin, Jegdic

I like to match up the strenghts and experience of players. For example, VNL’21 Lozo and Lazovic were starting every match, but toward the middle of the competition, Lozo was replaced with Mirosavljevic in the middle of every set - why? - because Lozo didn’t have good enough reception and defense to stay on the court with Lazovic who also has bad reception, even though she is better in attack than Mirosavljevic. Lazovic was the main scorer in that VNL'21 and Mirosavljevic was a better fit with her. So I would choose 1 young and 1 experienced player, or 2 attacking-minded players and 2 blocking/reception-minded players. This is just for fun, picking players that have more potential and playing them to improve and develop regardless of the results might be better in the long run.

Another long post...

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I like your choices, particularly for OH. I would personally go for repeat of last year's VNL in letting Aleksic continue to rack up experience on the biggest stages (she showed very much that she is not among the very top of our roster in terms of dependability at WCH, so no need to rest her). Popovic is a known quantity, and you know exactly what you'll likely to get from her, in both good and bad ways. One of the main question marks is Lazovic. Two years ago she looked a clear-cut leader among all players younger than 1997. Last year, she was the player with the greatest regression (to the point that she looked to be absolute least useful member of WCH squad, even behind Jegdic).

As for bolded, I think that's exactly the right strategy, and why Uzelac and Tica MUST play the whole VNL, regardless of how the rest of the squad will look like.

Biggest problem of 2021 VNL was no ambitions, you cannot win games with Vladisavljev as a coach.

About Tisma, she have 2 competitions, WCH U21 and ECH U22 to gain more experience before senior NT. I like her dominant set damps, it look so powerful.

Yes, Tamara Miljevic deserve chance for at least one week, she is currently much better than Zelenovic, Jedinstvo lose title last season (one of the reason, other was Drca) because Jovo tried to make Zelenovic starter over night. Vanja Savic dont play at all this season, her best game was against Egypt at mediterranean games when she scored 34 points. But about Tamara, she is very athletic, only 182 but she played beach volley so she can jump very high.

Gocanin need chance with Jegdic in this VNL. Pakic playing really good, her biggest problem is pressure, but she is only 18. I would left her to play at WCH U21 over VNL this season.

I like your VNL roster.