Posts by Janko

Quote from Let's go orange

Serbia

- Ognjenovic still had a baby face back then

She totally did! And to think she was 27 and had been playing for NT for almost a decade by that point!

Quote from Let's go orange

- Brakocevic didn't play a good match. I never noticed she was so slow in defence Curious why she won the MVP award in the end?

She had a flu for semi and final, and she played those matches subpar (particularly final) but was a world-beater up until then. She got it on the basis of that (and it would be unfair to give MVP award to Malagurski just for being the best player in the final match).

With Hill and Kruijf confirmed to stay, have all important players from last season stayed in Conegliano except Ogbogu (who was only 6th or 7th most important)?

This canard about Brakocevic and her not being able to play for Serbia was a favourite peddle of pope's, and no matter how many times he was shown to be inaccurate, he would always come back later to claim it again. As people said, her taking citizenship was solely done for club purposes (plus, she kinda had to take the citizenship anyway, marrying an Italian national and all that), as is the case of vast majority of dual citizenship cases. People on sport forums such as these inevitable get all excited whenever any half-decent player takes a second citizenship, but in 9 cases out of 10, that step has nothing to do with NT.

Depending on how much Ze is drunk on his Golden Gals Kool-Aid in a year's time, there could be quite a few of Brazilian players playing their 4th Olympics (plus Fabiana at 5). But which non-Brazilian players are, barring injury, sure to play their 4th or even 5th Olympics in Tokyo? Maja, Stefana and who else?

Is she the only one to play on 5 OGs? Or are there any others?

Probably haven't yet tested her?

Just so we are clear, if you two continue with this bickering, you'll both be banned for a week (don't say we haven't warned you).

I agree completely, serdar!

Btw, even though I have quick internet, it's a pain in the ass to load a page with this many links to instagram.

Quote from Bogdan123

Maja Aleksic unfortunately staying in Alba Blaj for one more year (she signed 3 year contract in 2018), i said unfortunately, because she is one the best and one of the most promising MB of the younger generations (especially in blocking, but also in attack could be efficient), but also she "already" have 23 yo and i think that now is right time to take a step forward and begin to play in Seria A for example, altough i think that staying in Alba Blaj for one more year definetely influence her not to play in the Olympics next year, except if Terzic choose to pick up 4 middles.

I agree. The only way (realistic, since taking 4 MBs is not so realistic) for Aleksic to go to Tokyo is if one of Milena, Stefana or Mina get injured.

Not to mention the star-studded 2016-2017 squad, perhaps on paper the greatest one Vitra ever had...a flop.

But I think it all comes down, basically, to structural and coaching advantages Vakif has built over the years. An extremely capable and attentive management, in combination with a coaching by someone who is not only a tactical genius, but is capable of extremely thorough long-term planning and developing (AND he is then able to put those plans in motion by being allowed to manage the club for many years) are much, much more important than the volleyball skills of the players that Vakifbank fields in any particular year.

As everyone said, totally unnecessary on almost every level imaginable. More teams exactly when there are economic difficulties to be expected, plus not increasing the number of foreigners plus not all that great a pool of quality local players only means there will be even more "empty walks", ie. absolutely meaningless matches where it will be a tedious process for everyone involved to get through it (including fans), and even more exhausting key players through ever-increased schedule (both club and NT).

I don't know, maybe he didn't felt comfortable away from home, and that impacted negatively on his job...whatever the cause, you could see him squandering arguably the strongest (on paper) squad Eczacibasi has had in the last decade or so. To be fair, that squad, no matter how strong on paper, had some serious problems in the way it was constructed (due to poor reception and to the foreigners rule), but he was still visibly incompetent.

I am not at all surprised about that. Can you guys believe that Barbolini was so godawful on every level that I was overjoyed when he got replaced by Motta...

Ognjenovic is a master-class and wizard on court, but she is not a miracle worker. There's a limit to what she can achieve, and that limit was reached in Moscow. Blaming her for the team not making more success is all kinds of ridiculous.

Quote from TTSGB

I think Carlini is one of the best transfer in Turkish League and best foreign transfer for THY. Her sets are fit for Ebrar. She probably will hit more comfortable than Cansu sets. In Vakifbank she was getting awful sets from her and most of what she gets were out of the system. I'm sure that Carlini will do much better what did Ozge last season, except her defence. She was like a libero.

Maybe THY can't deal with Vakifbank in league (TBH nobody can) but they can push Eczacibasi and Fenerbahçe.

Carlini-Ebrar combination is potentially really deadly, and as much as I perpetually deprecate Motta's skills and Eczacibasi's transfer performance, I really don't think THY can do that.

Quote from Ksenia

I really want to ask you this. did you live in 1960 ? can you enlighten us? thank you in advance. We used to play old school volleyball because of the height of players. Now Parubets, Romanova and etc players play very fast v-ball.

ghost ship league ? well, the players from this league won gold medals of WCCH twice in a row, won the gold medals of ECH twice in a row, plus silver medals of OGs, and many players including Kosheleva, Gamova, Goncharova, Sokolova, Artamanova, Parubets etc players came to volleyball's world from this ghost ship league and they improved their skills in this ghost ship league unfortunately. Malykh won cev and challenge cup with russian clubs with limited number of foreign players or let's say with local players.

that D.Moscow last year defeated Vakifbank, if you still remember that game. At the end of the day, I have to this conclusion, it's time for me to leave this forum too.

Don't take it to heart. QLP used that hyperbole as a shorthand for "old school volleyball", something you yourself seem to acknowledge Russian league was known for. I'm afraid the reputation stuck, and the successes of Russian NT and Russian clubs in the last decade notwithstanding, it's not like that reputation is completely without merit. That old school style can still achieve some level of success in modern volleyball, especially when carried by such talents as Goncharova and Kosheleva (at her height). Doesn't mean there aren't some intrinsic flaws and drawbacks to that style (including aesthetic appeal).

Quote from Asierthom

Carlini was starter in Novara, only in some matches got benched in the last 1 or 2 sets. Also Ognjenovic was benched in Vakifbank. Is she an average setter?

Don't be surprised if he answers in the affirmative.

Also, what makes you (crovolley) think Carlini doesn't have a spot in NT?

Also, criticising Carlini for not setting middles in the presence of Egonu while singing praises for Malinov who doesn't set for middles in the big NT matches any more than Carlini does (indeed, maybe even less) is the height of hypocrisy, even for your standards.

Quote from mdacs

But what to expect of a US setter who plays in a crazy fast system in the Russian league? She had no fast attackers to set. I think she can do better than Gamze - and probably at a cheap cost after a bad season in Moscow.

Exactly. Going to Russia was perhaps the single worst professional decision Carlini could have done, and she is one of the few players who can call themselves truly lucky to have the Games postponed, because she has the chance not to suffer for that blunder. Only someone who doesn't know all that much about volleyball would judge her abilities based on her play with Dynamo during this past season.

Believe it or not, it began as part of the discussion who should be the new setter for Vitra...

On the other hand, considering there is no volleyball now, and by its nature, this thread is most prone to off-topic meanderings, it's understandable that the topic goes off on a particular trail from time to time, as long as it does not go too long (which this one probably has).