Posts by mdacs

Macris in. Roberta was painful to watch but I feel Macris is not ready to play yet.

Russia is serving really well.

I am super tense but this nonsensical timeout by Busato is making me laugh.

Roberta has to take a deep breath, she’s too nervous and it shows through her sets. Also, I think we should stop serving on Malova because Voronkova and Fedorovtseva are too relaxed in the game as they’re not being pressured in their worst skill.

Low sets only by Roberta. Just horrible. Hope she can overcome this throughout the game.

Too many serves on Malova and now the Russian wing spikers are confident. Not a good choice at all.

I can’t believe our strategy will be to serve on Malova

I'm going to share a potentially unpopular opinion about the planning of most European teams in important tournaments.

If we go back and look at the way European teams managed their presence in international competitions, we can see that they don't take it very seriously. During the past VNLs, we could watch several prospects being tested but NEVER making to the main roster. As a matter of example, look at the [countless] outside hitters we've watched from Turkey, Russia and Italy in these past years...

Also, we can see that European teams often rest players that, in my opinion, are not that good to be granted some sort of rest. What's the point of resting Egonu in important competitions such as the VNL? She's a 22-year-old girl who never won anything meaningful with the Italian NT. The result is this: she's used to winning matches of the European championship, playing well in a super team like Conegliano, but totally disconnected from her NT after a 3 months absence from actually playing. I won't even mention how crazy it is to rest players like Fahr, Danesi, Caterina, Pietrini... As a Brazilian, this is even crazier for me because I remember that Fabiana and Sheilla were first invited to the main NT in 2003 and got to rest in 2015 - after 12 years of service! They got to rest as established players, perhaps considered as the best in their positions.

I am saying all of this just to make a point: I don't see continuity in the work of most European teams, and teams are built through the years and not after training in a 3-month bubble.

Every year we get to see a completely different roster from most European teams... Players are invited and then disappear, many get to rest and then they are invited back out of nowhere. That's why I think the USA and Brazil, despite not having the best players individually, have always shown a more balanced game. This is the result of forcing their best players to participate in training and important competitions, and I think super young NTs such as Italy should adopt this strategy as well. Team building is not about taking players that did a great season and putting them together to train [and sometimes not even that], but it's about creating a team out of a roster.

I swear I have no favourites for this match. Right now, I just think the level isn't great and want a 3-0 because then I can get back to sleep before waking up again to watch Brazil vs ROC.

Egonu so far: 12/35 in attack and 9 errors. Malinov/Orro aren't great but not everything is their fault.

Quote from Let's go orange

If Folie is fit, she definitely will add the most of all the other middle blockers from Italy! Such a pity she is so injury prone

Agreed. But she shouldn't be there today considering that she's injured again. Mazzanti should have chosen a fourth OH instead.

Quote from Gomes

Egonu is a monster. Even Guidetti didnt find a solution to her. But she isnt doing great in Tokyo. But besides setter position Italy looks great in every other position.

In theory, yes, they look great in every position. But so far, Fahr and Danesi did nothing special and Caterina is too unstable. Perhaps we can say that only Pietrini and De Gennaro are delivering what's expected from them.

Whenever Maja tries something different with her OHs, it doesn't work. I don't judge her setting Boskoballs all the time.

Now that Serbia is leading 2-0, I wonder what will Mazzanti do with his 4 MBs - one that is always injured - and Sylla on the bench.

Italy is lost on court. Danesi's block is nowhere to be found. She can't let Orro alone to block Rasic.

Mazzanti really needs to stop asking for touch in these crazy attacks by Egonu. I think this is shaking her confidence as well, as it puts even more pressure on her and her mistakes.

At this point, we can all agree that skiping the VNL wasn't a smart option for any team. What a poor level from both sides - Boskovic is playing alone basically, and Italy is completely out of shape.

12 errors by Italy already. That's crazy.

Apparently Italy wants to let Boskovic to attack towards position 5 but they're giving her far too much space. There's like half meter etween Bosetti's block and the antena.

Egonu keeps asking for Mazzanti to challenge asking for touch.