Posts by Planti

Hello!

I believe most of us have ever thought at least for once: Why there isn't any decent volleyball game? I'd buy and play one.

EA Sports was asked about it a few times, answering there's not an Indoor Volleyball game planned.

The reason might be the market of the volleyball, still too small to invest money in creating something brand new.

However, is it really true?

I can't believe there would be vastly more NHLs or NFLs sold in a year than a brand new, professional volleyball game. As long as American football and hockey market is based in USA and Canada, mostly - the volleyball market is world wide.

Volleyball is hell of a popular in Brazil, Poland and Italy, more and more popular in Russia, Turkey, Germany, France, Argentina or Australia, USA and Canada. Iranian society loves volleyball. Due to drafts and foreign players, there are a lot of new fans in Korea, Japan and China. There's a lot of countries all around the world that would be interested in a game of this type.

And to be fair, it could involve only 5-6 strongest leauges in the world and it would be perfectly fine for the start (Italian, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Brazilian, German or French, maybe some Asian leauges) + national teams involved in the VNL.

Adding the possibility of creating your own club, adding it to any leauge and the feauture of making transfers would surely be tempting for the players, too.

I know creating a realistic, dynamic volleyball game might not be easy but doing something better than "Spike Volleyball" shouldn't be that hard for the studio like EA.

I'm wondering, what EA has against the volleyball game because I'm pretty sure, if decent, it would sell out just fine.

What do you guys think?

Is Nimir's deal with Trentino a fact or it's not going to happen due to financial crisis among Italian teams?

Despite the fact of COVID, Italian teams seem to still signing up a lot of very good, good or decent players.

Maybe they will still be able to get him signed up and complete an impressive roster (with Giannelli, Lisinac, Podrascanin, Lucarelli and others).

Quote from Umu11

I believe both Anderson and Holt can play one more Olympics, why do you think this is their last one?

Anderson is going to be 37 years old during Olympics in Paris. The same as Holt. David Smith is going to be 39. Kawika Shoji is going to be 36. Muagututia will be 36. Erik Shoji is going to be 34. McDonnell will be 35. Watten is going to be 38. All Christenson, Sander, Russell, Jaeschke are going to be 30+.

So, yeah, I assume Tokyo might be their last shot with this extremely talented roster.

Anyone heard anything about Matthew Anderson? Many sources bring up he already parted his way with Modena but anything about his future club?

Is it going to be 100% Asia? I can imagine Olympics 2021 will be his last. A few American players are going to play their last Olympics (Anderson, Smith, Holt, Kawika Shoji) so I assume they're going for their last shot. It would be better for his performance if he still played on the highest level. After Olympics, he would easily find a job in Asia to make some money before retiring.

Anyone has any rumours or knowledge about where Aaron Russell might be going to?

We all have heard rumours about joining Piacenza but the topic quieted down a bit.

As a Polish fan of volleyball, I'd count on Verva Warszawa go for him (because they lost Tillie this off-season).

He would make a very good offensive-defensive pair of receivers with Kwolek but his contract would have to be really high, I believe.

But if Skra Bełchatów was able to sign T. Sander, who knows.

Quote from voulter

They already signed with Lucarelli for the OH spot, and there are rumors about them trying to sign with Podrascanin for second MB, if they get Rossini with Kooy and Giannelli they can have two foreigner MB.

Lisinac, Podrascanin, Nimir and Lucarelli sounds like a louded gun - I assume they'll use Kooy as a back-up, focused mostly on accurate and reliable passing?

I hope he'd manage to perform well, then. I've always considered him as a very average player, to be honest.

As long as it's said all Russell (Piacenza), Kovacevic (is going to play in China) and Cebulj (maybe going to play in Poland?) are going to leave Trentino, anyone knows what wide-receiver's core they're going to go with? I think the crucial aspect will be the libero position. I've heard both rumors they are going to sign Salvatore Rossini or Santiago Danani (Argentina).

Their line-up might be: Giannelli, Nimir, Lisinac, Candellaro/Polo (whoever it'll be, Italian for sure), Lucarelli, Kooy and Rossini/Danani.

If they go for Rossini, they'll still able to have a foreign player as the second WR. Is Danani worth playing with Kooy? I'm not really familiar with Danani's skill.

I know Kooy had a decent season but is he really good enough to play in "new Trentino"?

Volleyball and steady, reliable sponsorships aren't always really common, many clubs are going to meet terrible financial crisises due to COVID and the transfer market is still probably going to surprise us a few times this year but what do you guys think about Zenit SP's project? They are probably going to have the unlimited budget as long as they're supported by Gazprom so their next season's line-up is really impressive, isn't it? Pity they are not going to play in Champions Leauge but I can imagine they might be one of the best clubs in the world, really!

Their line-up might be looking like that:

Setter: Brizard, Kovalev (both tall, all-around players with good serve and blocking)

Middle-blocker: Iakovlev, Pashytskiy, Phillipov (in my opinion, the best MB core in the leauge, easily)

Opposite: Poletaev, Podrebinkin (if healthy, Poletaev is the best opposite in the leauge)

Wide-receiver: Kliuka, Camejo, Ursov (I imagine they might have some receiving problems but the offensive power is unlimited here)

Libero: Melkozerov, Andreev (Melkozerov was one of the best liberos in the leauge last season, the future of this position for Russian NT, for sure).

Quote from saishuu

It seems Lucarelli in Trento is a done deal.

https://webvolei.com.br/2020/0…no-para-voltar-a-brilhar/

It looks like we'll FINALLY see him playing in Europe! I've read about 2-year deal and let's hope that's true!

I believe he's adding a new, much needed quality to Trento's roster!

According to Gian Luca Pasini's blog and the fact season in Japan is over, Michał Kubiak is expected to wear Modena shirt just in a few days from now on.

I think everyone is more than happy to see him finally playing in Europe but to be fair, I can't see him instantly benching Anderson or Bednorz

and we all know he's not the one who would love to sit on the bench himself.

Earvin Ngapeth announced on his Instagram, he signed a contract for next year with Zenit Kazan.

Quote from inc0gnito

Teams ranked from 1st to 8th will play in QF. Then, if teams manage to win 1 match each (home and away match), golden set will be played to determine the winner

Then indeed, almost anything can happen in Russian leauge this season. I imagine Zenit Kazan will take a spot on a podium and guarantee the place in next CL edition but the other places? Lokomotiv, Dynamo, Kuzbass, Fakel, Zenit St. Petersburg? I have no idea, how it all ends up.

That's why most of the teams will look for new players when they finally find out what they are playing for in next season, might be a few late transfers in Russia this year, then.

Quote from inc0gnito

Too bad Sokolov didn't sign with Lokomotiv, as it was reported he was offered a huge contract. Moscow could have re-signed Sander, as he was originally to play for them before the injury. I still hope Ngapeth stays in Kazan.

Both Dinamo and Lokomotiv are about to face the very same problem - aging opposite-spikers (Lokomotiv is indeed in worse situation because both Bakun and Kruglov are 1985). If the rumour is true, Moscow surely paid Sokolov more but what I think is also true - Lokomotiv is pleased with having Drzyzga-Ivović as foreign players.

Well, this season more than ever is hard to predict which clubs from Russia are going to play in Champions Leauge next season, so I think clubs like Dynamo, Fakel, Kuzbass or Lokomotiv, which have a real chance to play in CL but you never know if Zenits aren't going to come back to their form in playoffs, are rather cautious when it comes to spending money for next season squads.

Let's hope Taylor Sander doesn't decide to "take a break" after the injury and go play somewhere in Asia or Brazil/Argentina to build his form. He's also aging and I feel like he still has something to do in European club volleyball.

By the way, are playoffs in Russia played by 1-8 or 1-4 standings?

According to Gian Luca Pasini's website, Tsvetan Sokolov already signed up with Dinamo Moscow.

Stephan Maar is going to leave the club after the season and Sokolov will be paired with Deroo as foreigners in Moscow.

It's pretty obvious Mikhaylov will once again play as an opposite spiker and Zenit Kazan will need a world class receiver next season - option with Bednorz seems more and more legit. The question is, will Ngapeth come back to Modena, then? If yes, I can see Bednorz and Volkov playing for Zenit next season.

The other world class wide-receiver in the market will be Taylor Sander, coming back from injury. We will see which club is going to sign up for him.

If the rule about 1 available naturalized player in the National Team on Olympics is true, it seems about right.

If healthy, it's going to be Kliuka, 100%.

As long as Iakovlev and Kurkaev are going to be starters, they don't need Muserskiy that bad.

What's more, there's not a significant difference between Butko and Kovalev/Kobzar/Pankov/Poroshin this season.

Kovalev and Kobzar were both the most important setters for Russia in 2019, so I think they're both going.

Quote from Umu11

I thought since Muserskiy is also neutralized player, you cannot have another one.

If so, neither Muserskiy or Camejo are going because Egor Kliuka is from Belarus - he received Russian citizenship in 2014.

Is Oreol Camejo available for Russia National Team for the Olympics? If yes, he's 100% going as 3rd wide-receiver (after Volkov and Kliuka) - 4th receiver will be Podlesnykh, in my opinion, because he's a hybrid like Volkov. Coaches right now build teams having offensive-defensive wide-receiver. In my opinion, it would be Volkov-Kliuka and Podlesnykh-Camejo.

My today's roster for Olympics:

Setter: Kovalev/Kobzar

Opposite: Poletaev/Mikhaylov

Middle-blocker: Yakovlev, Kurkaev, Muserskiy

Wide-receiver: Volkov, Kliuka, Camejo, Podlesnykh

Libero: Golubev (or Kabeshov)

On paper, they really look like an all-around, powerful and quality team. My prediction: bronze medal.

Quote from Umu11

Where does Drazen Lubiric play? Google suggests he is out of club. Any reason?

He's currently playing in Belogorie Belgorod (Russia). Doing decent.

Yes, I totally agree with the statement Maxim looks pretty average playing as OH.

With all due respect to Alekhno-Verbov duo, the risky decision of playing in combination of 2 opposites and one OH (Maxim does receive but, you know...)

doesn't pay off for them - alright, they might win some most recent games (vs Zenith or Dinamo Moscow) but still, I think it will be really difficult for them to win a throphy (Russian Championship or Champions Leauge Title) in the end of the season.

Alekhno once said, they had an option to contract Volkov a few years ago but they had Leon-Anderson pair so Volkov might play just not enough to properly develop which might affect Russian NT negatively. So, I imagine, he's pretty available for them - if they want it "bad" enough.

The transfer window before 19/20 season looked really impressive but honestly, the up-coming window might even beat the previous one! I feel like, more than ever, transfers of one club depend on transfers of the other one.

Well, without any doubt, Olympics are the most important competition for most atheles, inculding volleyball players and no one wants to change the environment drastically before the Olympic season but after Olympics, I think more players, especially from "exotic" countries might want to come to Europe.

I believe Michał Kubiak is finally going to play in Europe after the Olympics before that's the event he might make him feel "fulfilled". What's more, maybe Lucarelli will finally take a brave step after Olympics and will be a great addition to European club rivaly.

What do you guys think about Zenit St. Petersburg's project for 2020/2021 season?

According to most recent rumours and plans (Gian Luca Pasini talks about it a lot), as long as Oreol Camejo is going to play as a native Russian, Georg Grozer most likely leaving the club, Gazprom ready to invest massive money in, the team looks impressive on paper so far.

Brizard bringing in flair which usually Russian teams lack, Poletaev, if healthy, being a one-man-army, a pair of solid, national level middle-blockers (Philippov-Iakovlev) and ultra-offensive pair of receivers - Camejo-Kliuka backed-up with Grebennikov's magic? Looks like a decent-balanced dominant forced to me.

Do you think Dmitriy Volkov is going to finally leave Fakel if Kliuka does? They play with each other for quite long but it seems to come to an end, though.

If Zenit Kazan is really going to let Sokolov go after the season, Mikhaylov get back to play as an opposite, if Earvin is really going to leave the club, they could use Volkov's quality (even paired with Bednorz would look impressive and well-balanced).

Well, there are rumours about Lucarelli finally playing in Europe. Pasini informed us about the bid from Moscow, involving 1,000,000$. I believe, if Kazan is ready to pay Bednorz 900,000$, they could easily pay Lucarelli a 100,000$ more, too. The question is, if he's mentally finally "ready" to play in Europe.

Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia) posted on their official Instagram account 2 hours ago a very interesting graphic.

It meant to be an introducing of the top scorer of Zenit's bronze medal matches opponent - Fakel Novy Urengoy - Egor Kliuka.

In my opinion, it looks more than random and awkward. I think it's a tricky way to announce the transfer unofficially for Zenit St. Petersburg (especially if Divis is really leaving the club).

We shall see, I guess.