hernandez is criticised for not rotating the team almost not at all. He seems to lack balls to sub the captain ilkin even when she get blocked ten times during a bad set. She rarely uses his third oh which is quite on par with the other two. The team is great if he built it with visible limits and flaws and sthrengths.
akbaş is called for his inability to bring the best or even average self of many good players and suspected of having ineffective training sessions especially because of having the worst block-defence and serve among top teams.
fenolio just cost fener an easy but probably very important set in Champions League against vasas. The first game i mean where he just went full rotation while every point and set counts cuz of the quarter final match ups. He started well, having creative plays like slides by Ana. But he rarely used stysiak and other subs even in landslide league games which proved costly when vargas injured. Noone was ready to step up and fener including ana c looked just a random team without vargas. Sweep against zeren didnt help. Noone sees a coach’s touch yet.
i hope this helps
edit: most turkish fans on social media are teenage keyboard warriors too!
Finally it is so nice to see someone talking about Hernandez, İlkin and Galatasaray. I agree and disagree with some of your comments. I agree that Hernandez is not in favor of doing rotations frequently but I disagree that it is because of not having nuts or balls against İlkin. It is because of having all line up 6+libero, all as the key players and having a target to be in top 4, do not give him that luxury to test the others during the league competition.
İlkin surely one of the key players of the roster, the captain and becoming a symbol for not only the team but also for the club, but it is not only that, she is the one, who pushed the management to restructure a new team of this year. However, she is not untouchable and should be subbed from time to time in order to take a breath. Another reality is that, she is the best complete OH in the team and at least one of the best complete local OH at reception, at attack and floor defense. In the past, Hernandez tried to make some rotations between Kalandadze and Lazovic Dangubic but didn't work as expected. Meaning that, at least it was not fruitful. Giving an example on İlkin's performance that she was blocked 10 times but not subbed, is totally misleading. This happened twice, once in Aydın, blocked 7 times, which was a nightmare for her and for the team but at the same time, it was not her fault only but the lack of coordination between Bongaerts and also Berka Buse Özden's excellent performance at blocking defense. Similar thing happened to İlkin at Eczacıbaşı match in the 2nd set with 4 blocks back to back by Elif and 1 error, but in 1st, 3rd and 4th set, she was stunning. If she was subbed after the 2nd set, who knows what would happen. So being a key player like her and Timmerman is important, especially for critical moments. Have in mind that, Galatasaray lost 3 matches, during the absence of Timmerman.
Vice president Cibara announced that, they are interested and negotiating with one player but we don't know yet, for which position or who... My opinion is that, definitely it should be for OPP, since that is the weakest point of the team and Yasemin Özel cannot take that responsibility to carry the team due to any possible injury or lack of performance of Alexia. Thanks god, she is doing well so far...
Another point which I disagree (knowing that this is not your comment), labelling Galatasaray as a mid level team is truly funny. Galatasaray is the club, who brought volleyball to country in 1922 and since then, chasing the cups and winning some or qualifying to finals and semifinals many times in national and international competitions incuding Champions League and CEV Cup. Comparing with THY or others is really funny. As a fan of this team, I respect Vakıf, Eczacı or Fener, for winning many titles at national and international competitions and contributing to Turkish Volleyball a lot but this doesn't mean Galatasaray is a mid level team. If not convinced by the history, just look at the present. Who knows, maybe 3rd maybe 5th depending on the last match on Sunday for the 1st half. Girls in starting 6 are shining various NT players, except Eylül and if she keeps up this shape, she will be the new libero in the new NT season.
I totally agree with serdar. Some people (not all) just talk, talk ,talk without knowing the Turkish League and Turkish Volleyball. I recommend them to make a bit drill down checks before making any general comments about our volleyball.
By the way, last night Galatasaray reached up to quarter final at CEV Challenge Cup with the bench team. İlkin and Bongaerts were not in starting line up-starting 6 and after the 2nd set, whole bench came in and won 3-0. Kalandadze was a monster. Whole team was rotated and Hernandez was so happy. It seems like, the bench is working hard to grasp the jersey and hoping to see more rotations in the 2nd half.
One more and important point I agree with you is "Most fans on social media are teenage warriors" but not Turkish fans only. It is the same in everywhere.I wish, you could follow the forum of Galatasaray. Some of those warriors and trolls tried to penetrate it but soon been noticed and passivated. Anyone can be critisized but not in a harsh way as it is in X or instagram, but the way we do decendly in forum and discuss everything and exchange ideas.
This is all about the team so far! Sorry for keeping it long again but hope it is informative and don't know when I will be back again...