Posts by side.out

    After ruining my afternoon watching my favourite football team, I decided to catch up with the matches of this round.


    Not much problem for Milano against Perugia, enjoying once again a nice contribution from Danesi on offence and from Kurtagić with blocking. Hopefully they'll have both Egonu and Pietrini back and from there work in order to be the main contender for Conegliano both in homesoil and abroad. Perugia is slowly getting better, Gardini and Németh led the charge but they're still not there for snatching points against better teams.


    Once again I want to praise Firenze and the performance they had. Surely they didn't play against the healthiest Novara, but still they made it competitive for most of the match. Pity that Malual and Nervini lowered their level in the final stage of the game, but they had to readjust to Agrifoglio and not having Davyskiba surely had its influence. For Novara, nice to see Fersino back and how the Alsmeier-Ishikawa duo is working. Nice job from Mims too, she's filling the role quite nicely.


    What a tremendous change of pace from UYBA, they're on a roll since the Caprara affair. I don't want to exaggerate, but this is possibly the most important win of all three. Surely you have to take advantage of a better team playing subpar against you, but today they managed to keep it together even when Pinerolo seemed to have gained the upper hand. Boldini better watch Scola for the starting role, good impact from Frosini too. Pinerolo is still not the team it was last season, but it's not like they're drifting away like Roma.


    Coming to the giallorosse, I'm starting to believe that such big changes from one year to another and adding an international competition for a quite thin roster weren't the right moves to do. Mirković is miles away from what Bechis was able to do last season and while Orvošová is doing her best, I'm afraid it won't be enough to stay in the top half of the standings. Crucial win for Cuneo, they could've managed the first set much better but from there they regrouped and left very little chances to the visitors. I know that Bjelica hasn't a lot of credit, but she's proving a solid option for a team that it wasn't even supposed to play in this category. Curious to see how Kapralova will develop too, the girl seems an interesting profile.


    Talmassons has clearly some problem with the broadcast from the gym, because most of the time seems to be unavailable. On the bright side, the team is more than alive and doing the impossible to make things hot in the bottom half of the standings. They still have to fully adjust mentally to the higher pace of Serie A1, but this is a team for real. Crossing my fingers for Eze too, she seems so promising. It was important for Chieri to bounce back after a bad loss, but they're still struggling a bit too much compared to the expectations.


    Struggle seems a word from the past in Bergamo, they basically matched the wins from the entire last season and they're looking good for a playoff apperance. Shocking start, but great recovery with Manfredini showing some goodies. Vallefoglia is unfortunately cementing as Scandicci of the midfield: lots of money and names, but little consistency.


    In the big match, I expected so much worse from Scandicci, but overall they handled themselves decently. Managing a roster like that is like playing Tetris, a bit more of consistencty from the OH unit would've come in handy but I don't think the result would've been much different. The duel between Haak and Antropova was great, Gabi is looking closer to her real level and Zhu Ting is still in her break-in fase. Man, if everything works out as planned Conegliano is scary...

    none win everyone lose in that scenerio lol

    Maybe, but the Eczacıbaşı-Bošković relationship is getting a bit stale and since they're rich, why not trying to make a clean break with the past and start a new cycle with Paola and a new coach? As I said, it's just a scenario, but it has its pros for all the sides involved.

    Trt reporter just shared on X that “Egonu is not happy at Vero Volley Milano and if she leaves near future, don’t be surprise”. I guess he knows something. Does she back to Türkiye?

    As little as social medias mean, she posted this today:

    . It's not the type of post a player wanting to get out would post to be honest.

    I expected something more from Vallefoglia, but I do understand that playing Conegliano slowly drain you as the match goes by. The starting six is most of the time a tough mountain to climb and in the rare case of struggling they almost can field two top teams in the same match.

    Each time Cekulaev makes an attack error due to bad setting I'm crying a little inside ;( I don't think I've seen one perfect slide set yet (but hey at least Ricci tries!) Her connection with Nemeth is great tho, someone is clearly carrying the team :flower:

    Németh and (offensively) Ungureanu are trying to make Pinerolo regretting let them go. :rolll:

    They should sign a better setter and someone who can actually pass. It’s pointless to have attacking MBs like Cekulaev and Gryka, when there is no reception.

    Traballi might be an internal solution that can save some money. The pairing of Gardini and Ungureanu is suicidal at the moment. At setter, maybe they can bet on some NCAA prospect, but with the new American leagues I doubt many youngsters will come to Europe.

    can they fire the coach already? It is a waste season for Gryka, would be better to leave the team.

    I don't think it's just a coach problem. Yes, they can try to field Traballi a bit more and let Gryka have some more plays, but overall they will be more or less at the same point. By the way, who can they possibly get? Big names like Zé Roberto or Antiga are clearly unavailable.

    Right now, I don't think anyone has described yet what's the interpretation of FIVB rules is. You may be right that currently NT eligibility and sports federation may be a different thing, that's why Podrascanin could've done it, who knows. But it's besides what FIVB rules say: as they are very clear that to change your federation of origins (sports federation) you cannot be a former NT player. But it is so vaguely described that yeah, they could've created a 'liberal' interpretation, in this sense you may be right.

    Podraščanin became an effective Italian citizen in 2022: https://www.legavolley.it/2022…-oggi-in-comune-a-trento/. I don't know if holding a dual citizenship may be a factor in playing as a local in the league and still maintaining NT eligibility, but maybe it can be helpful to unravel the topic.


    Or maybe I just did a Scandicci and made it even messier... :rolll:

    I'm quite sure many people in Scandicci are regretting Antiga's sacking. Not that he could've done something about the stupid building of the roster, but surely he would've avoided the mess I'm seeing right now... I was expecting the storm hitting Scandicci and Gaspari, but after just one match is so... Scandicci.

    Perugia should build on the performance in second and fourth set, that's the way to snatch fundamental points in the race to survival. It's true that Chieri gave up a lot, but you have to be ready to take advantage. Traballi was a game changer too, she put some serious question marks on Chieri's block-defence (until her entrance they were almost perfect in that department). Chemistry between MB and van Aalen isn't there yet, but the team is competitive and in a knockout match can make an upset.


    Speaking of taking advantage, Firenze is lowkey enjoying a great start of the season. Sweeping a solid team like Pinerolo isn't trivial and I like how most of their starters are young Italians. Good to see Nervini getting more and more playtime and Malual more and more confidence. On the other side of the net, not the Pinelle we were used to see, but on the bright side Bracchi seems to be more involved.


    Novara beat Roma in straight sets and apart from the start, when they made way too many errors, they cruised through the match without much struggle. At the moment the trio of Tolok, Ishikawa and Alsmeier is working great, I wonder if they will keep it once Akimova is fully recovered.