Volleyball: Lelu Ojansivut full wing to Joel Banks

Finnish continues with a clean game at the top of its group in the European Volleyball Men’s Championship with only one match remaining.

On Tuesday, it overthrew Finland’s former head coach in a thrilling five-set thriller Joel Banksin to pilot Holland. Finland’s game did not go the same way as in previous games, but they fought to take home the victory by force.

“It was a difficult day. First he didn’t go, then he left, then he didn’t go again and finally he left. This was proof that in this tournament there are teams other than Finland who know how to play volleyball. It’s not always easy to win then,” Sanoma’s expert Olli-Pekka “Lelu” Ojansivu says.

Ojansivu has never been one of Banks’ biggest admirers. When the Briton was still coaching Finland, the former national team hacker called him, among other things, a “pub coach”.

The admiration still doesn’t go away. The Netherlands have surprisingly lost all their matches in the tournament.

“Lots of talk and few results. That’s what I remembered about his time at the helm of Finland,” summarizes Ojansivu.

“I’ve talked about this with other players. We played, after all Mauro Berrutolle [toinen ex-valmentaja]and now the guys are playing for Kunnar. But when Banks coached the Finnish national team, he wasn’t really played.”

Ojansivu according to Banks gives overly technical instructions during the matches.

“He could give advice during the game about some batting position and give such really technical instructions anyway. You can’t give such instructions during the game”, nobody is able to register them at that moment.

Banks’ beginning as Finland’s head coach was miserable at the time. Finland lost its first 18 matches under British command. In two European Championships, he managed to secure a further place in the group, but in the third he was no longer successful.

“18 games is such a long streak that you should win one game even by accident.”

Finland also had problems in bringing down big countries. In four years, it only beat a top 20 team in the world ranking three times and a top 15 team once. Finland never won a top-10 team.

Now Olli Kunnarin Finland, led by

“There weren’t really any big wins there. If you think about Olli’s team, those statistics are pretty much duller.”

When Holland is now out of the playoffs with four losses, Ojansivu repeats his previous characterization.

“A lot of talk, little results.”

Of everything despite this, Finland was occasionally in big trouble with Banks’ Holland. According to Ojansivu, the decisive thing was that Kunnari gave the team the number one star Luka Marttilan continues on the court, even though the opening set was difficult for him.

“It was a great solution. A young superstar has to learn to survive on the field even in difficult games. Kunnari kept him on the field, and in the end he really delivered.”

Marttila was Finland’s number one forward with 22 points.

A great chipper who played in the tournament before this one Joonas Jokela instead, he had to be substituted when the game didn’t go any way. The 22-year-old who replaced him Veikka Lindqvist worked out great.

“Great game from Veika. Good entry and important minutes for the rest of the season. There will be a lot of games, and no team can play with the same six for the entire tournament. He played really well.”

In Ojansivu’s opinion, playing such a difficult match was important for the continuation of the tournament.

“When the game is not going well, you just have to drill. And that’s what Finland did.”

Finland leads its group with a clean game. In its last group game, it will face Estonia on Thursday in Tampere.