PDC World Championship 2014

ScummyMan

Great darts from Cavan.

Necro

Easily the best game of the tournament so far. Hopefully this standard continues after a few awful days. I'm beginning to hate the crowd more and more every passing day, majority have no interest in the darts at all!

Will I Amnt

Just a little lack of consistency there from Caven. The definition of a purple patch player. Played some amazing legs coupled with some very patchy ones as opposed to Barney who was at more or less the same level throughout.

ScummyMan

"Yayayayayayaya toure" FCUK OFF

Kingp35

Smith sticking with Taylor, hopefully he can keep this up

ScummyMan

Smith threw that set away.

Scorpion Sting

That's unbelievable from Smith, ridiculous.

Will I Amnt

Taylor gets away with so much. Nobody seems to be able to punish him at the crucial moment. Smith could so easily have won the last 3 sets.

mada999

I can't believe Smith is still in this, Phil playing absolutely woeful. Smith underpressure is rubbish, had the chances to nail Phil but can't do it.. He's showing Phil too much respect

ScummyMan

Christ almighty how many chances does Smith want?! MVG or Lewis would eat Taylor alive in this form.

Scorpion Sting

Taylor looks spent.

KevIRL

Taylor biting the darts.....

Strongbow10

Smith hasn't the stones to take this from Taylor

Nozebleed

Strongbow10 wrote: »

Smith hasn't the stones to take this from Taylor

completely agree. its embarrassing.

KevIRL

What a fukking leg by Smith!

Scorpion Sting

Could the unthinkable happen?! :eek:

leggo

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

wright is good enough for the premier league in my opinion he is a bit of the top 3or4 but has a cult following and is a good character and consistent which is the main thng,

Wright reminds me a bit of Nicholson in that his worst enemy is himself. There's no doubt he has talent and a bit of a unique shtick that could get him somewhere, but he then goes and talks himself up before flattering to deceive when push comes to shove. I'm sure the PDC/Sky would love to stick him or Nicholson in the Premier League as a wildcard, but they just can't string that run of performances together in a TV tournament to justify it, so the likes of Wes Newton (who is a great, consistent player but has a definite ceiling and is probably never going to do anything truly spectacular) get in instead.

I think Taylor is still going to pull this out of the bag, annoyingly. But Michael Smith has won a lot of fans with this performance already, whatever happens. Some bottle.

wadacrack

Come on Smithy..I bet the person that put 100,000 on taylor winning must be freaked

Strongbow10

leggo wrote: »

Wright reminds me a bit of Nicholson in that his worst enemy is himself. There's no doubt he has talent and a bit of a unique shtick that could get him somewhere, but he then goes and talks himself up before flattering to deceive when push comes to shove. I'm sure the PDC/Sky would love to stick him or Nicholson in the Premier League as a wildcard, but they just can't string that run of performances together in a TV tournament to justify it, so the likes of Wes Newton (who is a great, consistent player but has a definite ceiling and is probably never going to do anything truly spectacular) get in instead.

I think Taylor is still going to pull this out of the bag, annoyingly. But Michael Smith has won a lot of fans with this performance already, whatever happens. Some bottle.

Wouldn't call it bottle he's unable to put away a mediocre Taylor here

And he won't, he's cracked himself whenever he edges in front

Scorpion Sting

Smith wins!!!

Will I Amnt

Get in there!!!!
F**king delighted.

ScummyMan

Incredible! Respect to Smith, I doubted him but he showed serious balls there at the end.

KevIRL

Wow. Well done Smith.

Sign the board Taylor! Cant wait for the interview

Deeper Blue

Delighted. Taylor was shocking.

Strongbow10

Sky are gutted

Johner

Wow.

wadacrack

Wayne Mardle looks like he has seen a ghost

The_Kew_Tour

Makes it a very open competition now ya?

wadacrack

Smith is in shock himself

Jarjohn

Sweet. Now someone take Lewis out and Ill be happy

leggo

Strongbow10 wrote: »

Wouldn't call it bottle he's unable to put away a mediocre Taylor here

And he won't, he's cracked himself whenever he edges in front

That's the earliest Taylor has ever been eliminated, no? He's more bottle than anyone who has ever faced Taylor in the 2nd round before anyway. Delighted to be wrong.

ScummyMan

It's a pity that MvG and Lewis are on the same side of the draw.

fta93

Deservedly beaten. Probably now brings the likes of Whitlock, Wade and maybe even Wright into contention along with Lewis/MVG.

leggo

How long until we get interviews with Taylor making bitchy comments in the crowd about how he's coming for the guys on stage? Tomorrow night? After Christmas? Or will he finally make good on his constant threats to call it a day?

mada999

wow amazing, though Smith was on his way out, he let Phil off with some bad finishes, delighted Phil is out......come on MVG!!

koppy

Like to see whitlock in d final. Be a good game against any of the big boys on the other side of the draw.

Scorpion Sting

Phil The Power Failure

hawkwing

No white Xmas?,no Santa visit?--who cares--this has made Xmas already:)

mdwexford

Oh yeahhhhh, so sweet.
So happy it's unreal.

Lot of delighted dart players going to bed tonight.

shiibata

SuperEagle wrote: »

Delighted. Taylor was shocking.

Taylor was not shocking, has won last 5 previous meetings and prob thought he only had to turn up.... Smith before he played the Japanese lad, was booted up as future world champion, struggled there, in same position as Taylor tonight, case of turning up just...... Taylor has met lads like tonight before but by jaysus the one tonight had balls, how many times I thought tonight "ah well, fair play to him, put up good show but Power has him now"...thankfully, he proved me wrong and the finish...WOW.......

mada999

shiibata wrote: »

Taylor was not shocking, has won last 5 previous meetings and prob thought he only had to turn up.... Smith before he played the Japanese lad, was booted up as future world champion, struggled there, in same position as Taylor tonight, case of turning up just...... Taylor has met lads like tonight before but by jaysus the one tonight had balls, how many times I thought tonight "ah well, fair play to him, put up good show but Power has him now"...thankfully, he proved me wrong and the finish...WOW.......

agree with most of that except were you said Phil was not shocking, tbh even the truty 3ble 19's he could not hit tonight.......great to see lovin it

mdwexford

It's just were so used to seeing Taylor being an animal.

He still averaged 95, that's a solid night for most players.

shiibata

mada999 wrote: »

agree with most of that except were you said Phil was not shocking, tbh even the truty 3ble 19's he could not hit tonight.......great to see lovin it

am no Taylor fan but I can hit treble 19 easy for some reason better than the treble 20s too.... but there was some pressure on the Power tonight and cover shots were not working, how many times did Smith hit 93 to save himself tonight was unreal.... 20, 19 n treble 18..... many a player this last 10 years has had opportunity to beat Taylor but faded away, too much respect...

DAVID AKA MACKY

Ive been following darts for 20 years and that was a big breath of fresh air to say the least.What taylor has achieved is incredible but it is nice to see an up and coming young lad do well.Taylor can be very intimidating to play against and he showed great mental strength to stay with him regardless of taylors off form.It is anybodys title.The standard has gone up very much in recent years and it is not so predictable anymore.
I always remeber the 1994 final when priestley beat taylor and i would never have imagined taylor would dominate as long as he did after that.

mdwexford

Smith did make a lot of mistakes tonight as well which should be taken on board and not forgotten just because he won.

He threw away multiple darts in petulance which should not be done at this level and the constant holding his head in his hands and gestures should be cut out also.

Hopefully that will come with maturity because he has the most talent of a young player I've seen since Lewis.

AndyP

Are Sky showing the rest of the darts?

leggo

mdwexford wrote: »

Smith did make a lot of mistakes tonight as well which should be taken on board and not forgotten just because he won.

He threw away multiple darts in petulance which should not be done at this level and the constant holding his head in his hands and gestures should be cut out also.

Hopefully that will come with maturity because he has the most talent of a young player I've seen since Lewis.

Defo worth mentioning, but you've also covered the reason why with him being young. Taylor, on-form, would have crucified him for missing big shots and Smith, in his youthful naïveté, no doubt thought as much in throwing away darts that he'd later have to clean up.

Taylor was shocking tonight, by his own high standards. If you know Taylor's game then you'll know that that wasn't it. He plays the player, not the board, hurting them with big scores just as they're getting a whiff of momentum. Tonight he just couldn't do that and was the rattled one himself. Every player out there can hit 180s and doubles to beat the band, most can hit 9-darters on the practise board. What wins big-time darts matches, and what has won Taylor his many World Championships, is having that bottle to hit a sucker punch when it hurts most. He just didn't have it tonight and Smith did. Whether Smith can make it through the next round or not now, though, is an entirely different question. As many have pointed out, plenty of players will have a spring in their step now knowing that they're not going to run into a wall later in the competition against a motivated Taylor (not to mention one Raymond van Barneveld...). He's lucky that he has the Christmas break to process it and get his head switched on for the 3rd round.

shiibata

leggo wrote: »

Defo worth mentioning, but you've also covered the reason why with him being young. Taylor, on-form, would have crucified him for missing big shots and Smith, in his youthful naïveté, no doubt thought as much in throwing away darts that he'd later have to clean up.

Taylor was shocking tonight, by his own high standards. If you know Taylor's game then you'll know that that wasn't it. He plays the player, not the board, hurting them with big scores just as they're getting a whiff of momentum. Tonight he just couldn't do that and was the rattled one himself. Every player out there can hit 180s and doubles to beat the band, most can hit 9-darters on the practise board. What wins big-time darts matches, and what has won Taylor his many World Championships, is having that bottle to hit a sucker punch when it hurts most. He just didn't have it tonight and Smith did. Whether Smith can make it through the next round or not now, though, is an entirely different question. As many have pointed out, plenty of players will have a spring in their step now knowing that they're not going to run into a wall later in the competition against a motivated Taylor (not to mention one Raymond van Barneveld...). He's lucky that he has the Christmas break to process it and get his head switched on for the 3rd round.

Taylor would crucify somebody he was geared up for but as I said earlier...they had met 5 times before and Taylor had won them all... He was caught on the hop tonight, Taylor is not used to some one matching him early doors, the pressure was put on him and he for once flopped, Taylors average is in 90s because he kept pressure on him....90s, jaysus, wud still win most matches....as I said, ur man had balls tonight and that won it..

Alfred Borden

That Barney bet looks better,!

shiibata

Raf32 wrote: »

That Barney bet looks better,!

Barney the man I always admired but he just does not seem to have bottle at moment to win anything, would love to be proved wrong and Barney win it but my smart money was on Lewis and had outside bet on Painter, which i wish i put more on now...