Snooker World Championship 2014

thelad95

MANUTD99 wrote: »

I beg to differ. 10-15years ago you had Higgins, Williams, O'Sullivan, Doherty,Hendry, Ebdon all playing at their peak. Any one of those players on their day was winning tournaments and many a battle was fought among them.

Game is full of journeymen now who seem happy to make a few quid(who can blame them). The tournament has been bland this year. Ronnie coasting apart for Perry to the final. Best game was Selby's semi final. I've never seen a worse top 16

+1 on this. There are some dominant players who are at the business end of every tournament but none of them phenonemonal talents. A number of players who looked like they could be the best in the world have stagnated or gone backwards. eg Mark Allen,Judd Trump but they are still young. The likes of Dominic Dale,Alan McManus aren't going to win too much in the remainder of their careers.

amkin25

The quality isn't there anymore other than ronnie,back in the day when u had ronnie, hendry, william's and higgin's always holding the top 4 ranking spot's changing around positions,great competition and you knew everyone of them was going to get a world title at some point although hendry had a few by then.
Also we had ken in there always in with a shot,surprised we never produced anyone since,but i think they have a more gruelling tour these day's and they are forced all over the place more than before to try and keep their top 16 spot.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Interesting to learn that Ronnies father worked for Ronnie Knight (London gangster). who was married to Babs Windsor. Ronnie is from a rough background, his working class support with their yups and yays conform it.

Witcher

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Interesting to learn that Ronnies father worked for Ronnie Knight (London gangster). who was married to Babs Windsor. Ronnie is from a rough background, his working class support with their yups and yays conform it.

His father was a millionaire..hardly a rough background.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Blay wrote: »

His father was a millionaire..hardly a rough background.

He made his money from crime.

Witcher

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

He made his money from crime.

He owned sex shops in Soho.

tomdempsey200

is this going to be a severe test for ronnie?

or will he win the opening frames and coast to title?

bren2001

I don't get the sheer amount of Ronnie love on here. Selby is an extremely good player who was playing turgid stuff yesterday, yet is still within striking distance of Ronnie. I expect this to go to the wire and I think people are ridiculously over rating Ronnie. Yes, technically he is an extremely good player but his safety play isnt as good as Selby and mentally he is still somewhat unstable. Ronnie is favourite to win but not by the ridiculous margin some people are posting up.

indiewindy

bren2001 wrote: »

I don't get the sheer amount of Ronnie love on here. Selby is an extremely good player who was playing turgid stuff yesterday, yet is still within striking distance of Ronnie. I expect this to go to the wire and I think people are ridiculously over rating Ronnie. Yes, technically he is an extremely good player but his safety play isnt as good as Selby and mentally he is still somewhat unstable. Ronnie is favourite to win but not by the ridiculous margin some people are posting up.

Selby is very difficult to warm to, Ronnie got it right when he called him "the torturer".

Addle

indiewindy wrote: »

Selby is very difficult to warm to

Really? He's my favourite player.
And I think he's hot too!

SarahBM

I probably won't get to see either session today
Please keep the commentary going

purplecow1977

Addle wrote: »

Really? He's my favourite player.
And I think he's hot too!

He is!
Why else would I watch snooker? :-P

Addle

Addle wrote: »

Really? He's my favourite player.
And I think he's hot too!

purplecow1977 wrote: »

He is!
Why else would I watch snooker? :-P

This was like sitting on the couch on Saturday night listening to the wife telling me how wonderful Neil's hair was. Not Robertson either. Neil like they were best friends

amkin25

bren2001 wrote: »

I don't get the sheer amount of Ronnie love on here. Selby is an extremely good player who was playing turgid stuff yesterday, yet is still within striking distance of Ronnie. I expect this to go to the wire and I think people are ridiculously over rating Ronnie. Yes, technically he is an extremely good player but his safety play isnt as good as Selby and mentally he is still somewhat unstable. Ronnie is favourite to win but not by the ridiculous margin some people are posting up.

Not really a fan of ronnie's on a personal level,and although mightn't be in his best form this year,i think ronnie is easily the best player to ever live and just because selby might perform in one match better safety does not put him on a par with ronnie.
Honestly i am sort of shouting on selby be here but it would be hard to argue with him being the best ever given he might even match hendry's 7 titles.

tomdempsey200

bren2001 wrote: »

I don't get the sheer amount of Ronnie love on here. Selby is an extremely good player

ronnie entertains the viewer much more than any other player

bren2001

amkin25 wrote: »

Not really a fan of ronnie's on a personal level,and although mightn't be in his best form this year,i think ronnie is easily the best player to ever live and just because selby might perform in one match better safety does not put him on a par with ronnie.
Honestly i am sort of shouting on selby be here but it would be hard to argue with him being the best ever given he might even match hendry's 7 titles.

Don't get me wrong. Ronnie is arguably the best snooker player ever. He is ridiculously talented. Selby is not on par with Ronnie and will never match his achievements. My gripe is people going on that he will wipe the floor with Selby. I'm just trying to point out Ronnie has his weaknesses and if Selby exploits them he could win. Selby on form is a match for anybody. Whether he has enough in the tank is a different question.

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

ronnie entertains the viewer much more than any other player

Each to their own. Ronnie pulls in TV audiences and while I enjoy watching him a lot, I prefer to watching safety exchanges. Ronnie is fantastic to watch at times.

I am in no way trying to say Ronnie isn't the best in the world.

cack_handed

bren2001 wrote: »

Yes, technically he is an extremely good player but his safety play isnt as good as Selby and mentally he is still somewhat unstable

Can't really agree here, not sure what the stats say for the final, maybe selby is ahead, but Ronnie's safety game is as solid as anybody's, including selby, and it's now getting hard to remember the last time Ronnie came undone mentally.

That frame where he needed a snooker and was unlucky to go in off the green is a case in point, O'Sullivan's all-round game is the best, that's why he's far and above the best in the world

bren2001

cack_handed wrote: »

Can't really agree here, not sure what the stats say for the final, maybe selby is ahead, but Ronnie's safety game is as solid as anybody's, including selby, and it's now getting hard to remember the last time Ronnie came undone mentally.

That frame where he needed a snooker and was unlucky to go in off the green is a case in point, O'Sullivan's all-round game is the best, that's why he's far and above the best in the world

They are level on safety success but Selby was awful yesterday. He is usually in the mid to high 80's while Ronnie is high 70's low 80's. I don't think taking one frame from yesterday is fair. If you look over an entire season, it really is the foundation of Selbys game.

Yeah, Ronnie has not been undone mentally and isn't the most valid point. I still think if you can frustrate him with a few slow, tactical frames he is inclined to start trying to pot his way out of it.

cack_handed

Yeah sure one frame isnt a fair representation and, overall, i wouldnt try to argue ronnie has a superior safety record than mark, but i do think ronnie's safety game can sometimes be under-rated, totally overshadowed by his other obvious strengths. It was something similar with alex higgins in his heyday, there was a myth that higgins was nothing but a reckless potter when, in fact, he had a finely honed safety game that wasn't far off the very best

For me the interesting statistic is how poor ronnie's long potting has been this tournament, indicating that previously strong facet of his game has declined, yet he has more than compensated by improving other elements. Not saying Selby can't win yet, but if his only strategy remains trying to frustrate o'sullivan, i jsut can't see it working

tomdempsey200

bren2001 wrote: »

Don't get me wrong. Ronnie is arguably the best snooker player ever. He is ridiculously talented. Selby is not on par with Ronnie and will never match his achievements. My gripe is people going on that he will wipe the floor with Selby. I'm just trying to point out Ronnie has his weaknesses and if Selby exploits them he could win. Selby on form is a match for anybody. Whether he has enough in the tank is a different question.



Each to their own. Ronnie pulls in TV audiences and while I enjoy watching him a lot, I prefer to watching safety exchanges. Ronnie is fantastic to watch at times.

I am in no way trying to say Ronnie isn't the best in the world.

i expected an easy ronnie win

it could go that way early today

but looks like selby means business and as has been pointed out previously he is a player who can get the better of ronnie

KERSPLAT!

Not a fan of Ronnie myself but I do agree, he's probably the best player there has ever been, ridiculously talented!

Still hoping for a Selby comeback. To play that bad yesterday, in particular early on, and still only be 3 behind should give him a lot of hope

breadbin

Nico Mc Brain is in the audience!

MJ23

"Always plays with a smile on his face"? I've yet to see him smile.
I wish they'd stop going on about how "great, fantastic, amazing" the Crucible Theatre is.Especially Taylor, his constant gushing is embarrassing.

Come on Ronnie. Number 6 is in your sights.

take everything

MJ23 wrote: »

"Always plays with a smile on his face"? I've yet to see him smile.
I wish they'd stop going on about how "great, fantastic, amazing" the Crucible Theatre is.Especially Taylor, his constant gushing is embarrassing.

Come on Ronnie. Number 6 is in your sights.

How many have Hendry and Davis won.
I'd like to see him surpass them. He deserves it.
Edit: 7 and 6.
He's still got a good few years in him.

breadbin

i''d normally be cheering for ronnie but selby impressed me in the match with robertson so i don't care who wins. i'd be happier if it went the distance!

take everything

Important frame for Selby

squadro

steady, steady doh!!!

take everything

Decent snooker from Selby.

the_syco

Nice trick shot at the end