2020 World Snooker Championship

Mysterypunter

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Colin Murray wrapping up the post match interview fairly quickly as McGill not one to engage in Murray's chirpy, lads banter nonsense. A definate personality clash there. McGill maybe a bit dour but it matters little as he rolls on to the next round. Best finish to a match so far.

Scots don't tend to put up with his sort of bull****, I think most people would have a personality clash with a DJ dressed up as a sports presenter.

Chalk McHugh

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Scots don't tend to put up with his sort of bull****, I think most people would have a personality clash with a DJ dressed up as a sports presenter.

Insufferable.

Joe_ Public

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Colin Murray wrapping up the post match interview fairly quickly as McGill not one to engage in Murray's chirpy, lads banter nonsense. A definate personality clash there. McGill maybe a bit dour but it matters little as he rolls on to the next round. Best finish to a match so far.

Murray quite annoys me, trying too hard to be funny everytime he says something. The new young guy they have on the bbc is much better, knows his snooker and spares us the godawful banter.

McGill likely has Allen next. Winnable match for him though Allen will surely be thinking this is best chance he might ever get, top half of draw looks quite thin compared to bottom half. Its definitely where I'd want to be anyway.

Mysterypunter

Jordan Brown is hanging in there well, looked the better player earlier, and very fluent among the balls, 4-4 now

Chalk McHugh

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Murray quite annoys me, trying too hard to be funny everytime he says something. The new young guy they have on the bbc is much better, knows his snooker and spares us the godawful banter.

McGill likely has Allen next. Winnable match for him though Allen will surely be thinking this is best chance he might ever get, top half of draw looks quite thin compared to bottom half. Its definitely where I'd want to be anyway.

Yes its hard to take to Murray alright. Always has to be havin a laugh and a joke. He didn't know how to talk to McGill in a serious manner really. And yes that new
BBC lad seems good. As well as the lad that has stepped in for Hazel. Forget his name but he's around a while. Good host.

I agree about Allen also. Great chance for him. Can see him beating Clarke and McGill and who knows after that.

Trump, Ronnie and Robertson look strong. Williams and Higgins class acts. Selby always a threat. Ding and Bingham could beat anyone. And we could still see one of the less fancied players go on a run.

It's shaping up nicely.

Arthur Daley

Just realised we are not going to see Hazel Irvine at the Crucible this year. Due to a family illness. She should be back on again at some stage anyway. Their best presenter and as much of a fixture at the snooker as David Vine became.

waynescales1

Brown has a fairly confident manner around the table. Showing no signs of being intimidated playing the 3 time champ on his crucible debut.

Joe_ Public

Dunno whats happened to Mark Selby. Seemed to reach a peak 3 years ago and been descending ever since. Just looks well beatable nowadays. Might still pull away here but not going to be shocked if Brown hangs in there.

Mysterypunter

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Yes its hard to take to Murray alright. Always has to be havin a laugh and a joke. He didn't know how to talk to McGill in a serious manner really. And yes that new
BBC lad seems good. As well as the lad that has stepped in for Hazel. Forget his name but he's around a while. Good host.

I agree about Allen also. Great chance for him. Can see him beating Clarke and McGill and who knows after that.

Trump, Ronnie and Robertson look strong. Williams and Higgins class acts. Selby always a threat. Ding and Bingham could beat anyone. And we could still see one of the less fancied players go on a run.

It's shaping up nicely.

Jason Mohammed is the man you are talking about, good manner, and decent knowledge of the game, I've seen him on a few things, he's good

Arthur Daley

They blamed fatigue and travel to China for Selby going off the boil three years ago.

Nobody gets that excuse this year anyway.

Joe_ Public

Decline is relative and selby has won 2 titles this season to be fair. But this would be third year running he gets knocked out by a qualifier if he loses. And brown be kicking himself if he doesnt have a lead here, the amount of chances he's butchered tonight.

Inviere

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Decline is relative and selby has won 2 titles this season to be fair. But this would be third year running he gets knocked out by a qualifier if he loses. And brown be kicking himself if he doesnt have a lead here, the amount of chances he's butchered tonight.

I can only assume the few years at the top of the game really just burned him out.

ArmaniJeanss

Inviere wrote: »

I can only assume the few years at the top of the game really just burned him out.

Selby's intense style is probably not maintainable long-term.
He doesn't really have a B game where he can coast for a bit and still win matches, so every frame appears to need maximum effort.
He still comes up with some incredible thought processes on shots, albeit can take him a frustratingly long time to get there.

zuutroy

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Just realised we are not going to see Hazel Irvine at the Crucible this year. Due to a family illness. She should be back on again at some stage anyway. Their best presenter and as much of a fixture at the snooker as David Vine became.

Can't deal with the 'everything is amazing and extraordinary' way the BBC carry on most of the time. She's good for a general audience I guess and very well prepared and professional, but wouldn't put her close to David Vine.

Joe_ Public

Inviere wrote: »

I can only assume the few years at the top of the game really just burned him out.

It could be. He doesnt seem bad throughout the season, just come the worlds he's not been there past couple of years and longer pressure fuelled format was assumed to be made for him. Maybe there's no single explanation. Like Ken declining in his mid 30s or even hendry. Why exactly did that happen? Not writing selby off as a force exactly but i just find it a stretch to see him as a contender right now. He was fairly woeful from what i witnessed last night.

Joe_ Public

Murphy would have been thinking win the first frame and apply some pressure and then goes and misses a straight black off the spot to chuck the frame away. Think the burden of carrying my tenner for the title is just proving too heavy a burden to bear. Noppon keeps on potting them to be fair to him.

Loafing Oaf

zuutroy wrote: »

Can't deal with the 'everything is amazing and extraordinary' way the BBC carry on most of the time.

Yeah every year's world championship is "one of the best ever". I remember a few years ago a lot of the top guys went out in the early rounds, and nobody even suggested that this might impact the standard of the snooker, or the quality of the opposition facing Selby or whoever the remaining 'big beast' was.

Good to see a Northern Ireland local derby this morning. That Jamie Clarke has a lot of strings to his bow...

gormdubhgorm

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Get in!!! What an unbelievable blue. How did it drop even? Incredibly brave blue.

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Looked like it was going to stay up when it rattled the Jaws, that was a highly entertaining game.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Great game and great shot to win it. Lisowski played some great safety there, took a great pot to beat him.

I am starting to wonder if the crowd makes any difference for the players at all? Once they get into a match and zone in. It is only them thier opponent, table and ref.
Loved the way that blue jangled a bit before it dropped added to the drama.

gormdubhgorm

zuutroy wrote: »

Can't deal with the 'everything is amazing and extraordinary' way the BBC carry on most of the time. She's good for a general audience I guess and very well prepared and professional, but wouldn't put her close to David Vine.

Never liked Vine myself, very dour and taciturn. Hazel brought a bit of light-hearted fun to things. Plus has a good way of teasing info out. Might be a bit simplistic at times though. I think Jason Mohammed is top notch, obvious he enjoys his snooker and bigs up the Welsh lads a bit. Which amuses me.

On the other side (Eurosport) I think Andy Goldstein is good, goes in depth. But sometimes pushes the 'look how edgy and controversial I am' stuff too far.

Joe_ Public

Murphys not winning this, is he? Noppon could probably wobble a bit and still get it done. Shaun not at the races for whatever reason.

Chalk McHugh

It's only taken me 5 days to notice that Eurosport show both matches live simulataneously. I always watched Eurosport 1. I heard some you guys talking about the other live match and assumed ye had the Eurosport player. I just pressed Eurosport 2 there by a mistake and heard Rachel and Neil Foulds commentating on Allen v Clarke. And what a time to find out as Clarke needed a few snookers and after putting Allen in all sorts of trouble he cleared the last four balls in brilliant style to level 2-2. Spoiled for choice now

DelBoy Trotter

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Murphys not winning this, is he? Noppon could probably wobble a bit and still get it done. Shaun not at the races for whatever reason.

No, not a chance of him winning this

Chalk McHugh

Cant really say too much of Murphy other than he's been brutal.

Rothko

Think that'll be it for Murphy. Really can't see him make a comeback from here.

Arthur Daley

Some steal by Jamie Clarke to go 2-2 at the interval. Shaping up to be a good match for Mark Allen.

Chalk McHugh

Although Noppon Saemgham looks to be winning this match i'm not overly convinced with him and if Selby can.beat Brown later on i would expect Selby to beat Noppom and Selby in a long framed quarter final is a dangerous beast that nobody would like to play. I still give Selby a decent chance of going close this year.

gormdubhgorm

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Cant really say too much of Murphy other than he's been brutal.

Odd one. Probably one of the best cue actions in the game. But he plays like that. I think it is in his make up to think about things and now he overdoes it? 37 is a bit early for a fella to be basically a commentator first and player second. Seems to more enjoy giving general opinions about 'our game' as he says. Kind of putting himself in the position of guardian of snooker.

Loafing Oaf

Mark Allen put off his shot by someone moving around in an empty venue?

Chalk McHugh

Yea he looked quite angry and still shaking his head while sat in his seat. Clarke playing well. Tight fifth frame.

Chalk McHugh

Clarke steals another one. Two on the trot to leave an already angry Allen ready to explode.

Chalk McHugh

I dont like Jans Verhaas' facial hair. A bit like when Rafa Benitez sported a similiar look. It has all the hallmarks of a man suffering a mid life crisis. Jans has the look of a man who hit the bottle hard for a few months and whose personal grooming was the least of his worries.

Joe_ Public

Murphy has been poor but must give a lot of credit to noppon. Has potted nearly everything and punished mistakes. To be fair Murphy might have got away with it more against some of the other qualifiers but not this guy the way he's played. I think having no crowd has to help, it cant be quantified exactly but it's got to be a good thing for a player like noppon. Murphy actually had his best year in terms of work, focus and results but looks like coming unstuck here again. Very disappointing for him.

waynescales1

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

I dont like Jans Verhaas' facial hair. A bit like when Rafa Benitez sported a similiar look. It has all the hallmarks of a man suffering a mid life crisis. Jans has the look of a man who hit the bottle hard for a few months and whose personal grooming was the least of his worries.

It’s Walter White from Breaking Bad, Taylor finally figured out the resemblance.

Chalk McHugh

Missing unmissable blacks off the spot seems to be The Magicians new magic trick.

Arthur Daley

Yeah a bit of a pity. Shaun gave us a bit of 'local interest'

Loafing Oaf

waynescales1 wrote: »

It’s Walter White from Breaking Bad, Taylor finally figured out the resemblance.

I still maintain it's the Blackfish with a no. 1 cut



Not sure why they have to play the fake applause across the arena, possibly putting off players on the other table. Why don't they just add it to the broadcast?

Chalk McHugh

What a miserable exit for the ex World Champion who barely laid a glove on the Thai. No spirit, no fight and no ability to pot simple blacks off the spot.

Sultan of Bling

Loafing Oaf wrote:

Mark Allen put off his shot by someone moving around in an empty venue?

Mark Allen confirms the rumours that he'd start an argument with his own shadow.

Loafing Oaf

Could Allen not have kept that white out?

Arthur Daley

Surely Mark Allen could have avoided the in off on the black over the pocket. Using all of the pocket

Joe_ Public

Presume he was trying to catch black off centre but got it wrong, respot shot was poor too and extremely lucky boy to get away with it.

Arthur Daley

Clarke getting a little bit rash after such a solid start.

Arthur Daley

Little applause for frame ball there. They need to work on the volume levels

Joe_ Public

Clarke well worth 4-5 from what I've seen of this. Still have to favour Allen but definitely wouldn't be risking the mortgage on him. Fancy one or more seeds to be toppled yet.

weemcd

Couldn't like Allen if you raised him, any idea what that sulk was about earlier when he missed his shot?

Would love to see Clarke put him out but I think Allen will be a little too much for him in the closing frames, unless he unravels which is always possible.

waynescales1

When down to just the colours, if a colour is potted and the cue ball also goes in, the colour comes back onto the table, but that’s not the case with the black. I don’t understand why that is...

gormdubhgorm

waynescales1 wrote: »

When down to just the colours, if a colour is potted and the cue ball also goes in, the colour comes back onto the table, but that’s not the case with the black. I don’t understand why that is...

@8.10 even some pro snooker players do not know this rule.

Only guessing at the logic would it be to stop a player deliberately going in off - gaining an advantage?

Inviere

weemcd wrote: »

Couldn't like Allen if you raised him

I'm the same....always comes across as a miserable angry little man. He's prob great craic, but he has that moaner side to him for sure & it's hard viewing.

Chalk McHugh

Anyone else think if you stuck a big barmy pair of glasses on Brown he's a bit of a ringer for Dennis Taylor? If Brown ends up playing Anthony McGill we could have a rerun of the 1985 final all over again.

waynescales1

They’ve just shown the calendar for the remainder of the year on BBC, 3-4 tournaments per month until 2021. Very packed calendar, loads of snooker to look forward to.