2014 World Championship - Discussion

[jw147]

Did anyone notice in the afternoon yesterday, when Dennis Taylor said send in your tweets to us and they will be read out in the interval, that every tweet Steve Davis read out was from a professional snooker play on the main tour and not one tweet was read out from a member of the public, which i thought was wrong and unfair when not one public tweet was read out during the interval.

Noticed that myself, snooker has taken a massive backward step since the 90s and david vine, them days tom dick and harry were all mentioned on tv, the public were more involved, and the sport was exciting, with packed houses watching.

[Odrl]

He did pot some nice long pots but its what followed after that get's under peoples skin, rather than go for some pot's he would take an age walk round the table and play a safety.

Right, that's a pretty common generalization when Selby is concerned... Now, if you will, please give us some examples of Selby turning down reasonable pots when he was in the balls yesterday.

[alabadi]

rather than go for some pot's he would take an age walk round the table and play a safety.

I am sure if there was anything he could have gone for which would have given him position for the next shot he would have played it.

like I said most times he made a good pot was unfortunate to have nothing easy to go for, so he had to play safe. in the end he is not going to play some risky pot where his chances of getting it is 50% or less miss it and then let Ronnie in to win the frame.

this is exactly what Judd Trump did against Robinson, he went for outrageous shots which in the end cost him the match, I'm sure looking back at it he would have rather played safe and wait for a better opportunity.

[attilahun]

Right, that's a pretty common generalization when Selby is concerned... Now, if you will, please give us some examples of Selby turning down reasonable pots when he was in the balls yesterday.

He was talking about all those reds he potted with pace and the cue ball ended in the baulk. Selby always played a safety shot and not tried to pot a lower colour. And if you will say the reason is that the cue ball was in a bad positiin that is only because of Selbys negative play. He attacked the reds but with so much pace because he was afraid to miss and leave a pot. For him it was this tactic...pot the red or not, the white must be safe..no real interest to continue the break ...it was deliberate...that is why i say he played negative snooker and acted like a top64 player who knows he is weaker than his opponent and used altternative methods to win the game rather than rely on his own talent...

[Odrl]

He was talking about all those reds he potted with pace and the cue ball ended in the baulk. Selby always played a safety shot and not tried to pot a lower colour. And if you will say the reason is that the cue ball was in a bad positiin that is only because of Selbys negative play. He attacked the reds but with so much pace because he was afraid to miss and leave a pot. For him it was this tactic...pot the red or not, the white must be safe..no real interest to continue the break ...it was deliberate...that is why i say he played negative snooker and acted like a top64 player who knows he is weaker than his opponent and used altternative methods to win the game rather than rely on his own talent...

So, what was he supposed to do, play for the blue from difficult long reds and leave things on for O'Sullivan? He played the white back to baulk, like most players do, with the hope of being on one of the baulk colours to the middle if it went in. More often than not he was on nothing, so he played the snooker, which was his consolation prize for getting the pot in the first place. :wink:

[daffie]

You all probably had read about it already, but I only just saw the news about Ronnie's car crash last night. Wow...glad they're ok!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...h-star-3502406

[Giggity1984]

Right, that's a pretty common generalization when Selby is concerned... Now, if you will, please give us some examples of Selby turning down reasonable pots when he was in the balls yesterday.

Thank you Odrl, I was beginning to wonder if I was watching the same match as some of the others in this thread. You won't get any examples in response to your question .

O sullivan turned down aggressive shots in favour of a safety in this final too.

Like you said, it's a common misconception about Selby, it's weird because I would liken his game to John Higgins, but Higgins gets nowhere near the hate for doing the same.

[cyberheater]

I was practicing today and an old guy who I'd never meet before grabbed me as I was leaving and starting to talk about the final and what a horrible way to win by Selby and that he'd never go and pay money to see him. I couldn't agree more.

I've never known a player that generates so much resentment about his playing style. It's not just a few loonies on here that feel that way. Lot's of folks don't like the negative way he plays.

[vmax4steve]

Selby potted some good long pots, but made sure they were to nothing, and played the roll up snooker so many times, played the roll up into the pack so many times, walked around the table looking at balls he could and couldn't pot from every angle so many times. Ronnie called him out on this during The Masters and it was seen as very controversial, but as Ronnie said at the time, people think he's being mentally strong when he's doing that, but they have no idea of what's really going on out there.

Both Robertson and Selby were doing it to each other in their semi, and that match was an even bigger drag than the final. Lucky for them that Ronnie's semi finished a session early and they could continue their morning session into the afternoon, otherwise they would have been still playing at 3.00am on sunday morning.

There is nothing mentally strong about deliberately taking too long to do something simply to p1ss off the bloke you're playing, it's actually very cowardly, and Selby didn't play at all well until he knew that he had gotten to Ronnie and had him playing without focus and disinterested.

People say that it's Selby's natural game, BOLLOCKS !! but hey ! if he also does it when he's practising I'll take it all back.

[Dr_Doctor]

You all probably had read about it already, but I only just saw the news about Ronnie's car crash last night. Wow...glad they're ok!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...h-star-3502406

Blimey! I'm glad they're okay.

[attilahun]

I was practicing today and an old guy who I'd never meet before grabbed me as I was leaving and starting to talk about the final and what a horrible way to win by Selby and that he'd never go and pay money to see him. I couldn't agree more.

I've never known a player that generates so much resentment about his playing style. It's not just a few loonies on here that feel that way. Lot's of folks don't like the negative way he plays.

You are right...the problem is the rest of the folks tell us that we are haters....they want us to respect their opinion about the" genius" Selby, but they are not willing to respect our opinion about the meschin way Selby plays the game

[Odrl]

Both Robertson and Selby were doing it to each other in their semi, and that match was an even bigger drag than the final. Lucky for them that Ronnie's semi finished a session early and they could continue their morning session into the afternoon, otherwise they would have been still playing at 3.00am on sunday morning.

The horror...

[attilahun]

Selby potted some good long pots, but made sure they were to nothing, and played the roll up snooker so many times, played the roll up into the pack so many times, walked around the table looking at balls he could and couldn't pot from every angle so many times. Ronnie called him out on this during The Masters and it was seen as very controversial, but as Ronnie said at the time, people think he's being mentally strong when he's doing that, but they have no idea of what's really going on out there.

Both Robertson and Selby were doing it to each other in their semi, and that match was an even bigger drag than the final. Lucky for them that Ronnie's semi finished a session early and they could continue their morning session into the afternoon, otherwise they would have been still playing at 3.00am on sunday morning.

There is nothing mentally strong about deliberately taking too long to do something simply to p1ss off the bloke you're playing, it's actually very cowardly, and Selby didn't play at all well until he knew that he had gotten to Ronnie and had him playing without focus and disinterested.

People say that it's Selby's natural game, BOLLOCKS !! but hey ! if he also does it when he's practising I'll take it all back.

I agree 110%...

[Giggity1984]

You are right...the problem is the rest of the folks tell us that we are haters....they want us to respect their opinion about the" genius" Selby, but they are not willing to respect our opinion about the meschin way Selby plays the game

For the record, I would have much preferred to have seen Ronnie win his 6th world championship with 18 centuries in the final with a session to spare.

Also, I don't believe Selby is a genius, obviously Ronnie is much more naturally talented.

However, I don't think this thread has been very fair to Selby. He can be a prolific break builder, the rolls just didn't go his way in the final, otherwise he could have scored much heavier.

[Gary Hall]

Fair play to Selby on winning his first World Championship. Don't know why people are criticizing him, end of the day he was in a WC final and you would play as you feel fit at the time to win the match. Remember he's not playing against some numpty who can't play to save his life. Hes up against the best player ever to pick up a cue.