2014 World Championship - Discussion

[j6uk]

I think Ferret put the site down for 24hr so this thread can die a death and stop the repetition and to-and-fro.

yeah i was getting a bit parra, i thought i may have said something wrong

[stephenm2682]

My only nark was with the commentators comparing stats like total points scored in tournament, when they were level, which was biased in the sense of Ronnie played less frames! Yet they fail to mention that

[The Statman]

Site was down for 24 hours...i entered today and in last 2 pages of this thread Selbys fans talked about 3 or 4 times about us who think Selby used gamesmanship as "haters ".....wtf...you have an opinion, some of us have another......but maybe you find it hard to explain Selbys way of playing snooker in the finak so its easy to attack those who dont like that jester....

Did we? You obviously didn't read the last two pages very closely. I wrote the following and I don't think I called anyone a hater.

Well, quite. Just popped onto TSF for the first time since returning from Sheffield yesterday and, having scrolled back through 4 or 5 pages of this thread, I must say many of you were watching a different match from the one which I had the pleasure of witnessing.

I was pretty neutral; you can hardly not enjoy O'Sullivan when playing well but I equally like Selby. Either of their prospective achievements of 6-times and first-time winner would have been a good story too.

All in all, I thought Selby was pretty good, especially on Monday and was good value for the one-frame lead going into the evening session. I think overall the luck probably favoured him, but not by much; those four consecutive snookers created quite a fortunate episode, though. There were many times on the Sunday when he was left nothing from O'Sullivan misses, and I think it roughly evened itself out over the match but any imbalance of luck was certainly not on O'Sullivan's side.

But, having said that, I lost count of the number of times Selby went to open the pack and landed on nothing - end of break.

I do get what people say about Selby seeming to overthink simple situations, but for me it is one of the fascinations. Maybe the atmosphere in the arena made it less of a distraction for me compared with those watching on television. In any case, his average shot time was only something like 25 or 26 seconds, which is not awfully slow and after all it isn't a race. In Selby's defense, I would suggest that there is very real reason for his deliberations and anyone who thinks otherwise obviously doesn't have a very imaginative snooker mind - I find his calculations of the very best position to leave the white safe, and indeed what reds might be available to him if he gives his opponent a tough escape, very intriguing indeed and very seldom unfathomable. (In fact, it is one of the more fascinating traits of O'Sullivan, too - he always makes time to study the baulk cushion when he's run out of position and it was until relatively recently a much underappreciated facet of O'Sullivan's game. He too exhibited it quite often during this final.)

Actually, Selby has in the past bogged both his opponent and himself down with much more negative play than he displayed this week; not right up to his most fluent but by no means all that negative. There were a couple of surprising shot selections, though - one that springs to mind was when he needed one snooker on the last red. O'Sullivan escaped but left the red easy with automatic black to follow, which with two of the baulk colours close together that could have provided a good snooker opportunity. I don't know whether it was mentioned in commentary but I was surprised that he didn't take the 8 points while they were on offer. (Sorry I don't know which frame it was, but I'm almost sure it was Monday afternoon and not Sunday.)

I thought it was an excellent and absorbing final and it was a credit to both players. O'Sullivan was very competitive even after Selby
had taken the lead (the O'Sullivan of a few seasons ago might have caved in, but not this time). In the end, he was caught out by a few very uncharacteristic misses - just a few more than Selby - and this was ultimately the difference.

Another thing for which O'Sullivan I think should be praised is his interview afterwards. As with the Welsh, he was speaking openly and articulately, providing soundbites rather than summarily answering the questions put to him, as he sometimes does. Along with the atmosphere of the Ronnie O'Sullivan Show on Eurosport, I think this puts him in excellent light, which is no bad thing for the biggest draw in the game. (Oh to think how many records he might have smashed if he'd been like this all his life - but that's for another thread!)

As a ticket-holder for the last 21 world finals, I'll tell you that you need either (a) brilliant snooker or (b) a tense, close finish, and if you get both that's a great bonus! This year's final ranks right up there among the best. Many finals have had (a) or (b) in abundance (in fact, the 2006 final is the only one which really had neither) but not many have scored so highly overall for both factors.

I realise it's hard to take anyone seriously who claims to be a Selby fan and an O'Sullivan fan, but please don't just read what you want to read and ignore the rest.

[j6uk]

part of all this is is the come down after the world championships, we all feel a wee bit depressed.. fact is though ron didn't show the same intensity as he had done the last two years and its a shame that he didn't do 6. for me its upsetting

[itsnoteasy]

I have hunted high and low to find this stat that there was only four seconds between the average shot times in the final, but I can't find a single thing on it, could the folk who posted these stats put up a link for me thanks.

[DeanH]

2014 World Championship - Discussion

I think Ferret put the site down for 24hr so this thread can die a death and stop the repetition and to-and-fro.

[attilahun]

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

Site was down for 24 hours...i entered today and in last 2 pages of this thread Selbys fans talked about 3 or 4 times about us who think Selby used gamesmanship as "haters ".....wtf...you have an opinion, some of us have another......but maybe you find it hard to explain Selbys way of playing snooker in the finak so its easy to attack those who dont like that jester....

[stavros]

So in what i read you people support Selby because his discpline on the game and nice character deserved world championship.
What about the way he played to take it .Usually as i see him he is far more agressive but this style of playing specifically in the final was dredfull ,it was exactly what O Sullivan said before the tournament ,that the players do not produce just a safety battle so the people and the crowd dont get bored.Exactly that Selby did ,he was hiding all the time and waited for the write moment to collect 40 points ,that is not snooker sorry ,perhaps at a lower level yes ,sometimes in the match yes also ,but in the 80% of the whole session it was no beaty to witness.
And what about if Selby and o Sullivan meet again in the final next year who you will be support then....

[j6uk]

That played into Selby's hands most times he done that... i thought Ronnie was very inconsistent maybe mother nature is catching up on him after all...

i would of done him on monday

[SouthPaw]

ron kept smuthering the black on his breakoff

That played into Selby's hands most times he done that... i thought Ronnie was very inconsistent maybe mother nature is catching up on him after all...

[j6uk]

Aye can't argue with that at all, Ronnie should not have let himself get frustrated

yeah i'm very surprised, that's why i switch off at 15-12. he didn't do what all the greats have done and changed gear. i know he's got it in him to do so,, he must feel sick. its a huge scare, not sure if he'll ever get over it

[Dave Walton]

ron should of known better and knuckled down on monday

Aye can't argue with that at all, Ronnie should not have let himself get frustrated

[Dave Walton]

still potted a good green and finished the clearance well under immense pressure which I give him credit for, some would have bottled it

That must have hurt to say lol, you're right about the 4 flukes, that was very, very fortunate, fair play to him for taking advantage because i'm sure there will be many times you don't get a good run, and lets face it, you need a bit of help against Ronnie.

Believe me you'll never know how painfull that was lol. I agree you do need a bit of luck especially against Ronnie but it wasn't a bit Selby got it was loads, I know he can't help getting luck, its highly annoying when someone is carrying it that much though

[j6uk]

ron should of known better and knuckled down on monday

[j6uk]

ron kept smuthering the black on his breakoff