2016 World Championship discussion

[Catch 22]

I'd love to see a Higgins , Selby final . I was hoping to see Ronnie in the final as it may have been the last time I get a chance to see him play live .

I saw Selby on the opening day last year and he played great in that first session . I also watched Barry Hawkins on the second day

[GeordieDS]

Great game, thought Ronnie would win the decider but glad he's not going to surpass Hendry
Anybody but Higgins now please and i'll be happy, he's playing the best but i don't think he'll keep it up

[cally]

Yeah. Frankly, it makes Hendry, Davis and Reardon all the more remarkable - when the level of talent Ronnie's got can't guarantee him a sixth world title, how the hell did the others manage it? Amazing achievement.

They managed because the competition of players wasn't a broad standard throughout as it is now, not to mention the amount of players in comparison.

Lots of players still had jobs back in the day, it wasn't such a ' pro ' sport like it is now. So many players at similar standard now it will be hard found to get multiple wc's let alone 5, 6, 7..

The next gen from Ron's etc have nothing of the sort amongst them really, odd one here and there between a few of the lads and not looking like theres going to be anytime soon...

Not saying never but damn it's going to be difficult for any one player to dominate like a few players of the past have...

[OmaMiesta]

Absolutely heart broken for Ronnie, what a match that was. Congrats to Barry, played some good stuff but it has to be said Ronnie played to a higher standard stats wise. I hope Kyren Wilson goes on to win it now, he looks very promising.

[ghost121]

Just got home to find the last person who could stop Higgins has just gone out. I'm certainly no ROS fan but a Higgins win would be a disaster. Really hope the wheels comes off when he finally faces some quality opposition. Unfortunately, Selby and Ding both look fragile and the rest of them won't be able to cope with his B game, let alone anything better.

[mikeyd100]

Just got home to find the last person who could stop Higgins has just gone out. I'm certainly no ROS fan but a Higgins win would be a disaster. Really hope the wheels comes off when he finally faces some quality opposition. Unfortunately, Selby and Ding both look fragile and the rest of them won't be able to cope with his B game, let alone anything better.

I cant watch Higgins anymore, havent for a few years now - hopefully he will run out of steam.

[alabadi]

They managed because the competition of players wasn't a broad standard throughout as it is now, not to mention the amount of players in comparison.

Lots of players still had jobs

I think there were still good players around , Steve Davis , Jimmy white , Mark Williams , young Ronnie , John Higgins , Paul Hunter , John Parrot and more .

Although I think the overall standard has risen , it was still competitive in the Hendry Era

[adebisi10]

Ronnie's and Hawkin's press conferences if anyone is interested :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75bXKgratzM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qgVA6I3OqQ

Well, he really looks upset, didn't saw him like that for a while. He also said pretty much everything right, it's hard when there's million players who can bang a century in few minutes and you're still absolute number one in reporters pens... Pressure is an ugly thing.

About Hawkins, he really looks to have Crucible pedigree last couple of years, I thought of that before this match and it proved to be right, he played absolutely great and fair play to him.

Now that all "fun" players are out, I don't have particular favourite although I think it would be nice if Hawkins or Wilson can win it, would be massive achievement for everyone really but especially for them.

[neuronic]

Would be so cool if Barry could go all the way... last year Stu, now Barry^^

And hey, why shouldn't he?

[mikeyd100]

Well, he really looks upset, didn't saw him like that for a while. He also said pretty much everything right, it's hard when there's million players who can bang a century in few minutes and you're still absolute number one in reporters pens... Pressure is an ugly thing.

About Hawkins, he really looks to have Crucible pedigree last couple of years, I thought of that before this match and it proved to be right, he played absolutely great and fair play to him.

Now that all "fun" players are out, I don't have particular favourite although I think it would be nice if Hawkins or Wilson can win it, would be massive achievement for everyone really but especially for them.

Yeah, gotta give Ronnie his dues, I believe he was speaking with great honesty - not always the case with him I feel.
Re the pressure it must be tough, with all that expectation surrounding him - he is already a fragile guy at times.
Hawkins has done well in the World Champs previously too, thats why I put £10 on him to win outright, also Fu so Ive got 1 guy in the semis

[adebisi10]

I've put a little thought in these quarterfinal matches and can't see anything but favourites going to semifinals. Higgins maybe can lose to McManus in first round but you'll rarely see him missing a chance like this, then you have Hawkins who's coming from one of the biggest victories in career to face Fu and Ding versus Williams who's, as we all know, a great player but didn't really show anything special and have tendency last couple of years to ruin great opportunities like this one. I think the closest match should be Selby - Wilson where all the pressure is on the world number one, especially now when Kyren showed that he can really stand up to pressure altrought in the end I think that Selby will go trough.

[Odrl]

Fantastic match tonight, one of the best three-session matches at the Crucible in recent years. I honestly thought Hawkins wouldn't have the bottle to beat O'Sullivan, especially after losing to him 10-1 in the Masters final, but he played great stuff in this match. Like he said a few days ago, he needed to "do a Bingham" and just beat him. He is a player who doesn't look particularly impressive on most days, but once in a while he plays out of his skin and just beats whoever is put in front of him. He beat O'Sullivan despite having big break after big break scored against him, and he did exactly the same to Robertson a year ago. :smile:

Credit to O'Sullivan for coming back like he did. I thought he would take it when Hawkins wasted those two easy chances in the penultimate frame, but it was clear that O'Sullivan was under great pressure and just missed a few too many in the end. Still, he played his part this season, winning two major titles, which is not bad at all for a player in his 40s. I expect him to come back strongly again next season.

Unlike some people, I actually find this quarter-final line-up really interesting. We've lost three of my four big favourites, plus other top players such as Murphy, but apart from McManus there are no real outsiders left in the tournament. All the players are proven winners and capable of producing some high-quality snooker at the business end of this tournament. I was hoping I could go through all the matches and have a quick prediction, but chances are there won't be time in the morning, so let me just say I am looking forward to the rest of the tournament. Should be great stuff. :smile:

Good night. :smile:

[thecueview]

http://www.thecueview.com/2016-world...--part-2-.html

[trains]

Top quality match,congrats Hawkins,superb mettle from O'Sullivan to take it to a decider.
Final thoughts on this round , 3 days for 25 frames seems a bit too long and drawn out,saturday afternoon to monday night is a bit too much coming and going and waiting around, I'd be surprised if snooker players wouldn't prefer 12 frames the first day and 13 the next,thats just a guess though.

[Ronnington]

He's always said he doesn't need a coach so he's never had one, but his game is in basically the same place as it was 5 years ago vs Higgins. He knows all the shots, but perhaps he needs a Griffiths or a Reardon figure to suggest a few strategies to him, as Reardon did with O'Sullivan's safety game.

Aww, his original mentor and coach Derek Curnow will be devastated at that!

Well, I have to gorge on humble pie right now with my comments beginning of last week saying Trump will win the World title this year and that "it was his time". He wasted a golden opportunity to win the crown with Ronnie going out. As the immortal Stephen Hendry would say - "Careless".

Time is ticking for him now and he's certainly in the "under-achieved" bracket. Whether it's complacency, arrogance, lack of intelligence when the going gets tough (bash & hope), lack of B-game, poor shot selection at times, poor cue ball control at times... Or all of those factors combined!

You get a sense that the greats of the game (Hendry, Higgins, Ronnie, Davis) wouldn't have let an opportunity like that slip away, would've dug deep and won 'ugly' to reach the quarter finals, then re-group.