Neil Robertson vs Martin Gould - Discussion

[JRobbins]

for christ's sake fellas, calm down! I'm a huge neil robertson fan but was astounded by the way martin was playing, and if he had won I would've supported him throughout the rest of the tournament. however, in competitive sports there is always a winner and there is always a loser, and in this case we should be congratulating both players: martin gould for his fantastic display and almost beating the odds, and neil robertson for staging a brilliant comeback after staring defeat in the face. why can't we all just grow up and appreciate the fabulous display that we recieved over the last couple of days?

whatever happened to snooker being a gentleman's sport, eh?

[Luke Hooper]

if im completely honest, barring mark allen, i think martin gould was playing the most attractive snooker and everyone else seems to be kinda a bit boring in my opinion...

like i can predict everyone elses shots, i felt like with martin gould i was like, wtf he doing eyeing up that ball? wait hes not going for this is he? uhh, yep, great pot. i felt like i was on the edge of my seat watching him (probably because i am a fan) but it was exciting because although he rarely missed, i still felt like the shots he was taking on the others would of missed at least like 4 or 5/10 of them

its a shame to see him go out, i like neil robertson, fantastic come back, and it doesnt matter who gets whatever luck whenever they get it, its all about taking your chances...

[matoski]

He did play fantastically well but on the occasions he missed (a few times) he did come out lucky. Attacking safety shots but more than a few went astray and he never gave Robertson a sniff.

I have to say your posts do sound a bit bias against Neil Robertson in particular, why do you dislike him so much?
He is a nice guy, a great player and a credit to our game. Give him a chance.
:snooker:

I don't dislike him at all, realy. I have my right to express my oppinion about the way he plays snooker, which is effective, but not the right way to play the game. He has extraordinary potting abilities, but a rather poor cue ball controll for a player who won 4 ranking events and holds Provisional #3 ranking. He is great breakbuilder when the balls are fairly open, but when he needs to play some more delicate positioning,such as nudges, kisses, hiting the correct side of the pack to split the reds nicely, leaving the cue ball on the right side of the color etc, then he mostly fails. Today he missed the pack totaly while attempting to split it on three ocasions. I mean completely missed it, from possitions which shouldn't be a problem, but a routine thing for a top classs player. On the last frame he had only four very much open reds to finish the match in style, but he totaly messed up the positional side of the break, and left the cue ball on the totaly wrong side of the black for the last red. Or in frame 24 which he lost, he had to split the last red and pink from the black. The pink was on the pink spot and the red glued to the pink below it. So, if he hit the red from any side, left or right he would have been perfect to pot the read to any of the corner pockets. In that moment i thought (he'll play an awfull shot as usual and hit the red in the face). And guess what? He did hit the red in the face and lost position and eventualy the frame. The best thing about his game is that he makes too many successful recovery pots which keep the break going. I'm looking for perfect cue ball control from these top class players, not fancy pots. No wonder my favorite players are Higgins, Murphy, Maguire, Fu.... So nothing personal realy. His fans don't realy understand my posts and take my comments personaly.

[jw147]

really enjoyed the way gould played last night, it actually reminded me of jimmy when he was very young. its a pity he didnt see it off today, would of been nice to see him against the nugget.

[JRobbins]

I'm looking for perfect cue ball control from these top class players, not fancy pots. No wonder my favorite players are Higgins, Murphy, Maguire, Fu....

I'm contradicting my previous post here by being argumentitive, but this made me laugh ahaha
considering 3 out of 4 of your favourite players, each of which possessing 'perfect cue ball control' have been knocked out of the tournament comprehensively by a lower seed, perhaps you need to open your eyes to the way the game is changing: most of the time, the better potter wins the match.

[wildJONESEYE]

He did play fantastically well but on the occasions he missed (a few times) he did come out lucky. Attacking safety shots but more than a few went astray and he never gave Robertson a sniff.

I have to say your posts do sound a bit bias against Neil Robertson in particular, why do you dislike him so much?
He is a nice guy, a great player and a credit to our game. Give him a chance.
:snooker:

in the first 2 sessions Martin Gould played unbelievably well but he played a do or die game when they go in fantastic but maintaining that over and over again is hard and today the shots he potted yesterday did not go in and it allowed Robertson to get a foot in the door and as we saw he smashed the door down in the end.

[matoski]

I'm contradicting my previous post here by being argumentitive, but this made me laugh ahaha
considering 3 out of 4 of your favourite players, each of which possessing 'perfect cue ball control' have been knocked out of the tournament comprehensively by a lower seed, perhaps you need to open your eyes to the way the game is changing: most of the time, the better potter wins the match.

It doesn't matter that they crushed out of the Championship. They had bad sessions of snooker. It may happen to any one. That doesn't changes the fact that those guys play snooker the way it should be played. And losing to a lower seed is nothing odd. Ronnie lost to Tiang just three weeks ago. Does that makes him lesser player

[Matt_2745]

Must admit that I find this thread to be very odd, but there we are.

Took this photo from the front row right at the end of the match. Was a thoroughly entertaining session to be at.

Just putting together my view of the match on my blog, will pop a link up here in due course.

[1lawyer]

I don't dislike him at all, realy. I have my right to express my oppinion about the way he plays snooker, which is effective, but not the right way to play the game. He has extraordinary potting abilities, but a rather poor cue ball controll for a player who won 4 ranking events and holds Provisional #3 ranking. He is great breakbuilder when the balls are fairly open, but when he needs to play some more delicate positioning,such as nudges, kisses, hiting the correct side of the pack to split the reds nicely, leaving the cue ball on the right side of the color etc, then he mostly fails. Today he missed the pack totaly while attempting to split it on three ocasions. I mean completely missed it, from possitions which shouldn't be a problem, but a routine thing for a top classs player. On the last frame he had only four very much open reds to finish the match in style, but he totaly messed up the positional side of the break, and left the cue ball on the totaly wrong side of the black for the last red. Or in frame 24 which he lost, he had to split the last red and pink from the black. The pink was on the pink spot and the red glued to the pink below it. So, if he hit the red from any side, left or right he would have been perfect to pot the read to any of the corner pockets. In that moment i thought (he'll play an awfull shot as usual and hit the red in the face). And guess what? He did hit the red in the face and lost position and eventualy the frame. The best thing about his game is that he makes too many successful recovery pots which keep the break going. I'm looking for perfect cue ball control from these top class players, not fancy pots. No wonder my favorite players are Higgins, Murphy, Maguire, Fu.... So nothing personal realy. His fans don't realy understand my posts and take my comments personaly.

Ok yes, I see were you are coming from and I agree somewhat but he is not that bad but this is an area he can improve. He perhaps has not got that delicate touch when in the balls in the same way as say Higgins, Williams, Fu ROS etc., but it takes all sorts to make the world go around and like you say he has got other assets (Like confidence, potting and (belief) which always helps). I think he is not the finished article yet but he can improve. Look at how ROS has tempered his game from that raw potting talent that he started with. Judd Trump is a player with natural potting ability but he has not quite made the break though as yet and there are many more.

For me this was a great comeback Gould looked fantastic and potted Neil off the table for two sessions, takes guts to get past that wining line though. If you take heart from your defeats you improve. Previous last frame defeats to Dott in particular must have hurt Robertson. If anything though Robertson showed he has learned to cope with this and you cant question one thing, he has bottle because this was one of the greatest comebacks in snooker history.
Credit to Gould too, for showing his now undoubted talent, I enjoyed watching him play and this wont be the last we see of him.

[matoski]

Ok yes, I see were you are coming from and I agree somewhat but he is not that bad but this is an area he can improve. He perhaps has not got that delicate touch when in the balls in the same way as say Higgins, Williams, Fu ROS etc., but it takes all sorts to make the world go around and like you say he has got other assets (Like confidence, potting and (belief) which always helps). I think he is not the finished article yet but he can improve. Look at how ROS has tempered his game from that raw potting talent that he started with. Judd Trump is a player with natural potting ability but he has not quite made the break though as yet and there are many more.

For me this was a great comeback Gould looked fantastic and potted Neil off the table for two sessions, takes guts to get past that wining line though. If you take heart from your defeats you improve. Previous last frame defeats to Dott in particular must have hurt Robertson. If anything though Robertson showed he has learned to cope with this and you cant question one thing, he has bottle because this was one of the greatest comebacks in snooker history.
Credit to Gould too, for showing his now undoubted talent, I enjoyed watching him play and this wont be the last we see of him.

Finaly someone who speaks reasonably. Cheers!

[Odrl]

It's a shame that Neil will most probably play in the semis against Dott or Allen. I can't see Davis win the QF, sadly.

Actually, the winner of the Robertson-Davis match would play the winner of the Murphy/Ding/Perry/Carter quarter in the SF. My prediction of a Robertson-Murphy semi-final is still alive, and actually looking very possible now.

[wemba]

Battle scars for Martin Gould, certainly.

The pattern of this match was very similar to another match Robertson was involved in at the Crucible a few years ago. On that occasion he played Graeme Dott in the quarters. Dott got off to a flying start and held a big lead going into the final session. Robertson staged a fighting comeback and drew level but couldn't finish it off as Dott emerged the winner by a narrow margin.

That defeat must have crossed Robertson's mind at some point yesterday?

[Matt_2745]

My report fwiw.

[Bulkie]

I feel for Gould really. Having played some fantastic snooker in the 1st 2 sessions only to falter at the very last moment.

[JRobbins]

My report fwiw.

great report mate