Snooker world championship thread

[JCRD]

I am a big fan of Selby... keep reading a great deal of moaning about him on twitter particularly yesterday. Didnt he have the same shot time as Bingham? and i think his average shot time is on par with most throughout.

Is he negative? perhaps slightly and there is a bit of gamesmanship but this is sport - there is always gamesmanship to gain an upperhand.

 

[kr1978]

There has been some amazing snooker this year, really high standards.
Don’t mind Selby but would prefer to see Murphy win-always seems a decent bloke

 

[slartibartfast]

I think risking these long shots is gonna cost Murphy. Taking too many risks imo.

 

[scat1620]

I am a big fan of Selby... keep reading a great deal of moaning about him on twitter particularly yesterday. Didnt he have the same shot time as Bingham? and i think his average shot time is on par with most throughout.

Is he negative? perhaps slightly and there is a bit of gamesmanship but this is sport - there is always gamesmanship to gain an upperhand.

Boo-urns, Mark Selby, boo-urns!

I don't like Selby much. Not an active irrational hatred like I have for Mark Williams (for no real reason I've ever been able to fathom), but after he got pissy with O'Sullivan in last year's Worlds semis for no good reason at all, I'm a Murphy man all the way in this final.

 

[dagraham]

Boo-urns, Mark Selby, boo-urns!

I don't like Selby much. Not an active irrational hatred like I have for Mark Williams (for no real reason I've ever been able to fathom), but after he got pissy with O'Sullivan in last year's Worlds semis for no good reason at all, I'm a Murphy man all the way in this final.

I’ve never liked Selby, but I’d actually forgotten about him getting pissy with O’Sullivan last time, so even more reason to hate him.

Did you see what he did in the semi finals against Bingham? He was clearly getting annoyed at what he perceived as Bingham being lucky with the run of the balls earlier in the match ( probably conveniently forgetting about all the times I’ve seen him being a jammy bastard ).

He then got an outrageous fluke at the start of the frame when missing would have left the frame open and instead of being suitably sheepish about it, he played up to the crowd acting like a drama queen. Was totally out of order.

I wouldn’t even behave like that playing pool in the pub. Tosser.

 

[WinksyBoy]

Selby 2 frames away from the title.

 

[slartibartfast]

Murphy just takes too many risks imo. Selby just sets the trap and then picks him off. Shame.

 

[Kingellesar]

Dislike Selby, stroppy prick. His attitude in the Bingham match was ridiculous.

Having said that, Murphy is also incredibly annoying.

Its weird, Selby has won so much yet you still never really put him in the same category as Ronnie / Higgins / Davis / Hendry, I guess a 4th world title here will start putting him in the same bracket as those.

 

[punky]

Don't really dislike Selby but do really like Murphy and would love him to win. Selby just has all the luck. Even when he misses the pot he flukes a snooker. Would be quite amazing if Shaun wins now.

 

[JCRD]

Boo-urns, Mark Selby, boo-urns!

I don't like Selby much. Not an active irrational hatred like I have for Mark Williams (for no real reason I've ever been able to fathom), but after he got pissy with O'Sullivan in last year's Worlds semis for no good reason at all, I'm a Murphy man all the way in this final.

Getting closer scatman... Smurf is coming back into it.

It's been a great final

 

[mark87]

Selby's got this now, just needs to keep his composure.

 

[Amo]

What a dumb way to lose the championship.

 

[slartibartfast]

Murphy just takes too many risks imo. Selby just sets the trap and then picks him off. Shame.

I rest my case. Great final though. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Both great players.

 

[mpickard2087]

About the worst final matchup from my perspective. Selby is the player I dislike the most for attitude and demeanour. Murphy also rubs me up the wrong way, I'm sure he's a nice guy but the constant cheery bonhomie mixed with a bit of smug and smarmy annoys me.

You've got to respect Selby's ability, he's the best in the safety/tactical department ever, but yeah..... boooooooo.

 

[JCRD]

About the worst final matchup from my perspective. Selby is the player I dislike the most for attitude and demeanour. Murphy also rubs me up the wrong way, I'm sure he's a nice guy but the constant cheery bonhomie mixed with a bit of smug and smarmy annoys me.

You've got to respect Selby's ability, he's the best in the safety/tactical department ever, but yeah..... boooooooo.

Im not a snooker purist and do like and enjoy entertaining snooker but there is something about a tactical battel on a snooker table that raises the tension to a whole new level.

The guy is cerebral in how he plays and appreciate it may not be to everyones liking but if you had a chance to be up there as part of the elite whilst winning half a million quid then youd do anything to get there. I mean look at Murphys last go at the red - Selby would have played it safe, and that was the right shot, if Murphy played it safe then who knows what may have happened. Its intelligent snooker. Its matchplay snooker.

Also Selbys wife is super hot.

 

[Spurslove]

I watched the Players Championship final yesterday (Robertson v Hawkins) and I have to say the snooker played by Neil Robertson was some of the hottest snooker I've seen for a good few years (he won 10-5). He was absolutely amazing. I lost count of the number of century breaks he made and just didn't give Barry a chance, winning frames at a single visit so many times. Shame because I'd have loved Barry to lift the trophy as he always seems to be a 'nearly man' but when your opponent plays like that, you've just got to hold your hands up and say 'well done fella'.

An incredible performance by Robertson and he's my tip for another world title in three months time.

.

 

[Kingellesar]

Said to my mrs at the end of last season that Robertson will win a few titles this season, he has really regained his form after he went through a difficult few years in his personal life. He is one of the best players to watch (shame hes a Chelsea fan) but he has been in incredible form this season and yeah I would put him in contetion to win the worlds.

Trump on the other hand has had an awful season after his champion of champions win. Having entered the US Open Pool in September and the constant talk of wanting to change snooker...I feel like it's distracted him and he is struggling to regain his form from the previous few seasons where he won everything.

Barry Hawkins is the Tottenham of snooker, the nearly man. I like Barry but you can see in his face he is just happy to be there, never has that convinction he can go and win a tournament.

 

[Spurslove]

Said to my mrs at the end of last season that Robertson will win a few titles this season, he has really regained his form after he went through a difficult few years in his personal life. He is one of the best players to watch (shame hes a Chelsea fan) but he has been in incredible form this season and yeah I would put him in contetion to win the worlds.

Trump on the other hand has had an awful season after his champion of champions win. Having entered the US Open Pool in September and the constant talk of wanting to change snooker...I feel like it's distracted him and he is struggling to regain his form from the previous few seasons where he won everything.

Barry Hawkins is the Tottenham of snooker, the nearly man. I like Barry but you can see in his face he is just happy to be there, never has that convinction he can go and win a tournament.

I didn't know Neil was a Chelsea fan. Shit.

I must admit, I'm completely unaware of what he went through which you describe as 'a difficult few years in his personal life' and I'm equally unaware of whatever Judd has said about 'changing snooker' as I don't tend to listen to any 'chat' off the table. I just watch the snooker matches, get fully engrossed and tend to ignore most everything else.

.

 

[Kingellesar]

Neil went through a few tricky periods, his wife suffered from depression and he became addicted to gaming. He was going out of most tournaments in the early rounds and just looked fatigued all the time, he would pick up the odd smaller event but then when it came to any of the majors he struggled and yeah looked finished at one point. But he seems to have overcome the issues and is now fully focused on snooker again.

Judd is trying to change the way snooker is viewed, he wants to modernise the game and break America (hence entering the US Pool Open). I've no problem with him trying to do that but you can clearly see how its hampered his progress this season, he does have some very valid arguments on how to bring snooker to a younger generation and one of his suggestions was that some of the younger players do the commentary/studio analysis, which was really good when they did it at the worlds. Him and Jack Lisowski did it and it was very refreshing to hear from current snooker players and how they could anticipate what shots were on and why a player was playing it.

Another suggestion he has is the way they dress which is a split reaction, he wants them to drop the shirt and tie look for a polo shirt option, similar to how they dress in pool. They have trialled it this season in some of the smaller events.

 

[Spurslove]

Many thanks for the updates. Firstly, very happy that Neil has managed to come out the other end of his family troubles and is now producing some absolutely scintillating snooker again. I know from my own personal family experience exactly what depression can do, so please God, his wife has managed to deal with her demons.

Judd wanting to change snooker in the manner in which you describe, breaking America, is a perfectly acceptable venture, but not if it means changing all the things which make snooker what it is, and as I'm very much a traditionalist I'm aghast at the idea of snooker players abandoning the shirt and tie for a tee-shirt. No way. For me, if the world wants to take snooker to it's heart, that's great, but it has to do so because of what it is, not what we think it has to be adapted to.

Cheers.

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