2016 World Championship discussion

[P.Smith]

Nothing would please me more than for Selby to prove absolutely everybody on this forum wrong and become a two time champion of the world. The sour grapes would be epic!

In other news, where has all the Higgins bashing on this forum come from?

[thommo335]

I'd love to see a Higgins , Selby final

So would I, then I can do something else on bank holiday Monday rather than watch these two.

[shmeeko69]

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.

I think the most difficult match to predict is Wilson v Selby and to a lesser extent Fu v Hawkins.

[shmeeko69]

I always get a little bit more excited about a tournament once Ronnie is out actually...

There's seems to be always a love hate thing with Ronnie. Yes, most of us want him in the game and doing well, but there's the
other side of us that are glad when he's out.

[shmeeko69]

History isn't on Higgins side. No 40+ year old has reached the final since 1988.
And with 3 of them in the top half its looking good for Ding to make the final.

If it's stats you're after then, here's one to cancel out the above. The last three time Higgins has reached the
Crucible QF's he's gone on and won the title.

Do I think he'll win it - NO.

[snookerfran]

History isn't on Higgins side. No 40+ year old has reached the final since 1988.
And with 3 of them in the top half its looking good for Ding to make the final.

Yeah but no Chinese player has ever made the final... So I guess none of the top half is going through.

[P.Smith]

I always get a little bit more excited about a tournament once Ronnie is out actually...

[RaveDave]

A massive congrats to the Hawk. ROS made a huge statement at the Welsh Open with his superb relaxed play and I honestly believe it was his way of sending a bullying of the head message to other players before this World championship. He knows more than any other player that this game is played within the head, they all have the technique but they do not all have the same amount of bottle. Him seeing Hawk not intimidated shocked him and then the pressure reverted back on him, big time, so the mind games just didn't work.

I for one knew Hawk wouldn't be intimidated even after The Masters drumming, he proved that against ROS in their World Final.

Posters stating its a boring WC now are having a laugh. All players left will have a good chance to win and we should not get the run away one sided victories, which, come on, are boring. Looking forward to the games ahead because there going to be mistakes, good drama and loads of pressure. Selby is going to be dangerous now, he is the Predator and will now lock in to concentration mode, imo.

It is always a bit boring without Ronnie lets be honest. As cliche and boring as it sounds, Ronnie is by far and away the most watchable player.

[travisbickle]

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.

History isn't on Higgins side. No 40+ year old has reached the final since 1988.
And with 3 of them in the top half its looking good for Ding to make the final.

[throtts]

A massive congrats to the Hawk. ROS made a huge statement at the Welsh Open with his superb relaxed play and I honestly believe it was his way of sending a bullying of the head message to other players before this World championship. He knows more than any other player that this game is played within the head, they all have the technique but they do not all have the same amount of bottle. Him seeing Hawk not intimidated shocked him and then the pressure reverted back on him, big time, so the mind games just didn't work.

I for one knew Hawk wouldn't be intimidated even after The Masters drumming, he proved that against ROS in their World Final.

Posters stating its a boring WC now are having a laugh. All players left will have a good chance to win and we should not get the run away one sided victories, which, come on, are boring. Looking forward to the games ahead because there going to be mistakes, good drama and loads of pressure. Selby is going to be dangerous now, he is the Predator and will now lock in to concentration mode, imo.

[Rane]

So much for my predictions. An interesting lineup for the quarter, except McManus I think they´ll all have a chance. It looks like a Higgins - Selby final again, which would be great, but I hardly would call it a surprise if it´s someone else.

I found this quote from Kyren Wilson. Looks like he has learned the lesson that Trump refuses to learn: "I’d describe myself as a battler, I can flow when I want to, and when I’m scoring heavily I’ve shown that I can reel off frame after frame. But sometimes that’s not good enough and you have to have another game to fall back on."

[Chappy5]

Ronnie you mug. How can you lose to Bazza ffs. ANYONE winning now apart from Higgins, Selby or Hawkings would be fine with me. Higgins I lost all respect for after his scandal and Selby and Bazza are incredibly boring to watch.

I always wonder with Higgins as well since that incident if he feels a bit guilty about how people think of him and maybe in his mind he thinks it is better if he doesn't win and maybe tries less? Or maybe he would throw a match? We just don't know. I don't think he would really want to win the final because of all the backlash he would get, unless his conscience is clear and I doubt that. hmm.

I hope Ding wins. Failing that, Marco or Mark.

My thoughts to.

I hate Higgins and if he wins i will vomit.

Ding or Fu i would like to see win from who is left.

[RaveDave]

Ronnie you mug. How can you lose to Bazza ffs. ANYONE winning now apart from Higgins, Selby or Hawkings would be fine with me. Except Robbo or Smurf and they are out luckily. Higgins I lost all respect for after his scandal and Selby and Bazza are incredibly boring to watch.

I always wonder with Higgins as well since that incident if he feels a bit guilty about how people think of him and maybe in his mind he thinks it is better if he doesn't win and maybe tries less? Or maybe he would throw a match? We just don't know. I don't think he would really want to win the final because of all the backlash he would get, unless his conscience is clear and I doubt that. hmm.

I hope Ding wins. Failing that, Marco or Mark.

[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.

[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.