Welsh Open match discussion

[cueman]

well for the first time today Selby has actually tried to win a frame rather than try not to lose it.

[Ekphantos]

This isn't entertainment - people that don't play the game will find this type of match extremely dull. Selby will lose fans if he carries on like he is.

That surely is a problem, but I haven't really made my mind up on whether he does it on purpose. Then it would be easy to change, if not, only building up (even more) confidence would help.

[dantuck_7]

Going back to the Premier League discussion. Cueman has a valid point. This isn't entertainment - people that don't play the game will find this type of match extremely dull. Selby will lose fans if he carries on like he is.

[Ekphantos]

I don't think many players like playing matches like this,

I guess so, but others seem to cope better. It is not only showing frustration, which wouldn't a problem, but also playing worse than against faster opponents.

[April madness]

well in my opinion ronnie's game suffers....seems like Mark has cut Ronnie's form....lots of missed and his positional play suffers too...i would say it's lucky for ronnie that this is the last game of this session

pretty many bad misses from Selby too... of course, Ronnie doesn't play as spectacularly as yesterday, but I guess one match is just different from another

edit: don't they play 8/9 frames in sessions? at least that was written on worldsnooker site, I think

[toupihiggins]

well in my opinion ronnie's game suffers....seems like Mark has cut Ronnie's form....lots of missed and his positional play suffers too...i would say it's lucky for ronnie that this is the last game of this session

[cueman]

I don't think many players like playing matches like this, but O'Sullivan shows visually more frustration than most. Higgins looked totally bored in the World final when Selby really slowed it down and milked the occasion. I think Steve Davis would find this boring too and he is the master of tactics.

[April madness]

Do other players also have these problems with slow playing opponents?
O'Sullivan shows quite some weakness by getting annoyed by that.

Maybe he's getting annoyed, but I so far don't see his game suffering from that in a big way. So hopefully a close match till the very end

[Ekphantos]

Do other players also have these problems with slow playing opponents?
O'Sullivan shows quite some weakness by getting annoyed by that.

[attilahun]

Ronnie proved he also can win a very awkward and scrappy frame just now

Yes, but i think this is Mark's chance to win. If you try to fight Ronnie in potting balls, you might have a bad surprise and lose.

[toupihiggins]

well..selby can't win all of them:P

[April madness]

Mark saw what Ronnie did to Murphy last night and that is why he is playing a slow game. He knows he has a better chance of winning if the frames are fragmented and scrappy.

Ronnie proved he also can win a very awkward and scrappy frame just now

[cueman]

Selby played exactly like this in the UK against Ronnie, fortunately Ronnie managed to win but it wasn't pretty. I don't think Ronnie's performance last night had any relevance to Selby's tactics.

[attilahun]

Mark saw what Ronnie did to Murphy last night and that is why he is playing a slow game. He knows he has a better chance of winning if the frames are fragmented and scrappy.

[cueman]

i can see where ronnie is coming from, i do like mark and think he is a good character but he has really sent this game into a bad out of touch tatically dominated match. Mark just should play his free flowing game as he is more than good enough as a break-builder to win tournaments like that!

This is the point I'm trying to make, people that don't play the game to a good level don't really understand what is going on out there, but you can tell from the shot selection what mark is trying to do. I call it gamesmanship, basically its playing a negative game, different to your natural game to frustrate your opponent. Its no different to how Ebdon played one year and he got villified for it but it accounts to the same thing.