3 Players who have went backwards ?

Mark Allen
Jamie Cope
Liang Wenbo

In previous seasons these 3 were playing well and competing in semi's and finals of ranking finals.

Recently i get the feeling all 3 have went backwards in their career allen only seems to perform well in 1 tournament a year at the worlds , Cope after reaching his 2 finals 4 years ago has struggled to regain any consistency and wenbo seems to have went missing since his good start to last season.

My own views on them allen i feel has the best bottle out of the 3 which showed in beating higgins and ronnie in the big tournament's.
I wonder if them 2 wins have went to his head abit and he thinks he has already reached the top and isnt putting the work in on the practice table.

Cope is a great potter but if he falls behind in a match he seems to virtually give up.

Wenbo i wonder if he has been found out as his form since last years uk championship has being shocking.



What are your views on these 3 players and which of these 3 do you feel will achieve most in snooker ?

All three very talented but very inconsistent too and they've really suffered with the lack of tournamnents, when they hit a purple patch then they can't back it up the next week and carry that on, now with the PTCs and a couple more tournaments on the calendar they should be able to gain more confidence and belief throughout a season and i'd really be surprised if all three weren't in the top 16 they all should be.

I think Cope is the best, Allen second and Wenbo third but not much between them, whether there's a world title in it for any of them i'm not sure, Ding in a similar age bracket to them has a big headstart, I think Selby's peak is still to come and of course Robertson will be around the top for several more years yet ... if they still aren't getting to finals or winning events in the next 2 years then they have to give themselves a long hard look.

Also Maguire's gone most surprisingly backwards, not one of the younger generation but #2 in the world and winning a couple of ranking events in the 08 season but since then he's really struggled to reach the latter stages ... not sure where he's ranked now but needs to get his ass in gear soon.

Bourne wrote:Also Maguire's gone most surprisingly backwards, not one of the younger generation but #2 in the world and winning a couple of ranking events in the 08 season but since then he's really struggled to reach the latter stages ... not sure where he's ranked now but needs to get his ass in gear soon.

on maguire willie thorne mentioned that during the season maguire takes extended breaks and doesnt practice for over a month at some stages during the season

Maguire
Stevens
Cope

GJtheaussiestud wrote:

Bourne wrote:Also Maguire's gone most surprisingly backwards, not one of the younger generation but #2 in the world and winning a couple of ranking events in the 08 season but since then he's really struggled to reach the latter stages ... not sure where he's ranked now but needs to get his ass in gear soon.

on maguire willie thorne mentioned that during the season maguire takes extended breaks and doesnt practice for over a month at some stages during the season

Yeh I thought he didn't apply himself too well, i noticed he seems to have put on a little more weight over the summer, he did the same a few years ago too and struggled.

Jamie Cope is definitely on a upward trend at the moment but it is a bit frightening for Mark Allen and Wenbo is dropping back at a alarming rate.

GJtheaussiestud wrote:

Bourne wrote:Also Maguire's gone most surprisingly backwards, not one of the younger generation but #2 in the world and winning a couple of ranking events in the 08 season but since then he's really struggled to reach the latter stages ... not sure where he's ranked now but needs to get his ass in gear soon.

on maguire willie thorne mentioned that during the season maguire takes extended breaks and doesnt practice for over a month at some stages during the season

He was talking about everyone when he said that because of the gaps in events over the last few years.

Last season was a funny one for Maguire because he reached three semis in a row at the UK, Masters and Welsh and missed the first event through an injury. His grandad also died which must have hit him hard given how close he was to him.

Maguire has gone backwards more than any other top player, with the possible exception of Ryan Day.

The three originally mentioned GJ haven't gone back, their form just happens to be poor right now.

Some players will have 'purple patches' and be great. If they subside for an bit does not mean that they are going backwards.

All three will play their part over the next few years. Cope is definitely on the way up, Wenbo has suffered a blip (drawing Ronnie twice and Ding at the Crucible hasn't helped his cause) and Allen had a decent Crucible campaign and didn't enter the first batch of PTC so I think all three will do things this season, just wait.

Sonny wrote:All three will play their part over the next few years. Cope is definitely on the way up, Wenbo has suffered a blip (drawing Ronnie twice and Ding at the Crucible hasn't helped his cause) and Allen had a decent Crucible campaign and didn't enter the first batch of PTC so I think all three will do things this season, just wait.

but longer Allen and Wenbo goes without doing anything the pressure will mount.

Regarding Cope only Mark Williams has actually won more Ranking points than him this season he has won 10,060 points with Mark Williams on 11,140 points.

Really?

Allen and Wenbo need to go another 5 years without winning before you can draw such conclusions if you ask me. Neither of them are potential WN1 material but both are capable of winning tournaments. I'd like to see some sort of feature on Liang Wenbo, find out where he's at, his read of what's happened since his final in Shanghai, why he missed the PTCs and has dropped out of the 16 as soon as he's in and that sort of thing.

I forgot about ryan day..tubberlad reminded me. He is the player that has gone most backwards for me, I cant explain what has happened to be honest, he is now truely awful. Like I give a dam though.

thetubberlad wrote:Maguire has gone backwards more than any other top player, with the possible exception of Ryan Day.

The three originally mentioned GJ haven't gone back, their form just happens to be poor right now.

Day was the first name that sprung to mind. Not that I'm sorry to see him struggle


Maguire seems to maintain a top 6 ranking without ever seeming to do anything of note.

I'm don't know Mark Allen personally, but see him around and know him to say hello to. He is immensely talented and in practice (as many are I know!) is full of flair and when he was very young, he was a star in the making (as were quite a few others).

When he first came through, the forums hadn't heard much of him and all the talk was of Trump and Cope, but I backed Allen as I'd followed his amateur career closely and beat the likes of Higgins and Davis in his first tournament. He got in the top 16 very quickly when results went his way at the WC a couple of years ago. The last year he has been a little quieter and he now lives in Antrim again. He is not as dedicated as he once was and golf and beer often take priority. Not a problem in this as he stays down to earth, but would be good to see him really focus and win a tournament as he had both the bottle and the talent, but perhaps lacks a little in determination - When he didn't compete in the PTC events early on, I remember seeing him in town having a bit of craic!

Day was the first name that sprung to mind. Not that I'm sorry to see him struggle

same.

Mal wrote:I'm don't know Mark Allen personally, but see him around and know him to say hello to. He is immensely talented and in practice (as many are I know!) is full of flair and when he was very young, he was a star in the making (as were quite a few others).

When he first came through, the forums hadn't heard much of him and all the talk was of Trump and Cope, but I backed Allen as I'd followed his amateur career closely and beat the likes of Higgins and Davis in his first tournament. He got in the top 16 very quickly when results went his way at the WC a couple of years ago. The last year he has been a little quieter and he now lives in Antrim again. He is not as dedicated as he once was and golf and beer often take priority. Not a problem in this as he stays down to earth, but would be good to see him really focus and win a tournament as he had both the bottle and the talent, but perhaps lacks a little in determination - When he didn't compete in the PTC events early on, I remember seeing him in town having a bit of craic!

very good analysis

Wildey wrote:Jamie Cope is definitely on a upward trend at the moment but it is a bit frightening for Mark Allen and Wenbo is dropping back at a alarming rate.

Interesting thread this one.
Has got me wondering if there are any players now who might not have much longer at the top.

You'll probably call me an idiot, but my shout would be Ding. He may well start to slip down the rankings. He just doesn't seem that bothered these days.

HustleKing is going to blow his bucking lid.

I don't think HustleKing has much longer at the top

Yeah good shout about Ding. I think he is focusing on family first.

Marco Fu also out of top 64 this year I reckon

Barry Hawkins - no longer a top plater (copywright Snooker Island)

The_Abbott wrote:Yeah good shout about Ding. I think he is focusing on family first.

Marco Fu also out of top 64 this year I reckon

Barry Hawkins - no longer a top plater (copywright Snooker Island)

Just thinking about it. When this thread was made, Cope, Allen and Liang were all about 24/25 years of age.

Right now, there's only really Brecel in that age bracket that could be considered as having anywhere to go 'down' from. I think Brecel is still on the way up actually.
If you stretch the bracket a little, you've got Donaldson, Zhao and Zhou, but again, they're on the way up really.

I dunno. I've never really been overly impressed by Brecel and I can see him going the way of Jamie Cope and Michael White quite easily. He just doesn't seem to have the heart for it.

Maybe i'm wrong

chengdufan wrote:

Wildey wrote:Jamie Cope is definitely on a upward trend at the moment but it is a bit frightening for Mark Allen and Wenbo is dropping back at a alarming rate.

Interesting thread this one.
Has got me wondering if there are any players now who might not have much longer at the top.

You'll probably call me an idiot, but my shout would be Ding. He may well start to slip down the rankings. He just doesn't seem that bothered these days.

Ding won the UK only 9 months ago.

I know I'm supposed to name 3 players but I choose 4.

Ryan Day
Marco Fu
Ricky Walden
Barry Hawkins

Four players who have had a similar career in terms of title wins. And they pose a very similar threat to the very topplayers. As a Top4 or 5 player you wouldnt want to play them in the early stages of a tournament because they can definitely knock you out. But they have all gone backwards. For different reasons.

TheRocket wrote:I know I'm supposed to name 3 players but I choose 4.

Ryan Day
Marco Fu
Ricky Walden
Barry Hawkins

Four players who have had a similar career in terms of title wins. And they pose a very similar threat to the very topplayers. As a Top4 or 5 player you wouldnt want to play them in the early stages of a tournament because they can definitely knock you out. But they have all gone backwards. For different reasons.

It will be interesting to see if Day can bounce back this year. If he has a similar year to 2019-20, he will drop out of the 64. I don't think anyone would have predicted that a year or so ago.

chengdufan wrote:It will be interesting to see if Day can bounce back this year.

Will it be Ryan's year...?

Have went backwards?

SnookerFan wrote:Have went backwards?

It's the simple past past participle of 'go'. Rare to see that tense used outside of scholarly circles.