Mark Williams or Mark Selby?

Who will be considered the greater player of the two in the end?


Will Mark Selby—who is arguably the best of his generation—be considered greater than Mark Williams who is the third best of his generation?

Will the highest achieving player from Selby's generation—whoever that might end up being—even end up winning as many titles and TC events as Mark Williams has?

No poll. Just discussion.

It kind of depends.

Mark Selby is one of the best players in the world at the moment. But it depends how many more titles he wins. He's still a long way behind Williams. Selby, in my opinion, needs another World title and probably another UK title before he can be compared to Williams.

Another 6 or 8 full ranking title victories wouldn't hurt either.

Willo for now, no question. Not only has he won much more, don't forget he's had a couple of utterly dominant seasons against some very impressive opposition.

As to your question specifically.. I honestly find it impossible to answer. We'll see what they end up with when they both retire.

at the moment Williams after all he has done what Higgins and O'Sullivan hasent in winning World, UK and Masters in the same season.

Selby was the last player to get a sniff of that in 2012/2013 when he won UK and Masters but lost 2nd round to Barry Hawkins in sheffield.

Who knows what Selby will achieve in his 30s Ronnie has now become a target in terms of achievement and longjevity of playing top class snooker in your late 30s no reason why others cant do the same.

selby is a ebdon like player and i cant see him winning big titles in his mid 30s

look at MJW and JH. Ronnie is an one off.

masterdoctorgenius wrote:selby is a ebdon like player and i cant see him winning big titles in his mid 30s

look at MJW and JH. Ronnie is an one off.

Interesting comparison... John Higgins won hist last World title at the age of 36 and the UK title that same season, and I remember people saying how impressive it was for him to still be playing such good snooker at that age, while O'Sullivan seemed to be on his way down. O'Sullivan has recovered brilliantly since then, but I'm not sure why Higgins is now seen as someone who declined too early.

Peter Ebdon is not a great example either. He won the UK title at 36, then two more ranking titles at 39 and 42 years of age, which makes him the oldest winner of a major title since Jimmy White eleven years ago.

As for Selby, it's impossible to say really, but he is nowhere near to where Mark Williams was at his age, in terms of achievements. His opposition may be a little easier over the next few years though, so he just might have a stronger career in his 30s...

Odrl wrote:Peter Ebdon is not a great example either. He won the UK title at 36, then two more ranking titles at 39 and 42 years of age, which makes him the oldest winner of a major title since Jimmy White eleven years ago.

I thought that.

How can he be Ebdon like, when Ebdon was still won a ranker in his 40s?

Can't compare the two. Williams is streets ahead in terms of achievements. This debate would be better if Selby wins another two WC, two UKs, 2 x Masters and 15 other rankers therefore making reasonable allowances for the lower standard these days.

Selby has only won 5 ranking events so far. Williams has 18 ranking titles and he had prime Hendry, Higgins and ROS to compete with as well as Ebdon, Paul Hunter...
Selby needs to win a lot more before he can be considered in the same league as MJW. He needs at least one more world title and ten more ranking titles.

Have a look at Selby's ranking final losses and then try and use the weak opposition argument again

Anyway they are my two favourite players ever to pick up a cue, they are both all time greats with their own unique styles. At the moment Williams leads in achievements but Selby has time on his side to get closer.

We are comparing two people who are at different stages of their careers.

Not that Mark Williams is over the hill, he was a deciding frame away from a ranking event final on Saturday. But you must admit, Selby is closer to his best these days than Williams is. In the next few years Selby will win more ranking events than Williams will.

A better comparison would be after they're both retired.

Top 3 most frequently met opponents by Mark Selby: 1 Shaun Murphy, 2 Ali Carter, 3 Ding Junhui.

Top 3 most frequently met opponents by Mark Williams: 1 John Higgins, 2 Stephen Hendry, 3 Ronnie O'Sullivan. Nuff said.

Selby is a brilliant player and indeed has had very tough ranking finals, but he needs to win a lot more before he's on MJW's level. Maybe he will. I think he can win a lot more, but we'll see.

Better compare if needed Mjw with players like neil or ding (though he has no WC)

Have won more rankers than selby ever will. And more attacking just like mjw

Selby and mjw are different in every sense

Mark Selby is much better than Mark Williams, without a shadow of a doubt

Sigh...

Fanboys

JPOPSNOOKER wrote:Mark Selby is much better than Mark Williams, without a shadow of a doubt

Much better in what way huh?

Selby will never reach the amount of ranking titles MJW has, Selby might just might another World Title, hopefully he doesn't, but he has a long way to go to be even considered in MJWs class. From 1998-2003 MJW was diferent class, even above Hendry, Ronnie and Higgins, so I'd like to see how "without a shadow of a doubt" Selby is diferent from MJW.

Selby is gonna win 3 world titles and then you will agree with me

JPOPSNOOKER wrote:Selby is gonna win 3 world titles and then you will agree with me

Until then MJW will always be millions better than Selby

Andre147 wrote:

JPOPSNOOKER wrote:Selby is gonna win 3 world titles and then you will agree with me

Until then MJW will always be millions better than Selby

By 2018 Selby will have 3 world titles

JPOPSNOOKER wrote:

Andre147 wrote:

JPOPSNOOKER wrote:Selby is gonna win 3 world titles and then you will agree with me

Until then MJW will always be millions better than Selby

By 2018 Selby will have 3 world titles

Keep dreaming...

It's more likely Jimmy White will win his first World Title

And it's just as likely as some like you saying Selby would break the Crucible Curse this year... yeah right

I would be surprised if Selby gets 3 by career end , Im not even confident robbo will win another as much as I would love it to happen theres so much stiff competition these days nothing is certain at all.

GJ wrote:I would be surprised if Selby gets 3 by career end , Im not even confident robbo will win another as much as I would love it to happen theres so much stiff competition these days nothing is certain at all.

Don't worry about Robertson not winning another world title - he'll definitely do it one year

Stuart Bingham beats them both.