Has John Higgins got a realistic chance of winning Worlds?

John is tactically a great player. But now I think that Judd is gathering a really good pace towards the Sheffield. Robbo´s been playing great for a some time now. Seems that Peter Ebdon been sort of a looking for something during the last few years, but now he is also back on track, so a really really difficult player to beat in Sheffield. And how about Ronnie O´Sullivan, beloved of Londoners, for ever and ever, and for whose sake the sun does shine....

Aditya Mehta has certainly played some cracking snooker. For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsx89bo5_yo a 45 break he just made against Mark King is some a very interesting snooker. He certainly seems to have some supreme natural talents, as well as a dead straight cue action. I have been accused of sort of a leave too many options open, i.e trying to play positional shots to a many balls, leaving the cue ball ´somewhere there´ and then having several options to continue the break, when they say it is better always to have just a one clear cut plan. But Aditya´s playing certainly tops even that! It is just that is it solid enough to have even better results when it really matters. Recently his results have been quite good.

TheSaviour wrote:John is tactically a great player. But now I think that Judd is gathering a really good pace towards the Sheffield. Robbo´s been playing great for a some time now. Seems that Peter Ebdon been sort of a looking for something during the last few years, but now he is also back on track, so a really really difficult player to beat in Sheffield. And how about Ronnie O´Sullivan, beloved of Londoners, for ever and ever, and for whose sake the sun does shine....

Aditya Mehta has certainly played some cracking snooker. For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsx89bo5_yo a 45 break he just made against Mark King is some a very interesting snooker. He certainly seems to have some supreme natural talents, as well as a dead straight cue action. I have been accused of sort of a leave too many options open, i.e trying to play positional shots to a many balls, leaving the cue ball ´somewhere there´ and then having several options to continue the break, when they say it is better always to have just a one clear cut plan. But Aditya´s playing certainly tops even that! It is just that is it solid enough to have even better results when it really matters. Recently his results have been quite good.

Has Mark Williams?

No, no.

armchair de critique wrote:No, no.

Has Joe Perry?

SnookerFan wrote:

armchair de critique wrote:No, no.

Has Joe Perry?

No.

As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

PLtheRef wrote:As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

John Higgins route to his last worlds wasn't easy. As a fan I want him to beat the best not play a bunch of bunnies.

PLtheRef wrote:As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

Higgins hasn't got a cat in hell's chance of beating Robertson over a best of 25 frame.

Cloud Strife wrote:

PLtheRef wrote:As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

Higgins hasn't got a cat in hell's chance of beating Robertson over a best of 25 frame.

We dont agree often but i agree with you there.


and even if he beat Robertson the expectation level on him would increase and he would fold like a deck of cards in the next round.

Wildey wrote:

Cloud Strife wrote:

PLtheRef wrote:As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

Higgins hasn't got a cat in hell's chance of beating Robertson over a best of 25 frame.

We dont agree often but i agree with you there.


and even if he beat Robertson the expectation level on him would increase and he would fold like a deck of cards in the next round.

He may even go out first round like he did the previous 2 years. I dont expect him to as he's been playing reasonably well recently, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slighest.

Yes

PLtheRef wrote:As Roland said last year, John Higgins isn't the sort of person that you want to write off but I do think that his chances this year are hindered by the fact that unless he wins the China Open he has a very tough route, assuming he does get through his first round match - A second round match against Robertson lies in wait.

Should he win that however and you never know

What a great second round match that is in prospect.

Though, knowing Higgins he'll get slaughtered.

It's not looking likely.

Could ask the same question about Crucible 2016.

SnookerFan wrote:Could ask the same question about Crucible 2016.

Don't know about the Crucible (the longer distance is always a different calibre for older players) but his chance of winning the UK or the Masters has definitely grown now.

TheRocket wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:Could ask the same question about Crucible 2016.

Don't know about the Crucible (the longer distance is always a different calibre for older players) but his chance of winning the UK or the Masters has definitely grown now.

He has just won a best of 17 and a best of 19 this weekend.

Granted, best of 19 is the shortest match at The Crucible. And only played once.

SnookerFan wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:Could ask the same question about Crucible 2016.

Don't know about the Crucible (the longer distance is always a different calibre for older players) but his chance of winning the UK or the Masters has definitely grown now.

He has just won a best of 17 and a best of 19 this weekend.

Granted, best of 19 is the shortest match at The Crucible. And only played once.

He demolished Murphy and Selby in this tournament but I'm not fully convinced whether he still has this consistency to beat the likes of Selby, Robertson, Trump, Murphy or Ding in a best of 25 or even a longer distance. The older you get, the less likely it becomes.

But if he keeps playing like this, it's definitely not out of reach. Let me put it this way.

At this very moment in time, Higgins should be considered the favourite for the World Championship.

Cloud Strife wrote:At this very moment in time, Higgins should be considered the favourite for the World Championship.

Probably, but even if he wins say one or even two more rankers before then, come April he simply can't be considered favourite in my opinion... Over Best of 25s, 33 and 35 he just hasn't got that consistency to beat the top players, Ding also proved it last season, albeit Higgins hadn't been playing so well.

We'll see... sometimes when a player wins early in a season they run out of gas in the last few events. Could happen the same with him.

Cloud Strife wrote:At this very moment in time, Higgins should be considered the favourite for the World Championship.

Disagree. Look at his record in all the majors since 2011...and I mean the PROPER majors - UK, Masters and WC.


As I've said before, the test of a great player on the decline is not their best, it's their worst and their consistency under pressure! Higgins has been in decline since 2011. It was an impressive recent performance, but just remember Steve Davis got to the final of the UK in 2005, and that (unlike this one) was a proper long format event throughout. Nobody can seriously say that Steve Davis was even near favourite for the 2006 World Championship.

Higgins has a realistic chance of winning the World Championship, but then so do an awful lot of people.

I personally think it would be great to have a Ronnie v Higgins world final again. Clash of the titans.

I'll be watching the 2016 wc with some real hope now.

Holden Chinaski wrote:I personally think it would be great to have a Ronnie v Higgins world final again. Clash of the titans.

That would be a fitting end to their careers, unfortunately the chances of these two absolute greats meeting again in a World Final are very slim.

I wouldn't mind a big match between them there, say a Quarter-Final or Semis.

If I used my cockerel as a cue I reckon I'd have nearly as much of a chance of winning the World Title as Higgins.

Pink Ball wrote:If I used my cockerel as a cue I reckon I'd have nearly as much of a chance of winning the World Title as Higgins.

I can see where you are coming from. Watching John Higgins´s a rather tactical snooker can be a bit of watching a paint to dry. But now this International Championships was already John´s third ranking title of a year. Let´s see if he can build a some sort of a legacy from here. There hasn´t quite been any during the last few years. There has been just so many different ranking title tournament winners. Almost all of them a very tough match players. That have seem to be a qualification requirement for that lol. But with John, let´s not forget that he was the man who was able to grind down the Rocket when Ronnie was coached by a certain Ray Reardon and seemed to be almost unstoppable and was winning a loads of ranking tournaments. When there even wasn´t that many.

Not a chance! He's peaked too soon :()

TheSaviour wrote:I can see where you are coming from. Watching John Higgins´s a rather tactical snooker can be a bit of watching a paint to dry. But now this International Championships was already John´s third ranking title of a year. Let´s see if he can build a some sort of a legacy from here. There hasn´t quite been any during the last few years. There has been just so many different ranking title tournament winners. Almost all of them a very tough match players. That have seem to be a qualification requirement for that lol. But with John, let´s not forget that he was the man who was able to grind down the Rocket when Ronnie was coached by a certain Ray Reardon and seemed to be almost unstoppable and was winning a loads of ranking tournaments. When there even wasn´t that many.

For once I understand what you're saying.

Though, I'm not sure what tournament you've just watched. Higgins slaughtered Murphy by playing all out attack. I saw nothing technical about that performance. Or anything boring come to that. It was amongst the best performances I've even seen from John Higgins, and that's saying something.

From what I saw of the Selby match too, he was still going for shots he had no right to go for, and he was potting them. If Judd had pulled out some of the shots Higgins did, we'd all be talking about his naughty snooker.

Higgins may have slightly run out his potting form in the final. But I think it's unfair to imply he grinded out the entire tournament.

SnookerFan wrote:

TheSaviour wrote:I can see where you are coming from. Watching John Higgins´s a rather tactical snooker can be a bit of watching a paint to dry. But now this International Championships was already John´s third ranking title of a year. Let´s see if he can build a some sort of a legacy from here. There hasn´t quite been any during the last few years. There has been just so many different ranking title tournament winners. Almost all of them a very tough match players. That have seem to be a qualification requirement for that lol. But with John, let´s not forget that he was the man who was able to grind down the Rocket when Ronnie was coached by a certain Ray Reardon and seemed to be almost unstoppable and was winning a loads of ranking tournaments. When there even wasn´t that many.

For once I understand what you're saying.

Though, I'm not sure what tournament you've just watched. Higgins slaughtered Murphy by playing all out attack. I saw nothing technical about that performance. Or anything boring come to that. It was amongst the best performances I've even seen from John Higgins, and that's saying something.

From what I saw of the Selby match too, he was still going for shots he had no right to go for, and he was potting them. If Judd had pulled out some of the shots Higgins did, we'd all be talking about his naughty snooker.

Higgins may have slightly run out his potting form in the final. But I think it's unfair to imply he grinded out the entire tournament.

People seem to forget Higgins won many frames by clearing up in 1 visit after great long pots. It just so happens that he's also the best tactician the game has ever seen too.

There's a reason he's regarded as the best all-rounder in the game, but he's not just good at all aspects of the game, he's right there at the top, and when in-form he's up there with Hendry and Ronnie.

By rights he should have won 6 titles by now himself, but he has been known to go off the boil for long periods.

Holden Chinaski wrote:I personally think it would be great to have a Ronnie v Higgins world final again. Clash of the titans.

I Dont.

Really cant fathom this wish for old players to still be competing at the top.

i really wish that a young player starts to come to the forefront at sheffield that's the life blood of the sport if they cant then im pretty depressed about the future.