Was Mark Selby's season really that bad?

Was it half full or half empty for the World Number 1?

I did a little feature on this..
http://www.thecueview.com/md-s-thoughts ... -bad-.html

Given Selby's high standards it wasn't bad nor good, just normal.

He did win 2 of the biggest rankers, but he failed miserably in the TC events, so he needs to work on that next season.

But most players would be dreaming with the season Selby had winning 2 rankers.

Winning 2 tournaments especially the bigger ones should be a great season in anyone's eyes. Particularly with the standard in the field these days.

For a lower ranked player it would have been a great season as he's won two great tournaments. But for the world number one, not performing well at all at the Masters, UK Championship and World Championship is pretty bad.

Great article CV.
I think overall Mark himself will be disappointed with the season

A lot can be said about winning the China Open. How it made things very different on the run in to the Crucible. If he goes out relatively early in Beijing then he comes to the Crucible with not a huge amount of expectation on him and dare it be said, a defeat in the first round by a player with a fair record at the Crucible, and more than capable of beating a below-par Selby isn't as major a shock as it would seem to have been in light of Selby winning the China Open a fortnight ago.

Twelve months ago, Mark Selby had a World Ranking lead of over £700,000. Should the favourite go on and win the title now, that lead will have been reduced to a little over £12,000 and it would seem that unless Selby has as good a 2018/19 season that he had in 2016/17 - that he is in danger of relinquishing the World Number One spot.

Yes, anyone would usually be more than satisfied with winning two ranking tournaments and in particular in longer match format, but for the reigning World Champion, and World Number One, the standard hasn't been there for the whole season, and indeed the number of early exits for the World Champion hasn't been good.

Sorry to follow PL's detailed response with a half-arsed one, but so be it.

I thought his season was quite rubbish.

Selby nearly lost to Basem Eltahhan.

He didn't win a match on BBC this season. I know people complain about BBC acting like their events are the only ones that matter and they are right up to a point but they are still the biggest events of the season for now anyway.

There was no Selby-O'Sullivan match this season or the second half of last season. There can't be many sports where the top two players in the World can go such a long time without playing each other.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:There was no Selby-O'Sullivan match this season or the second half of last season. There can't be many sports where the top two players in the World can go such a long time without playing each other.

Yes, it's very strange, but I don't think we've ever had a world number 1 before who's made so many early exits in tournaments as Selby has done this season.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:There was no Selby-O'Sullivan match this season or the second half of last season. There can't be many sports where the top two players in the World can go such a long time without playing each other.

They should have a challenge match

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:He didn't win a match on BBC this season. I know people complain about BBC acting like their events are the only ones that matter and they are right up to a point but they are still the biggest events of the season for now anyway.

That's what I think... in the events that really mattered Selby failed pretty miserably. He didn't win a match at the BBC which for the WN1 and World Champ is embarassing.

It's about context.

He's been World Number One for the last hundred years, and traditionally does well in TC events.

If, say, Mark Allen won the IC and CO we'd be congratulating him on ending his ranking event drought.

But with Selby, he has so consistently been at the business end of tournaments, we're surprised when he goes out early. We're not surprised when he wins.

It was really poor. BUT he didn´t do anything wrong against Joe. I have been calling Joe as a solid-Joe for years now, instead of those genteleman-Joe or honest-Joe. JP played phenomally well as I well was expecting he would. Difficult to judge if Mark still slightly underestimated him. Probably not, Joe just shut him out completely. Debatable if he´s actually solid-Joe or magic-Joe. An up-coming years will tell us that.

Mark got the run going in China, he was just stopped. But before China he was relatively poor all through the season.

He still calculates it really well. Like the JAPANESE. Something rather sticky was just there. Never rule out the Japanese, at least they are not cowards. If and when there still are the problems to be solved, the japanese are the people to be up for the challenge! Hopefully Mark could be something similar.

I wouldn´t had believe if someone would had tell me this would the case. Still, never, never think anything but honest thoughts. Never hold any daft theories, no matter how difficult the situation might be. If there are tattoos to be remove, then there are the tattoos to be remove. Just figure out the right way. If there are wars to be stopped, then there are the wars to be stopped. Just TRY to figure out the correct way. Don´t get deluded. I wouldn´t had believed if someone 10 years ago would had mentioned to me I would have try to reason out the ways how Mark Selby could get better. Me. Who hardly knows AYNONE, not to even mention any famous people, or my idols, the professional snooker players.

He still calculates it really well. That´s a solid base, if there´s ever been a one. Never (again) rule out the possibility that "it has already arrived", even when actually it is not lol. It is a solid base to calculate it that much good, and eyeing the future already. Don´t rule out it.

Great post Saviour - I hadn't ruled it out actually.

Snooker is more open these days. In the past the number 1 would win practically everything - all 3 tournaments a year.

So many events these days that even Mark King can win a ranker and Leo Fernandez can beat a Top 16 player.