Why are the seeds struggling?

Alex0paul wrote:The more seeds that go out the more pressure there is on the other seeded players not to lose. Also there will be added pressure of the draw opening up giving them a great chance of winning the event.

Means Robbo has a good chance. He has no problem beating qualifiers on the way to a world title.

When I will be able to upload Ryan Day's press conference (soundcloud is down at the moment) , you will hear that the question was put to him - albeit not in those exact terms - and that his answer was that playing the qualifs only the week before the tournament was a massive help for the qualifier.

Of course he's probably a "rubbish" who has no clue about snooker … uh?

Skullman wrote:

Alex0paul wrote:The more seeds that go out the more pressure there is on the other seeded players not to lose. Also there will be added pressure of the draw opening up giving them a great chance of winning the event.

Means Robbo has a good chance. He has no problem beating qualifiers on the way to a world title.

We all know that. The question is: can he do it against top players?

Monique wrote:When I will be able to upload Ryan Day's press conference (soundcloud is down at the moment) , you will hear that the question was put to him - albeit not in those exact terms - and that his answer was that playing the qualifs only the week before the tournament was a massive help for the qualifier.

Of course he's probably a "rubbish" who has no clue about snooker … uh?

So ironically Hearn's plans for 128 man flat draw could mean that the lower ranked players do worse. If the top players come in at the same time, when the lower ranked players are cold as well, they could stumble over the line and warm up.

Monique wrote:When I will be able to upload Ryan Day's press conference (soundcloud is down at the moment) , you will hear that the question was put to him - albeit not in those exact terms - and that his answer was that playing the qualifs only the week before the tournament was a massive help for the qualifier.

Of course he's probably a "rubbish" who has no clue about snooker … uh?

OK, can't resist chipping in ... what I don't see (with one or two exceptions) is seeds playing disastrously badly. So what is happening?

Think the strength of the players down to rank 80 or so is much better than in the past. And they're playing more match snooker so sharper. Then you put 64 + such players together and make them play each other, naturally finding who's in the best form. And then allow them to take that confidence / form straight into the tournament with just enough time to be 'up for it' but not enough time to lose their edge. Result? Up to 16 players who are in form so good that the seeds can't just win it with their 'B' game, they need to be bang on form too.

Well put Roy

I think its completely down to the weather

The answer, I dont know, and im not liking it much.

Im only supporting ronnie, robertson, selby, gilbert and williams now. But theyre all crammed in the same bit pretty much!

It can be down to a number of reasons. The pressure of the 'opening draw' meaning that players who are amongst the seeds who would not have been the immediate contenders now almost can see the latter stages opening up into view. That brings on the pressure on the players as they know they could be next.

Holding the qualifying the week before the tournament has meant that people who have come through the qualifiers are in good form, in particular, Brecel, Cao and Gilbert would be in good form winning four games to qualify.

Of the seven qualifiers who have so far reached the second round, three have come in before the Last 48 matches and therefore have won at least three matches to go on and reach the last 16.

It could also be the 'session effect', for the top 16 players, apart from the usual distances in finals, this is the first time in 12 months they've played any session snooker - and they are coming up against players who have already played at least one 'session' match to get to the Crucible

Having gone to watch most of the qualifiers this year, I'm convinced that the flatter structure for qualifying can work now. - Remain to be convinced about making top 16 enter qualifying though,

Well, I won't add Selby to the list as his injury had a big say on his defeat.

No matter what your thoughts on a player is, it's never nice to see someone lose as a result of injury.

Monique wrote:When I will be able to upload Ryan Day's press conference (soundcloud is down at the moment) , you will hear that the question was put to him - albeit not in those exact terms - and that his answer was that playing the qualifs only the week before the tournament was a massive help for the qualifier.

Of course he's probably a "rubbish" who has no clue about snooker … uh?

it might help qualifiers to keep up but come on these are supose to be the best of the best