rofl rofl rofl No more dangerous than Higgins??? Yeah right... He's the reigning Masters, Welsh Open and CoC titles and still has few more titles in his locker... just appreciate his fine achievments, Williams did very well to win today but Ronnie will bounce back, win more titles and make you eat your own words. :wave:
He honestly isn't as dangerous as Higgins. Higgins can still play a half-decent safety game when he needs. Ronnie's safety is in general pretty bad and he doesn't enjoy playing safety. He doesn't have the genuine love of snooker that players like Peter Ebdon and Steve Davis have had which involves playing their best when they can't break builds more. Ronnie's easily frustrated and when his own game is going to start throwing up those frustrations that were once on the shoulder of his opposition he's inevitably going to start having serious issues with maintaining his game, he'll drop down the rankings over the rest of this season and next season and off the tour completely by 2017/18 - if he hasn't retired by then.
Andre147 wrote:Decline my jacksie... rofl <doh> rofl As I said, Ronnie will bounce back, we can't judge his form from China tournaments, he will win more titles, he still has that hunger and he's no way near the level Higgins is playing at the moment.
Unless he's made of elastic there's only so much bouncing back one player can do. Yes, Ronnie's career has been a yo-yo of inability to commit to his game, mental health issues and personal distractions but we know he's in a more stable place personally these days which means when his game is as bad as it was in this match, it's only fair to realise that he's going to starting heading fast overboard rubbish creek in term of his game. To relentlessly pile the pressure on him as his fans are doing now is doing him more of a disservice than recognising the onset of a downward trend at the right moment.
TheRocket wrote: <doh>
Another Hendryfan with a deep hate against ROS, probably because many people believe that ROS is the greatest player of all time.
I'm not a Hendry fan, I recognise Hendry was a good player. As was O'Sullivan. The crucial difference is Hendry recognised the point at which his game was weakening an adapted, then retired. Several years ago Ronnie would have made several centuries in 20-30 minutes against Williams in that form.
Clara8633 wrote:
I wouldn't say he's like Higgins, but it's true that other players shouldn't be scared of him. It's not just about how ROS plays that should matter to them, but how they themselves play against him. Fear just makes things much worse.
Finally some one who understand, half of the egomaniacal superiority O'Sullivan's been granted is due to a generation of players coming through who see him us as some type of unbeatable demi-god and fear his oh-so-mighty wrath. Watching Williams, basically one of his bunnies, beat him will hopefully provided confidence to these guys to whip Ronnie's ass as they are capable of.
Andre147 wrote:Anyway, just hope Ronnie is fresh for the CoC, but the title I would LOVE to see Ronnie win again is the UK Champs, it's been ages (2007) since he last won and apart from 2009 his performances there have been very poor.
He always seems to be thinking more on Christmas when the UK comes around, he should really try his hardest this year to win that one again...
Who knows... Maybe this loss is a blessing in disguise...
To be honest I wouldn't put it past Ronnie to fail to understand the importance of this event and lose deliberately so he's fresher for CoC where he'll be playing to the kind of sycophantic jerks that he normal attracts to matches and obviously spur him on. If he does badly next week however, I'm willing to call the best days of his career over.
TheRocket wrote:What fascinates me on some Hendryfans is that whenever you say, Ronnie is the greatest player of all time they take this as an insult against Hendry. Like a majesty offensive if you like.
I believe that ROS is the greatest of all time and have reasons for that.
I'm not a Hendryfan. My favourite player is current world champion, which is a hell of a lot better than can be said of Ronnie's performances these days. The greatest player of all time is Alex Higgins, he played the kind of fast attacking snooker that Ronnie does without the monkey-like idiotic nature.
Clara8633 wrote:To be honest I don't particularly like ROS either, merely because he's rude sometimes (eg, to Mark Selby and Mark William himself). But I respect him as a player of course ^-^
To use is own phrase Ronnie is "up and down like a hussy's draws" which isn't exactly an admirable trait in the sports premier role model. And we wonder why no young people are coming through?
Andre147 wrote:
Absolutely, just like many consider Steve davis to be the greatest or even Alex Higgins for what he brought to the game.
This is a great win for Williams, I'll be rooting for him, won't wake up at 6 a.m now though <laugh>
Oh, you're one of those snooker fans. "The player I want to give fellatio too isn't playing so I'll miss the session. Never mind that Williams v Allen could actually be a classic, it's not Ronnie so I won't watch it?" *spits dummy out* What a hammer!
SnookerFan wrote:
How come it's never wide open until after Ronnie has gone out? <laugh> According to that logic, the Crucible Final wasn't wide open. :-D
Great win for Mark Williams though. I legitimately thought he'd lose that. :hatoff:
Because haven't you heard Ronnie is the only player who actually matters. It seems a sizeable portion of snooker fans only see tournaments as mattering when Ronnie's in them. Despite the fact he's a soon to be hasbeen 40 year old entering a period of Higginsesque decline, that his breakbuilding is declining match on match and that in the last several tournaments he's played his looked as though he didn't want to be there.
TheRocket wrote:
Higgins' situation though is still different. His breakbuilding ability had already dropped since late 2009. He won the UK 2010 and WC 2011 through his iron will and tactical brain but you could aready see there that his game already declined and after the WC it became clearly more obvious.
Ronnie on the other hand still has a high breakbuilding ability.
Ronnie's breakbuilding is in decline. He's starting from a higher base than Higgins so its not going to be as catastrophic but it's going. He would have been guaranteed to have made centuries this morning against Williams in those first free frames, he didn't. Even when his game picked up he was making 70-80 breaks, which are less than stellar for a suppossed GOAT.
TheRocket wrote:
Exactly, Ronnie will still be around winning a few more titles and make some eat their own words... no way is he in serious decline yet.
Ronnie may win a few PTCs and low-level ranking events. His serious titles days are behind him though.
Clara8633 wrote:I have a feeling he will decline soon if not already; he's almost 39, and players usually decline around that age, right?
But I don't want him to decline either, it would be such a pity for a talent like his.
Why it would it be a pity for a guy who's been milking his ability to pot balls to decline in talent? He's getting so old now he's not attracting new talent to the sport? You could argue that the sport needs Ronnie's forrm to fall of a proverbial cliff in order for it to get back on track and less committed fans/media to realise that there's 128 excellent players on tour who deserve exposure not 1 fat monkey with serious issues.
Andre147 wrote:
Nice to hear a Selby fan say that <ok> Yeah he brings a lot to the game, when he plays it's almost always a full house and I think he'll still be around winning more titles for at least another 2 or 3 years... it's just a matter of how much he wants it, but he now only competes when he truly wants to.
He will decline at some stage no doubt, but not just yet... still remember so many saying it was the end for Ronnie in 2011 and he shut them up and won 2 World Titles plus the rest after that.. he isn't finished just yet, despite some wanting him to. :wave:
He is declining now, as fan you should do him the simple justice of recognising it for it was. In the next year to two years you'll see Ronnie playing entire last 128 and last 64 matches in the form he played those first three frames. He blame his opponent for playing "negative snooker" or find something to blame but he'll soon be gone. He hasn't got the tactical nouse to do a Davis and remain into his 50s.
TheRocket wrote:Hendryfan, that's why I said "some". So it's obvious, I don't mean Hendryfans in general. I'm just saying that some Hendryfans are very insulting against ROS (of course other way around there are also ROSfans who are against Hendry) , mostly because there is always this Ronnie vs Hendry Who's greatest of all time debate everywhere, in all forums and some people obsess over it.
And yes, Titles are important, probably the most important stat and with 7 world titles Hendry has the most important record but there are another important things as well. There are enough people who also think, Steve Davis or John Higgins are the greatest one, so as you said, everyone should be entitled to his opinion and people should respect each other.
Higgins was the greatest of all time (Alex not John). The titles are the reason players play snooker, every player will be disappointed if they haven't won tournaments and that's a good thing. At the beginning of your career not making the latter stages of tournaments is fine, when your career is about to hit the snags at the end not beating your own bunnies is a serious red light moment.
TheRocket wrote:
If you ask me, he still has another 1,5 - 2 years at the highest level where he can win everything. One more world ,UK and masters title would be great. But even if it doesn't happen no one can blame him.
He has done enough in this game and for this game and will enter the history books as a legend and one of the greatest players of all time.
He'll enter the history books as a pale imitation of Alex Higgins. With less of the talent and double the personal issues and personality problems.
Snooker Overdrive wrote:Somebody starting the obligatory decline dabate after Ronnie loses an important match, what a surprise! <laugh>
I find it slightly amusing, especially because he lost his last 2 matches to players who are even older than him. Ronnie usually throws in a terrible performance once in a while especially in China or at the start of a season ever since I started watching snooker.
But even if Ronnie doesn't pot a single ball in his life anymore, he already fulfilled and crowned his career by defending the World Title and surpassing John Higgins. Since then everything is just a bonus...
If he doesn't pot another ball in his career he'll have proved me right. He's riding a crest of having pretty poor oppossition and a lack of young talent, once those address themselves he'll have to up it and out. He's not the only nearly hasbeen doing that though. I suppose the millions he's already made in his career just mustn't be enough money,
Snooker Overdrive wrote:Ronnie saying that he struggled with his concentration doesn't surprise me. He often has that problem in China, don't know if it's the jetlag or something like that. Maybe he can work on that because today definitely wasn't the first time that happened in an overseas event.
Classic Ronnie with his BSE defence. No, he played rubbish. The sooner he accepts this the better, it means he can work on it. Maybe he should stop looking for help from psychologists and hire a decent coach.
Andre147 wrote:
Very well said SO <ok> Decline rofl He will eventually, no one is imune to that, but Ronnie won't give them that pleasure just yet. :wave:
He's already giving us the pleasure of his decline, unless your blind to what a good snooker player is and think you saw that this morning. I very much look forward to Mark Allen winning this International Championship, a player who truly deserves it.
by hendry_fan » 30 Oct 2014 Read
Hendry= the greatest ever snooker player 
Yeah he brings a lot to the game, when he plays it's almost always a full house and I think he'll still be around winning more titles for at least another 2 or 3 years... it's just a matter of how much he wants it, but he now only competes when he truly wants to.
He will eventually, no one is imune to that, but Ronnie won't give them that pleasure just yet. 
