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Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Andre147

barrydoherty54 wrote:He had to get a dig in against Selby :D. Selby will beat him in the Quarters.


All he said was Selby's the only player who can win tournaments nowadays playing bad. That's a compliment in itself to Selby.

Ronnie has the upmost respect for his game I can garantee you, after all Selby has inflicted him some of his worse losses in his career.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby masterdoctorgenius

Andre147 wrote:
Snooker Overdrive wrote:What a match that was! Very similar to their 2010 encounter really.


I think in 2010 MJW had an even better chance, wasn't he 50 up in the decider or something like that?

Anyway, glad Ronnie won, he wasn't happy at all in the post-match inetrview, but Hazel made a good point, maybe a close match early on is what Ronnie needs to sharppen his game up.



nope he wasnt 50 up andre. ronnie was first in but in order to split the pack off the blue he put also 2 reds in. willliams got a golden chance. underhit for a red into left pocket. couldnt see the left middle but tried to swerve it. suicide

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SavoMilosevic

masterdoctorgenius wrote:
Andre147 wrote:
Snooker Overdrive wrote:What a match that was! Very similar to their 2010 encounter really.


I think in 2010 MJW had an even better chance, wasn't he 50 up in the decider or something like that?

Anyway, glad Ronnie won, he wasn't happy at all in the post-match inetrview, but Hazel made a good point, maybe a close match early on is what Ronnie needs to sharppen his game up.



nope he wasnt 50 up andre. ronnie was first in but in order to split the pack off the blue he put also 2 reds in. willliams got a golden chance. underhit for a red into left pocket. couldnt see the left middle but tried to swerve it. suicie


He didn't swerve it, he played it dead weight and finished with the cue ball right behind the pink. Ronnie missed the double and Mark had another golden chance to win, but missed the long red near the green pocket.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Andre147

Here MJW also commited suicide allright with that attempted plant.

Desperate? Or didnt want to lose the match playng a safety shot?

Anywaym Ronnie's trough and that's all that matters for me. Room to improve in the next round.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby masterdoctorgenius

Andre147 wrote:
barrydoherty54 wrote:He had to get a dig in against Selby :D. Selby will beat him in the Quarters.


All he said was Selby's the only player who can win tournaments nowadays playing bad. That's a compliment in itself to Selby.

Ronnie has the upmost respect for his game I can garantee you, after all Selby has inflicted him some of his worse losses in his career.


yep. 1 masters final frame loss. 1 welsh open final frame loss. 1 WC quarter loss. and the biggest of all. the WC final loss

he was ahead in all the matches by big margin only to lose it.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby TheRocket

Damn. After the first six, seven frames I was about to say that this is being the worst match of the tournament so far. Now its turned out to be the best probably. Very interesting match. Gutted for MJW. Suicide shot at the end. Ronnie played good in parts.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Snooker Overdrive

masterdoctorgenius wrote:
Andre147 wrote:
barrydoherty54 wrote:He had to get a dig in against Selby :D. Selby will beat him in the Quarters.


All he said was Selby's the only player who can win tournaments nowadays playing bad. That's a compliment in itself to Selby.

Ronnie has the upmost respect for his game I can garantee you, after all Selby has inflicted him some of his worse losses in his career.


yep. 1 masters final frame loss. 1 welsh open final frame loss. 1 WC quarter loss. and the biggest of all. the WC final loss

he was ahead in all the matches by big margin only to lose it.


Fortunately it will only be best of 11 this time, not possible to squander a big lead really.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby masterdoctorgenius

SavoMilosevic wrote:
masterdoctorgenius wrote:
Andre147 wrote:
Snooker Overdrive wrote:What a match that was! Very similar to their 2010 encounter really.


I think in 2010 MJW had an even better chance, wasn't he 50 up in the decider or something like that?

Anyway, glad Ronnie won, he wasn't happy at all in the post-match inetrview, but Hazel made a good point, maybe a close match early on is what Ronnie needs to sharppen his game up.



nope he wasnt 50 up andre. ronnie was first in but in order to split the pack off the blue he put also 2 reds in. willliams got a golden chance. underhit for a red into left pocket. couldnt see the left middle but tried to swerve it. suicie


He didn't swerve it, he played it dead weight and finished with the cue ball right behind the pink. Ronnie missed the double and Mark had another golden chance to win, but missed the long red near the green pocket.


u were right. my memory got erased in the final of that year. that left handed cut on the green. wtf. that was suicide from ronnie. every1 commits suicide. maybe they think they wont get a better chance

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SnookerFan

Andre147 wrote:Here MJW also commited suicide allright with that attempted plant.

Desperate? Or didnt want to lose the match playng a safety shot?

Anywaym Ronnie's trough and that's all that matters for me. Room to improve in the next round.


There was something a bit Stephen Lee about his attempt with that shot, weren't there?

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SavoMilosevic

Andre147 wrote:Here MJW also commited suicide allright with that attempted plant.

Desperate? Or didnt want to lose the match playng a safety shot?

Anywaym Ronnie's trough and that's all that matters for me. Room to improve in the next round.


I have a feeling Williams doesn't want to let Ronnie play at all and just goes for every possible pot trying to keep him in his chair. But that plant was pure madness. From that distance and from that angle you need a lot of luck. Even if you pot the red, you can't be sure where the cue ball will finish. You can be out of position on all colours with all the reds spread nicely or even go in off.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SnookerFan

SavoMilosevic wrote:
I have a feeling Williams doesn't want to let Ronnie play at all and just goes for every possible pot trying to keep him in his chair. But that plant was pure madness. From that distance and from that angle you need a lot of luck. Even if you pot the red, you can't be sure where the cue ball will finish. You can be out of position on all colours with all the reds spread nicely or even go in off.


Mark Williams has been a pro for more than two decades. It was an odd shot for him to play.

I can imagine what would've been said had John Higgins played a shot like that...

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Cheshire Cat

Deep breath

I love both players really so it was tough to see Mark lose.

At the time I thought that attempted plant in the final frame was suicidal, but in hindsight, I think Mark feared that he might not get a better chance. If there was an easier shot on the table, other than a dump shot to the black cushion or trying to nestle in the reds, you can be sure Mark wouldn't have taken almost 2 minutes thinking. I'll need to re-watch that bit. I believe Mark butchered an attempted safety into-the-pack not long before that as well and knocked a red on, albeit Ronnie missed the red to far corner, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was playing on his mind. Yeah, the reds were all clustered, but other than those nothing on that table was safe and he was in right trouble from where he was at the balk end.

Mark missed the boat at at 4-2 when Ronnie was off the boil. Ronnie up until then wasn't scoring terribly heavily, and I feel that Mark just eased up a bit and what does Ronnie do? Two centuries and a 60-ish I think to go 5-4. If I had to pick one little flaw in MJW, it's his lack of killer instinct and clinical scoring when it matters. It wasn't the plant that cost him today, he had Ronnie there for the taking at 4-2 and too often Mark finds himself needing multiple visits to the table, and while he's ever-so-good at those scrappy types of frames, you just can't hope to keep scrapping through against someone like Ronnie.

Looking forward to Selby and Walden tonight. Top class blokes the pair of them, but I have a soft spot for Ricky, and would love to see him do well.

On a side note, how calm and relaxing was Ebdon's commentary the other day? Top notch. I hope Dennis doesn't corrupt him with golf talk.. oh 'dat golf talk. </3

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby TheRocket

As much as I'm happy about the win today, it's really hard to see as a MJW fan (he's my second fav player) how many of these painful losses he had since that legendary UK final against Higgins. He just can't kill off the matches. You might have called it bad luck for the first or second time but it surely isn't bad luck anymore. He's just choking in the key moments. Pity really. He's won everything in the game and is an All-time great but the last 5 years have been really painful.

You might could say that Higgins has done the same to MJW what MJW has done to Higgins in 1999 and 2000. MJW just beat him twice in the semis, the second one was hard for Higgins as he was 15:11 ahead and still lost. That surely was in Higgins head for a long time and hurt him a lot.

Higgins beating Williams in the UK 2010 and then in the World a few months later after Williams had been the better player in both matches just turned MJW into a choker.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SavoMilosevic

TheRocket wrote:As much as I'm happy about the win today, it's really hard to see as a MJW fan (he's my second fav player) how many of these painful losses he had since that legendary UK final against Higgins. He just can't kill off the matches. You might have called it bad luck for the first or second time but it surely isn't bad luck anymore. He's just choking in the key moments. Pity really. He's won everything in the game and is an All-time great but the last 5 years have been really painful.

You might could say that Higgins has done the same to MJW what MJW has done to Higgins in 1999 and 2000. MJW just beat him twice in the semis, the second one was hard for Higgins as he was 15:11 ahead and still lost. That surely was in Higgins head for a long time and hurt him a lot.

Higgins beating Williams in the UK 2010 and then in the World a few months later after Williams had been the better player in both matches just turned MJW into a choker.


Yep, he acts like he doesn't care, but he is choking again and again. He can't kill off important frames. Very regularly misses when he's 3-4 pots away or just plays stupid ultra attacking shots. The biggest choke was against Woollaston in the Welsh semi when everything was perfect for a Higgins - Williams battle, Welshman back in the final, etc. and he blew it in the decider.

I watched that plant again on Youtube and he wasn't on a colour after it, except for a tricky yellow from distance...

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Snooker Overdrive

TheRocket wrote:As much as I'm happy about the win today, it's really hard to see as a MJW fan (he's my second fav player) how many of these painful losses he had since that legendary UK final against Higgins. He just can't kill off the matches. You might have called it bad luck for the first or second time but it surely isn't bad luck anymore. He's just choking in the key moments. Pity really. He's won everything in the game and is an All-time great but the last 5 years have been really painful.

You might could say that Higgins has done the same to MJW what MJW has done to Higgins in 1999 and 2000. MJW just beat him twice in the semis, the second one was hard for Higgins as he was 15:11 ahead and still lost. That surely was in Higgins head for a long time and hurt him a lot.

Higgins beating Williams in the UK 2010 and then in the World a few months later after Williams had been the better player in both matches just turned MJW into a choker.


I agree. It is very sad to see.

The 2010 UK final was absolutely insane. Surely one of the best matches of all time. It was one of the most intense matches I have ever watched. So many legendary moments in there. Higgins getting the snooker to stay alive, MJW not being able to split the brown in his counter attack in the decider and of course Higgins doubling the brown into the bottom left corner to win the title.

I'm sure he would be at least a three times World Champion if he had won that match, no doubt.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby TheRocket

Yep, can't agree more with you both. And me might win more one ranker at some point but it won't change anything about the last 5 years and how many chances he's thrown away.

The one against Woolaston in front of his home crowd was indeed really a shocking one, seeing how a double World Champ choked more than Woolaston in the decider. And that match against Perry. You can't get a better chance to win a ranker but he even lost that one after being 3:0 ahead.

It might be an attitude problem also, who knows. He keeps saying that he doesn't care about winning or losing and if you're going with such an attitude into the matches you're just not prepared mentally if it's going to be close, let alone going into decider. But as I said. I still think, the two matches he had against Higgins in that 2010/2011 season (especially the UK final) were just too painful and he's never really recovered from that.

But we'll never know. We can just hope that he wins a title at some stage. Even a PTC would be nice. He really needs it.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby TheRocket

As for Ronnie. He played good in parts but still looked quite beatable during most of the match. Twitchy performance. Even in the decider I think he messed up the break off.

You probably have to make Selby the slight favourite if they meet in the next round.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby SavoMilosevic

TheRocket wrote:Yep, can't agree more with you both. And me might win more one ranker at some point but it won't change anything about the last 5 years and how many chances he's thrown away.

The one against Woolaston in front of his home crowd was indeed really a shocking one, seeing how a double World Champ choked more than Woolaston in the decider. And that match against Perry. You can't get a better chance to win a ranker but he even lost that one after being 3:0 ahead.

It might be an attitude problem also, who knows. He keeps saying that he doesn't care about winning or losing and if you're going with such an attitude into the matches you're just not prepared mentally if it's going to be close, let alone going into decider. But as I said. I still think, the two matches he had against Higgins in that 2010/2011 season (especially the UK final) were just too painful and he's never really recovered from that.

But we'll never know. We can just hope that he wins a title at some stage. Even a PTC would be nice. He really needs it.


Hendry said that Williams just acts like he doesn't care and I agree with him. You don't become an all-time great, if losing doesn't bother you. I think he wants to have that attitude, cause he feels old, doesn't trust his game as much, but in every sport it's confidence and nothing else that helps you stay calm under pressure. You can't win those deciders if you're constantly repeating in your head that you're "so much worse than 10-15 years ago and losing is not so bad", because that's how you choke. The worse part is that he's throwing away matches not only against Ronnie and Higgins - we've mentioned Woollaston and Perry, let's remember the Bingham final in Australia and Selby in Shanghai.

Re: Dafabet Masters Round 1 : Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Willi

Postby Snooker Overdrive

TheRocket wrote:As for Ronnie. He played good in parts but still looked quite beatable during most of the match. Twitchy performance. Even in the decider I think he messed up the break off.

You probably have to make Selby the slight favourite if they meet in the next round.


That's fair. But I don't mind. In fact Selby won't like being favourite against Ronnie and that will only increase Ronnie's chances of winning.

Ronnie showed in the Champions League that he's still able to play as good as he has ever done. Now it's about dealing with the added pressure of this being a big tournament and of him coming back from a long break. Today he has taken the first steps.