Cazoo Tour Championship Final !!!

Bluestraw wrote:I think Neil made an excellent point tonight about the lack of crowd. Ronnie hasn't won any of the finals he's played without crowds - and indeed who knows how many of this year's matches would have been different in that case.

I wonder if his lack of 'inspired play' in the evening sessions at finals - which has been a trademark - is because he hadn't had that immense buzz that a crowd gave him. He delivered on the final day at the World's in front of a crowd. Also, his opponents may have dipped their form if they had to deal with external influences...

TheRocket wrote:He definitely needs to win a title soon and these final defeats must really hurt him. He is not Lisowski or Gilbert. We're talking about the greatest player or one of the two greatest of all time. Hope he can win a 7th World title.

SnookerFan wrote:

TheRocket wrote:He definitely needs to win a title soon and these final defeats must really hurt him. He is not Lisowski or Gilbert. We're talking about the greatest player or one of the two greatest of all time. Hope he can win a 7th World title.

Or what?

He's already won 37 ranking events, is it? Including The World Championship six times. And The Masters 60 squillion times. Let's assume for a second that he never wins a ranking event again, so what? His status as the GOAT is assured anyway.

I'm not suggesting that Ronnie shouldn't want to win trophies again, and I'd be surprised if he didn't. But in terms of legacy, he doesn't need to win anything else

SnookerFan wrote:

TheRocket wrote:He definitely needs to win a title soon and these final defeats must really hurt him. He is not Lisowski or Gilbert. We're talking about the greatest player or one of the two greatest of all time. Hope he can win a 7th World title.

Or what?

He's already won 37 ranking events, is it? Including The World Championship six times. And The Masters 60 squillion times. Let's assume for a second that he never wins a ranking event again, so what? His status as the GOAT is assured anyway.

I'm not suggesting that Ronnie shouldn't want to win trophies again, and I'd be surprised if he didn't. But in terms of legacy, he doesn't need to win anything else.

If anything coming into The Crucible, I'd say the man who just beat him Robertson needs another Crucible win more than Ronnie does. For somebody with such a glittering career, one Crucible win more than a decade ago seems sparse. Especially as even making the semis since his win has been difficult for him.

Holden Chinaski wrote:The fact that Ronnie is still reaching so many finals proves he's still playing great. He will win more titles.

Iranu wrote:Yes, he was the same player then. Robbo’s been the same player for years. He’s not a Judd who improved 3x two years ago.

He’ll probably draw Bingham in the first round and lose to him.

Holden Chinaski wrote:This is an actual picture of MDG trying to appear positive when he was watching the final yesterday:

TheRocket wrote:have to agree with Ace. Robertson since 2019 is playing as well as he has ever done in his career. Imo even better than the one who made the 100 centuries in 13/14.

As good as he was back then I cant recall that many matches where Robertson was capable of producing that kind of sustained high level in multi session matches against the elite players.

His best form is very scary atm and the way he played in the CoC final 2019 and this one was as good as it gets really. The raw numbers clearly prove it.

Juddernaut88 wrote:Already feeling nervous and excited about The World Championship.

SnookerFan wrote:

Bluestraw wrote:I think Neil made an excellent point tonight about the lack of crowd. Ronnie hasn't won any of the finals he's played without crowds - and indeed who knows how many of this year's matches would have been different in that case.

I wonder if his lack of 'inspired play' in the evening sessions at finals - which has been a trademark - is because he hadn't had that immense buzz that a crowd gave him. He delivered on the final day at the World's in front of a crowd. Also, his opponents may have dipped their form if they had to deal with external influences...

I doubt it.

He won The Crucible with no crowd. (Except for a few fans in the final, I guess.) Also, if the lack of crowds were that big a deal to him, would he keep making finals? There's no fans in for any of the matches, it's not a problem that's unique to the final. Why would he be fine with it all tournament, then suddenly have a problem for the last session of the last match of the week?

Whenever Ronnie reaches a few finals and loses them, this forum has a habit of overthinking it.

Iranu wrote:

Acé wrote:
Exactly, 13/14 he was good then he dipped, look at these results between 2015-2018, in 4 years only 4 ranking tournaments, UK being the more impressive



Now look at the crazy UPSWING from 2019, (2021 isn't even done yet) so just from 2 years alone



He's had a second resurgence if you will which I never thought possible

He’s been in better form but like I said he’s not a different player. The last two world championships he’s lost matches against players he should have beaten based on form because he got bogged down in tactical, scrappy frames and allowed his opponents to dictate the match. Which is exactly what he’s done for years.

Robbo can’t be considered a favourite for the Worlds until he reaches the one table setup again. We’ve been through all this before with him.