TOP 8 STRONGER THIS YEAR

2010

higgins
ronnie
maguire
murphy
carter
day
selby
fu

this year

robbo
higgins
williams
selby
ding
maguire
murphy
carter

The 3 changes are ronnie , fu and day out and in robbo , williams and ding .

This demonstrates this years top 8 are overall better than last years top 8 and maguire ,murphy and carter are in more appropriate positions this year IMO.

GJ wrote:2010

higgins
ronnie
maguire
murphy
carter
day
selby
fu

this year

robbo
higgins
williams
selby
ding
maguire
murphy
carter

The 3 changes are ronnie , fu and day out and in robbo , williams and ding .

This demonstrates this years top 8 are overall better than last years top 8 and maguire ,murphy and carter are in more appropriate positions this year IMO.

youve gotta remember that the top 8 last year was based on the top 8 points earners in the 2 year period 11 MONTHS BEFORE the 2010 WC.

This years is the 2 year period 2 MONTHS before the 2011 WC so its far more up to date and relevant thanks to the rolling rankings.

Though i think we all know Ronnie is in a slighly false postion if he turns up at Sheffield in the mood theres no way hes still only the 10th best player in thew world. Though i dont dispute hes where he is in the rankings through his own fault.

No question in my mind it's stronger, here you've got the World champ and World Open winner ... UK and Welsh winner ... Germany winner and UK finalist ... Germany finalist ... Masters champ ... Welsh finalist ... Murphy ... and the Shanghai champ ! Compare that with last year's and you got Day/Selby/Fu who really did very little that season and were only living off previous season's achievements, and Ronnie hadn't won a title last season either !

Bourne wrote:No question in my mind it's stronger, here you've got the World champ and World Open winner ... UK and Welsh winner ... Germany winner and UK finalist ... Germany finalist ... Masters champ ... Welsh finalist ... Murphy ... and the Shanghai champ ! Compare that with last year's and you got Day/Selby/Fu who really did very little that season and were only living off previous season's achievements, and Ronnie hadn't won a title last season either !

2009/10 Shanghai Masters

Witz78 wrote:

Bourne wrote:No question in my mind it's stronger, here you've got the World champ and World Open winner ... UK and Welsh winner ... Germany winner and UK finalist ... Germany finalist ... Masters champ ... Welsh finalist ... Murphy ... and the Shanghai champ ! Compare that with last year's and you got Day/Selby/Fu who really did very little that season and were only living off previous season's achievements, and Ronnie hadn't won a title last season either !

2009/10 Shanghai Masters

Oh tits ! Okay one title

dont know about the top 8 however the Top 4 is as strong as its been for quite a few years.

3 of the top 4 has won 2 ranking events in the last 12 months.

GJ wrote:
this year

robbo
higgins
williams
selby
ding
maguire
murphy
carter

Just out of curiosity here is what the top 8 seeds for this years WC would have been if the old rankings were in place.

Robbo
Higgins
Ronnie
Carter
Ding
Maguire
Murphy
Williams

So the only change thanks to the new rankings is actually Selby in top 8, not Ronnie

further down though Ebdon, Cope and Walden are in the top 16 and automatically qualified wheras under the old system theyd have had to qualify whilst Wenbo ,King and Day were among the top 16seeds

Wenbo has been absolutely awful this season so that's a good example of this ranking system being effective

I think it's definitely stronger, I like Marco Fu but he only comes on in spells like when he just reached that final against Ding Junhui he was fantastic.

But Williams hitting form, Higgins slotted right back in, Robbo, Selby and Ding are all solid players and the rest are good. But further down it's just a shame Stevens couldn't of sneaked in, Walden hasn't done much for me this season even though he is 15th.

If Im honest, I dont see anyone getting past Higgins at the moment. In the 5 ranking events hes played in since his return he has only lost one match, isnt that saying something?

randam05 wrote:If Im honest, I dont see anyone getting past Higgins at the moment. In the 5 ranking events hes played in since his return he has only lost one match, isnt that saying something?

personally i think theres been a degree of apprehension when players have played him this season.

he has played well but not brilliantly well hes been there for the taking and with respect nobody been up to it so far.

randam05 wrote:If Im honest, I dont see anyone getting past Higgins at the moment. In the 5 ranking events hes played in since his return he has only lost one match, isnt that saying something?

he's very good?