For the first time for ages I've sat and watched the snooker...and might I add have enjoyed what I've seen ..that said I can't help but think that the standard of skill level seems to have lowered from previous years or is it me that's picky lol what you think folk
They’ve certainly made the tables easier to play which allows less skilful players to have a chance. When I was young, if the ball touched the jaw, the ball stayed up, on modern tables, I’ve seen the ball hit the rail a foot away from the pocket and still go in.
I think the pockets have played tighter this year, nothing much going in off the jaw. And as for skill, I’m not sure there’s ever been anyone as talented as O’Sullivan in any era. That said I reckon I’d have given the lad he played a game on the form he showed! He was as bad as Ronnie was good.
A lot of crap players on the tour pinching a living climbing the rankings due to the high number of tournaments. There are players quite content to live hand to mouth making the last 16 of comps just to pick up easy prize money.
I think it's had a similar evolution/devolution(depending on which side of the fence you are) as cricket has. Both sports have got more and more naturally attacking, so it sometimes feels like players are missing shots that their contemporaries would put away. In the past, the default for a snooker player was safety first. Anything less than 75% chance of going in was ignored and a safety played. Now, with the likes of Ronnie, Trump, Robertson etc being able to fire full table length shots nine times out of ten, everyone is trying to emulate them, but because they have not got the natural talent the aforementioned names have, they can look substandard.
You still had slow players like Mcmanus, Dott and Ebdon though. Their only chance was by breaking play up.
Have to say I think it's been good quality stuff so far. Trump had a right old tussle before seeing off a steely Tom Ford in the first match. The highlights since then for me have been Noppon Sangkhaem's victory over Shaun Murphy and Jamie Clarke's win last night over Mark Allen. I'd seen Clarke play in the Qualifiers and he looked a very polished player. He held his nerve very well against Allen to go through. Ronnie of course was superb, but I think that Thepchaiya Un-Nooh's style was made for him. Ronnie has been shortened in to joint favourite on the back of that, but I think you'd want to see him against one of the more experienced players before deciding what sort of nick he is in. Looking ahead, if things ran to form and seedings, Judd Trump potentially has Yan Bingtao, Kyren Wilson and maybe John Higgins to beat en route to the final. Ronnie, on the other hand may need to overcome Ding, Williams or Bingham and whoever emerges from Selby/Robertson. So it looks a much tougher route to the final for Ronnie. On the back of his six ranking tournament wins and £1M prize money earnings this season I'd make Judd the percentage call to win the thing. But there have already been shocks!
