Will Ronnie O’Sullivan win another World Championship?

Chalk McHugh wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Chalk McHugh wrote:

TheRocket wrote:People might think I'm trolling but I'm not. Sometimes very little things can change your perspective and view on things.

I mean you see Judd working with his brother and he's having a really great season. Even if he loses against Un-Nooh. I genuinely think ROS needs someone like that

Your far from a troll, rocket. A sensible poster to be fair.

thanks mate. All I can say is I was disgusted by that result today and it did hurt me. But I kinda got over it quickly because I knew he was playing rubbish and if it wasnt Cahill it would have been someone else. Probably Maguire already.

I just think he needs to change something. A new mentor, schedule, practice routine, whatever it is. That can make a lot difference.

If he comes here with the same mindset again next year, we'll just see a repeat of the last 5-6 years

I hate using excuses and rarely do but i genuinely thought he looked ill today. He wasn't well at all. I believe if he still has the love of the game he will give it another few cracks at the Crucible. If he keeps the hunger and practise up he has a chance but thats a big if. Possibly make a tweak or two to his preperations but he knows best himself i suppose. Has he got the fight in him for more snooker wars on the beize at Sheffield at 44 years of age? It's a brutal 2 week, hard slogfest. I don't think he has. Love to be proven wrong but he owes nobody nothing.

I doubt there was anything wrong with O'Sullivan. It is just a get out if and when he loses. His attitude is all wrong. He doesn't want to fight for the title.

However good you are you cannot win if you don't give the game or your opponent the respect they deserve.

He may well look back on his career in 10 years time and wish he had made more an effort to fight for this match. He had every chance to win a 6th world title and he just gave a half hearted effort.

Why would you try much harder to win the smaller UK events than The World Championships?

Having Reardon back wouldn’t have changed a thing about the way Ronnie played against Cahill. That was nothing to do with coaching.

That was a guy who was psychologically lost at sea with nothing to hold on to to keep him afloat.

I saw Ronnie's second interview and he said he treated all the tournaments he won as a WC, which I agree because we was very focused in those touraments like the UK and the ITV events...but he didn't show the same effort in the first session at all.

It's a mental block at the Crucible more than a player. You feel any player can beat him now that it's not a special occasion if Ronnie is beaten at the Crucible.

Erza Scarlet wrote:I saw Ronnie's second interview and he said he treated all the tournaments he won as a WC, which I agree because we was very focused in those touraments like the UK and the ITV events...but he didn't show the same effort in the first session at all.

It's a mental block at the Crucible more than a player. You feel any player can beat him now that it's not a special occasion if Ronnie is beaten at the Crucible.

Yes fair point. Look on the bright side though, we should have him in the Eurosport studio soon. I enjoy his punditry. Every cloud has a silver lining ha.

After today I feel he can only get up to 6 WC's and will struggle to equalize with Hendry. There are so many variables that need to align these days for Ronnie to win another one, such as psychological fatigue, Father Time catching up with him and his willingness to engage in safety battles, that he might get lucky once but he won't win two into and beyond his mid 40's.

Part of me thinks Ronnie’s best chance to win a 6th is to take the preceding season off.

Iranu wrote:Part of me thinks Ronnie’s best chance to win a 6th is to take the preceding season off.

I thought exactly the same thing. Maybe that's the only way for him left.

Iranu wrote:Part of me thinks Ronnie’s best chance to win a 6th is to take the preceding season off.

Either that or having a season where he fades away a little bit and not win as many tournaments as he's done this year.

Chalk McHugh wrote:Yes fair point. Look on the bright side though, we should have him in the Eurosport studio soon. I enjoy his punditry. Every cloud has a silver lining ha.

>Eurosport studio

Oh...great...yay...lol

Over 90 minutes of play and still on frame 2.

Watching that post match interview tells me that no one took this defeat harder than Ronnie himself. He looked absolutely shattered and distraught.

O'Sullivan hates the pressure of The Crucible. Contrast that to Federer at Wimbledon or Nadal at The French, who thrive under the pressure.

At least it can't get any worse for Ronnie next year...

A year or two ago I would have said yes without any hesitation.
Now, I'm almost sure he's never gonna win won again.
He can make all the excuses he wants, but in the end it's all his fault for playing the way he did. He acted like he couldn't be bothered when he was playing. That's not the right attitude to have if u truly want to win this event.

Johnny Bravo wrote:A year or two ago I would have said yes without any hesitation.
Now, I'm almost sure he's never gonna win won again.
He can make all the excuses he wants, but in the end it's all his fault for playing the way he did. He acted like he couldn't be bothered when he was playing. That's not the right attitude to have if u truly want to win this event.

Johnny, we're all gutted about Ronnie's performance these last few days mate. My advice to you would be to sleep on it. Maybe you'll feel differently in the morning?

I think Ronnie's problem is wanting it too much. So I don't agree with people saying he was not trying hard enough. For a normal person, having an audience of just one makes your brain to go funny and you perform differently to practising by yourself. Can you imagine the pressure of playing in front of a packed audience of Crucible with the expectation that surely he would beat an amateur easily? But it is disappointing that sport psychology does not seem to work when it matters most.

vodkadiet1 wrote:O'Sullivan hates the pressure of The Crucible. Contrast that to Federer at Wimbledon or Nadal at The French, who thrive under the pressure.

you have the contrast all wrong. Ronnie at the Crucible is like Nadal playing at Wimbledon and Federer playing at the French.

If Williams can win it 15 years after his last title at the age of 43 with no form in the event at all for years, there is no reason why ROS couldn't win it at 44 or 45

If he avoids Ali Carter, Barry Hawkins, Mark Selby, David Gray, James Cahill then he has a chance

Ronnie's problem now is that the week long events with three or four best of 11 matches along with a best of 19 frame Final now suit him compared to this where he might have to spend matches over the period of a fortnight. (That being said the UK Championship does appear to be to be an anomoly - played over two weeks and still having a very good record in the event.

I said back in 2014 when Selby beat him that he wouldn't ever win the World Championship again, it's a prediction I've pretty much stuck with until this year, when with the fantastic form he has shown throughout the campaign you had to consider him as one of the main contenders)

A tweet I got yesterday talked about him preferring the shorter formats and whether it might help him to play each session from scratch in his mind, 0-0 no matter what the score in the match is at that point. Would it help? Possibly but it also makes the hurdle seem a lot further away - 16 short matches seems a lot more than 5 long format multi-session contests.

I think people jabber on about that final in 14 too much ffs. if Davis could recover from losing finals like he did in 85 and 86, 2014 should be no excuse

Ronnie79 wrote:If Williams can win it 15 years after his last title at the age of 43 with no form in the event at all for years, there is no reason why ROS couldn't win it at 44 or 45

You sound positive, didnt you say you didnt believe he would win another?

I agree with you, but the longer this goes on the harder it gets.

When Williams had his long poor spell of not doing any damage at the Crucible it was because his game just wasnt good enough. Same with Higgins who had a poor spell from 2012-2016.

You knew beforehand they were not gonna win. As they didnt play well enough and kept having a poor season. It had nothing to do with anxiety playing at the Crucible.

With Ronnie its different. His problem is mental. His game has always been there and hes clearly demonstrated that all the time prior to the WC in the last few years.

But he's fazed by the occasion of playing at the Crucible.

What Ive seen in those last two years especially was a man who totally collapsed. Thats why I think he needs to work with someone.

Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Andre147 wrote:Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Was that when he took his shoes off?

SnookerFan wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Was that when he took his shoes off?

Yes. This video sums up Ronnie's performance in 2015 perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewcrGpQXDgM

I never got the big deal about him taking his shoes off.

Ash147 wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Was that when he took his shoes off?

Yes. This video sums up Ronnie's performance in 2015 perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewcrGpQXDgM

I remember that chalk incident. It was all Ronnie's fault, but Ken Doherty was adamant Stuart Bingham was to blame.

Cloud Strife wrote:

Ash147 wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Was that when he took his shoes off?

Yes. This video sums up Ronnie's performance in 2015 perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewcrGpQXDgM

I remember that chalk incident. It was all Ronnie's fault, but Ken Doherty was adamant Stuart Bingham was to blame.

Stuart Bingham should be blamed for everything.

Ash147 wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only last 2 years, in 2015 he also made silly antics with the socks and that sort of stuff... only in 2016 he seemed to improve but lost that bucking match to Barry Hawkins.

I think it's mental problem yeah, because as we've seen all season his game is is excelent shape.

Was that when he took his shoes off?

Yes. This video sums up Ronnie's performance in 2015 perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewcrGpQXDgM

It really does.