Why Ronnie O'Sullivan missed long shot bad

N

naji

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I find it interesting looking at the YouTube below at 1.46 use arrow key and repeat multiple times, Ronnie missed the draw back shot bad at least two balls width away from pocket, note how his butt hand tucks inward at change from backward to forward and tip hit CB at RH english inadvertently, with elevation it amplified the error. Hope you find it interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONldwaoCSZw
 
naji said:
I find it interesting looking at the YouTube below at 1.46 use arrow key and repeat multiple times, Ronnie missed the draw back shot bad at least two balls width away from pocket, note how his butt hand tucks inward at change from backward to forward and tip hit CB at RH english inadvertently, with elevation it amplified the error. Hope you find it interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONldwaoCSZw
Click to expand...
He mechanics did look a little off on that shot but it was also his second shot of the match and it was about 10 feet long since he was shooting from the back of the D. Also, as I see the shot, he did not miss the ball by that much. As I see the shot, the line of left side of the ball as it approached the pocket was into the pocket and not to the cushion. That means he missed the shot by less that a ball's width at the pocket. The red was by the middle pockets which means it was nearly the hardest straight shot on the table.

In his first shot of the match (in baulk) he probably got a kick as the commentators mentioned. That miss was far more surprising than the long shot.
 
Last edited:
Bob Jewett said:
He mechanics did look a little off on that shot but it was also his second shot of the match and it was about 10 feet long since he was shooting from the back of the D. Also, as I see the shot, he did not miss the ball by that much. As I see the shot, the line of left side of the ball as it approached the pocket was into the pocket and not to the cushion. That means he missed the shot by less that a ball's width at the pocket. The red was by the middle pockets which means it was nearly the hardest straight shot on the table.

In his first shot of the match (in baulk) he probably got a kick as the commentators mentioned. That miss was far more surprising than the long shot.
Click to expand...

I know the long shot is hard, but the replay showed why he missed, which is rare to see and i find it interesting. Note the tip alignment before the shot, and when he got close to impact.
The short shot he missed because the angle, he barley have a pocket, with snooker pockets if you are not 100% you will miss, like he did.
 
That was a tough shot and not that bad of a miss. If you watch a lot of snooker you'll see that all the time, even at the top level, especially in the beginning of matche when both players were still barely warmed up. If I had to pick a bad shot, it would Selby's first shot which was a little wild and could have cost him that rack.
 
victorl said:
That was a tough shot and not that bad of a miss. If you watch a lot of snooker you'll see that all the time, even at the top level, especially in the beginning of matche when both players were still barely warmed up. If I had to pick a bad shot, it would Selby's first shot which was a little wild and could have cost him that rack.
Click to expand...

Missing my point, i know it is hard and very very low % shot, and i by no means down grading the "master" but knowing why he missed it is the point here, mainly because the camera angle is perfect to show the entire stroke and where it failed. Just saying.
 
naji said:
Missing my point, i know it is hard and very very low % shot, and i by no means down grading the "master" but knowing why he missed it is the point here, mainly because the camera angle is perfect to show the entire stroke and where it failed. Just saying.
Click to expand...

I think it must be compulsory for people to misunderstand the intention of virtually every thread here on AZB.

As to the video, I'm not convinced it shows enough to be conclusive. He missed the ball, so there was a cueing error somewhere, but there are many shots of players not pushing the cue through entirely straight where they still make the ball. His stroke there looks good enough to me.

Check out 10:10 on this one. And around 16:00. Can't see much difference.

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

Incidentally, one of the commentators said he'd watched him warming up before one of his matches at last year's world championships, and he missed about 10 long shots in a row, but he barely missed one during the match.
 
Last edited:
Pathetic Shark said:
I think it must be compulsory for people to misunderstand the intention of virtually every thread here on AZB.

As to the video, I'm not convinced it shows enough to be conclusive. He missed the ball, so there was a cueing error somewhere, but there are many shots of players not pushing the cue through entirely straight where they still make the ball. His stroke there looks good enough to me.

Check out 10:10 on this one. And around 16:00. Can't see much difference.

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

Incidentally, one of the commentators said he'd watched him warming up before one of his matches at last year's world championships, and he missed about 10 long shots in a row, but he barely missed one during the match.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, the shot i showed, you can tell his tip changes spots, mainly because it was faster speed and had to pull cue a little more which made it a bit harder to control his forward swing. The shot you showing at 10:10 he pulls about 2-4" only and tip seem to land at same spot intended.
 
If you ever stop to watch ANY swing from that right-down-the-barrel view... you might be surprised
to find so many of them just look horrific. Every small dip and swerve looks 100x worse
from that camera angle. Like the guy had a seizure mid stroke. Or swings his tip on a J line.

Those weird-looking strokes make many tough shots and deliver the cue ball very straight,
I think the actual reason for a miss like that is a mental issue rather than a mechanical one.

Notice this is one of those critical shots where it's just makeable for a top shelf player
All the previous shots were reasonably safe leaving the cue ball at the head of the table.
This was the first tough shot he was committing to by stopping close to the rack, if he made it
he'd probably win and if he misses it... well, you see what happened.

If someone with otherwise good fundamentals misses a game-deciding ball, my first guess
is pressure and not the fundamentals.
 
Bob Jewett said:
He mechanics did look a little off on that shot but it was also his second shot of the match and it was about 10 feet long since he was shooting from the back of the D. Also, as I see the shot, he did not miss the ball by that much. As I see the shot, the line of left side of the ball as it approached the pocket was into the pocket and not to the cushion. That means he missed the shot by less that a ball's width at the pocket. The red was by the middle pockets which means it was nearly the hardest straight shot on the table.

In his first shot of the match (in baulk) he probably got a kick as the commentators mentioned. That miss was far more surprising than the long shot.
Click to expand...


Ehhh, I just watched it a few times, he definitely missed it by a fair margin. His mechanics were definitely not as crisp as usual.
 
CreeDo said:
If you ever stop to watch ANY swing from that right-down-the-barrel view... you might be surprised
to find so many of them just look horrific. Every small dip and swerve looks 100x worse
from that camera angle. Like the guy had a seizure mid stroke. Or swings his tip on a J line.

Those weird-looking strokes make many tough shots and deliver the cue ball very straight,
I think the actual reason for a miss like that is a mental issue rather than a mechanical one.

Notice this is one of those critical shots where it's just makeable for a top shelf player
All the previous shots were reasonably safe leaving the cue ball at the head of the table.
This was the first tough shot he was committing to by stopping close to the rack, if he made it
he'd probably win and if he misses it... well, you see what happened.

If someone with otherwise good fundamentals misses a game-deciding ball, my first guess
is pressure and not the fundamentals.
Click to expand...

Sorry pressure has nothing to do with it. It is knowledge and length of practice under pressure conditions. For two pros playing each other it is luck and roles the main factor. Between a pro and say a "b" player it is certainly experience, that he did not have under harsh conditions.
The thing this post is only for those to see what happens to a stroke even when top player fail
 
naji said:
Sorry pressure has nothing to do with it. It is knowledge and length of practice under pressure conditions. For two pros playing each other it is luck and roles the main factor. Between a pro and say a "b" player it is certainly experience, that he did not have under harsh conditions.
The thing this post is only for those to see what happens to a stroke even when top player fail
Click to expand...

If it's about "knowledge and length of practice under pressure conditions" then obviously
pressure DOES have something to do with it :)

I think pressure turned Ronnie's normal "A++ stroke" into ronnie's "B stroke" and that's why he missed.
If you think any player can 100% 'outgrow' pressure so it no longer can affect their stroke, that's incorrect.

Noticing which way he wobbled or steered is interesting but of course my own pressure-induced wobble
will be different from Ronnie's pressure-induced wobble.
 
He got a kick! Well, that's what I'd be blaming it on.

Its such a tough shot that any number of things could have caused the miss. We can speculate all we want, but only Ronnie knows what happened.
 
CreeDo said:
If it's about "knowledge and length of practice under pressure conditions" then obviously
pressure DOES have something to do with it :)

I think pressure turned Ronnie's normal "A++ stroke" into ronnie's "B stroke" and that's why he missed.
If you think any player can 100% 'outgrow' pressure so it no longer can affect their stroke, that's incorrect.

Noticing which way he wobbled or steered is interesting but of course my own pressure-induced wobble
will be different from Ronnie's pressure-induced wobble.
Click to expand...


Ok i will give you this one, pressure is a factor. Pool is like any other profession, say a fire fighter he goes into say six months of class hands on training, and after that real live fire training so he is ready; what i am trying to say, it will always be blamed on pressure until the player is trained for many years under harsh playing conditions,practice a lot, loose lots of matches, and lots of $$$ to eliminate being under pressure. Look at Dennis O, or SVB, Lee Van, and most top players, there is no choking, (or very rare), once one gets a hold of the table they run 3 or 4 packs and maybe the match, just pure mastery, luck and roles determines their fate 99% of the time!
 
Watch any pool match and you'll see examples of worse stroke fails than that. Had it been a pool table, that shot probably would have gone in.
I really don't think we as poolplayers have any business criticizing the fundamentals of pro snooker players.
 
victorl said:
Watch any pool match and you'll see examples of worse stroke fails than that. Had it been a pool table, that shot probably would have gone in.
I really don't think we as poolplayers have any business criticizing the fundamentals of pro snooker players.
Click to expand...

You are missing my point completely thank God! Not sure if you got my point what kind of reply i will get!!! I am not criticizing, Ronnie is my idle and best player ever, love to watch him. Only because the camera angle at the replay so straight, you can see the exact error; coming from Ronnie one will know that this steering of cue is big deal even with top players.
Plus, i played snooker for 10 years before switching to pool, i still practice it once in a while.
 
No worries, I'm just messing with you, I get what you mean.
If I could play as well as Ronnie on his worst day and I would be happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top