Great observation. European angle management is a step above American angle management, and Melling is one of those who manages the table angles superbly. Incredibly enough, Souquet's patterns are even better than Melling's.
I think this is due more to the status the game has in Europe, and the opportunities to compete against world class talent, than anything else.
In America, a top player has very few opportunities to prove themselves against world class talent, so they become accustomed to playing "just well enough" to dominate the players they play against on a regular basis.
As a case in point, let's take a player here in Germany that lives about 90 minutes from me, Can Salim. Can beat Shredder in a 10 ball match, and played Alex Olinger on a 9 footer at Derby this year, and absolutely tortured him. Like, as in, didn't really even need to try that hard.
And Can Salim is not even in the top ten in Germany, if I am not mistaken. The point being, even the guys way down the totem pole have to fade some VERY high level talent at pretty much any tournament that pays over 300-400 Euros for first place.
How many matches per year does a guy like Justin Bergman get to play in 9 foot tournaments against someone who plays within a ball or two of Niels Feijen? Precious few, outside of the gambling realm. And the gambling doesn't count, because every single game counts when you are trying to win a big tournament, whereas in gambling, you just go on to the next one.
The competitors in Europe have ample opportunity to compete against champions and near-champions on a weekly basis. Their games are shaped by the need to win THIS rack, at all costs. And they grind like nobody's business.So, yes, they do work on angles because they need to shave the percentages as close as they can, because EVERY game counts against the level of competition they have to fade.
In America, most of the tournaments that someone like Bergman plays, either it's on a barbox, and absolutely no challenge, or it's a non-major, and 90% of the field will give him an extra 3 shots per match, which is more than enough to win. In Europe, giving a single extra shot on average over all your matches is enough to put you in the middle of the field. It might not matter in a single match, but it WILL matter over 5-6 of them. One of those guys will make you pay.
