Those who say Tony should've played more conservatively make a good point, but I'm not so sure it would be one easy adjustment and he'd win this match
The thing about one pocket is that when you play aggressively you put restrictions on your opponent. When you have balls open near your hole and everything goes in your pocket and nothing goes in theirs, it forces them to pass on some more difficult shots. When they know you'll shoot at your hole if you miss it forces them to pass on some two way shots that might be a little leaky and instead be concerned with where they leave you.
So when you make an adjustment to start playing more conservatively, it takes the leash off your opponent and they can get even more aggressive. Pretty soon they have balls near their pocket, everything lies in their favor, you are on your back foot constantly trying to escape traps, and they have free reign of the table. Filler had a tiger by the tail and was still hyper aggressive, if Tony took his foot off the gas it might have been even worse for him.
Meanwhile it was an interesting match-up in the sense of how their strengths collided. Tony has built a game based on putting heat on his opponents with aggression and fearlessness. But Josh is more aggressive and even more fearless. Tony may have more experience and creativity, but he's used to being the guy to put fear in his opponent. With Josh that wasn't possible. And he was really struggling to find a way to take the role of using Josh's aggression against him because of what I said above. Sometimes he tried to play conservatively and it worked out, other times he tried to play a 'safe' shot and and Josh would just elevate and spear in a table length bank and shoot balls in anyway.
It was strange because Tony has only ever had one gear and one style, so to be in a match where he even had to wrestle with these types of questions was a first to see and not so easy for him to sort out in real time under that type of heat. When Filler was the first opponent to ever have Tony scrambling to adjust his game it says a lot about the match. I'm not saying more defense was a bad idea, only that it's a tricky game and there is no easy answer on how to beat this young man.
The thing about one pocket is that when you play aggressively you put restrictions on your opponent. When you have balls open near your hole and everything goes in your pocket and nothing goes in theirs, it forces them to pass on some more difficult shots. When they know you'll shoot at your hole if you miss it forces them to pass on some two way shots that might be a little leaky and instead be concerned with where they leave you.
So when you make an adjustment to start playing more conservatively, it takes the leash off your opponent and they can get even more aggressive. Pretty soon they have balls near their pocket, everything lies in their favor, you are on your back foot constantly trying to escape traps, and they have free reign of the table. Filler had a tiger by the tail and was still hyper aggressive, if Tony took his foot off the gas it might have been even worse for him.
Meanwhile it was an interesting match-up in the sense of how their strengths collided. Tony has built a game based on putting heat on his opponents with aggression and fearlessness. But Josh is more aggressive and even more fearless. Tony may have more experience and creativity, but he's used to being the guy to put fear in his opponent. With Josh that wasn't possible. And he was really struggling to find a way to take the role of using Josh's aggression against him because of what I said above. Sometimes he tried to play conservatively and it worked out, other times he tried to play a 'safe' shot and and Josh would just elevate and spear in a table length bank and shoot balls in anyway.
It was strange because Tony has only ever had one gear and one style, so to be in a match where he even had to wrestle with these types of questions was a first to see and not so easy for him to sort out in real time under that type of heat. When Filler was the first opponent to ever have Tony scrambling to adjust his game it says a lot about the match. I'm not saying more defense was a bad idea, only that it's a tricky game and there is no easy answer on how to beat this young man.
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