What's the score? Asking for a friend
Mosconi 2017 - Updates
- Thread starter Cornerman
- Start date
Johann is the best coach there is
If your team can't win with him, it's useless. Just sayin
If your team can't win with him, it's useless. Just sayin
My theory is the European players train like Olympic athletes. They do drills, they stay in shape, etc.
American Billiard Radio did interviews of the USA players in the last few weeks. I heard interviews of all but Shane. The other 4 USA players all said their new coach had opened their eyes to the power of drills and they were playing much better. They all said they previously dismissed drills. That’s great but it means for many years they have been practicing like they are competing against the best of the 1980’s. Meanwhile the Euros and Chinese/Taiwan’s are TRAINING like pros.
American Billiard Radio did interviews of the USA players in the last few weeks. I heard interviews of all but Shane. The other 4 USA players all said their new coach had opened their eyes to the power of drills and they were playing much better. They all said they previously dismissed drills. That’s great but it means for many years they have been practicing like they are competing against the best of the 1980’s. Meanwhile the Euros and Chinese/Taiwan’s are TRAINING like pros.
I heard that too, It was not encouraging
Ah, gotcha. I forget that UK has some different and pretty stringent laws regarding that stuff.
In recent years the US can't seem to get to grips with the style and atmosphere of the Mosconi Cup and the pressure to break the duck can't be helpful either.
If anything Europe has proven that you don't need the best players to succeed. The players with the right mentality to cope with the occasion is a bigger factor.
The likes of Oscar and Hatch certainly do inject some life into the team but I think everyone's still in their shell. Remains to be seen if Johann can change the culture of the team in the next few years – he certainly has to do a lot more than what he used to do with the Europeans and from the looks of this MC he has his work cut out for him
As much as the USA hated Filler in this MC I'm pretty sure they would have welcomed his exuberance and positive energy. Not to mention the ability to shoot your way out of trouble.
And that's another area the USA struggles in. Apart from Shane (and even he will sometimes miss because he opts to play perfect instead of ensuring the ball drops) the players right now can't be counted on to make difficult shots under pressure. Their basics generally aren't as consistent as the Europeans. USA has more flair but they miss way more key shots than the Europeans and their 'boring' style do. The unique nature of the MC brings this to the forefront.
That being said, the new generation of Americans, the likes of Thorpe, Bergman, Woodward, have loads of potential to be great players, but they need the right guiding hand. The MC may be a write-off for now, but perhaps Johann can help in this regard.
Terrible excuse, they play on the same table, and they're professionals.
Here's my opinion on coaching a pro pool player: it works for an overall strategy, but when that player faces a tough shot, he almost always reverts back to his instincts.
This, his personal comfort zone, got him where he is today, and he doesn't stray very far or very often.
Therefore, I think that the results of the Mosconi Cup have little to do with the coaching.
Proper coaching should begin when players are just starting to show promise in their early teens.
It's too late to change the USA team's habits.
Tomorrow we change up the format a little, on Wednesday - Full Contact Pool.
YES!!!:thumbup:
Be careful what you wish for. Filler is an animal and will scratch the American's eyes out.
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Oh I wasn't making excuses for ANYONE - it was just an observation. You're correct about "same environment" and all. They're all great players and all - but some are doing better than others at the moment.
Even Matchroom has given up trying to "help" USA get to Day 4. Last year, in Day 2 when USA was getting shelled badly, Matchroom moved 5th match to Day3 so only 4 matches in Day 2 ending at Europe 7-2
This year they left it at 5 matches for Day2 so it ended 8-2.
So now USA (and importantly Johan) plan is just to make it to Day4 to save face and make the score more decent than last year's 11-3.
Day 3 will have minimum 4 matches so USA has to win at least 2 matches on Day3. Play every shot, every rack and every point like the Euros, like it is the last one.
This year they left it at 5 matches for Day2 so it ended 8-2.
So now USA (and importantly Johan) plan is just to make it to Day4 to save face and make the score more decent than last year's 11-3.
Day 3 will have minimum 4 matches so USA has to win at least 2 matches on Day3. Play every shot, every rack and every point like the Euros, like it is the last one.
I love this kid, great player great bottle and easily got under the USA's thin skin, at least you lot got someone to blame for the drubbing, or will it be the fans or the table or the rules the ref or the lights or the rug this year lol
2007 was the year of Shane's first win in the US Open 9-Ball Championship, but it was not his first year playing in the event. He was in the money in both 2005 (25th/32nd) and 2006 (33rd/48th). I don't know whether he played in it prior to 2005.
So his win percentage is 38% (5 of 13), less if he played at all prior to 2005. And that's still phenomenal.
Prior to this current Mosconi Cup event, Shane had played in 60 Cup matches and been on the winning side of 25 of them (42%). So far this year (2 days) he has been on the winning side of just 1 of 5 matches, which puts his overall record at 40% (26 of 65) through today.