MVG

[The Big Number]

He's probably the greatest player in terms of breathtaking ability and unbelievable bursts of darts, but he's more likely to go missing for a few legs than Taylor was. The field is undoubtedly stronger now which will make it almost impossible to match Taylor's dominance, and the money he'll have earned already will mean only his own desire for titles will keep him going, he can retire now and live richly.

MVG is the greater talent, Taylor the more dominant but there's context behind it.

Overall on ability, Taylor is still definitely ahead. Most of MVG's crazy numbers are inflated because of the short format and number of growing tournaments. Not sure what "MVG is the greater talent" means for you, on that subject you'd probably name Lewis or Gando ahead of him. Welcome to the forum BTW.

Thank you - Good point re: Lewis and Gando, I think MVG is just a naturally phenomenal darts player and has had that in since being a child, whereas Taylor was a more methodical machine that would grind players down and be ruthless in his quest for greatness and continued dominance. Because of that I think MVG gets lazy at times as he's always been more reliant on pure ability. I also think Taylor has the edge in close games.

Yes, I definitely agree that MVG has more natural talent. Taylor worked incredibly hard, and had a killer mentality, that helped him become the GOAT, along with his talent.

I just wasn't sure whether you meant MVG plays at a higher standard overall than Taylor did. Which is a common misconception and something I totally disagree with.

I think MVG can play at higher level but not as consistently. Taylor was regularly averaging 105-110 towards the end of the 2000's.

[Randall]

Keep in mind the boards Taylor was playing on around the millennium as well.

[SolidSCB]

The thing I've come to realise is that natural talent isn't worth shit unless you work hard alongside that. Adrian Lewis had the most beautiful natural throw you'll ever see but look at him now. Equally, people seem to forget it took MvG fucking forever to get his head together and start winning titles. It's only when you work hard enough to unlock that extra 5% that natural talent is worth anything.

This is also where I think Taylor is actually underrated, he has bags of natural talent and if you watch him in his early years, he has a lovely natural throw. The difference between Taylor and others is that he refined that over the years to make himself the best version of Phil Taylor he possibly could. Almost every change he made over the course of his career was a step in the right direction. As shit as he was at counting, he was an absolute genius in terms of finding the right setup and getting the maximum out of it, something the likes of Peter Wright only wish they had. That's another form of natural talent that goes unspoken quite a lot.

[M H]

MvG's a multi millionaire already, took Taylor years to get to that level of financial security as that level of money wasn't in the game back then. Whatever anyone thinks of Taylor he put the hours in, that's what the likes of MVG, Lewis and Ando need to do but financially they don't need to.

There's the difference

[PT13]

Even if Taylor had earned tonnes of money in the 1990s, I doubt it would have made much difference to his darts career. Taylor approached darts with an old school working class work ethic and saw darts as his job. I think van Gerwen sees darts most as a game that he really enjoys playing, with a lot of enthusiasm for a lot of his career, but if he loses some of that enthusiasm he might find it harder.

[Ross, Bob]

Like I said on the other thread, I think you will see him lose more often now. The field is just stronger in general which is a major factor, and hes not going to be the same confident beast with increased losses. Hes not coasting games with a 95-96 B game as often as he was say 3-4 years ago. Also have to wonder if hes putting in the hours. Made a fortune and won everything.

I'd imagine he remains number 1, but he isn't quite the invincible force he has been.

whatever happened to ITG?

Did he get banned?

[Randall]

Like I said on the other thread, I think you will see him lose more often now. The field is just stronger in general which is a major factor, and hes not going to be the same confident beast with increased losses. Hes not coasting games with a 95-96 B game as often as he was say 3-4 years ago. Also have to wonder if hes putting in the hours. Made a fortune and won everything.

I'd imagine he remains number 1, but he isn't quite the invincible force he has been.

whatever happened to ITG?

Did he get banned?

No
He just likes to be on same forum as gaz

[Ross, Bob]

Like I said on the other thread, I think you will see him lose more often now. The field is just stronger in general which is a major factor, and hes not going to be the same confident beast with increased losses. Hes not coasting games with a 95-96 B game as often as he was say 3-4 years ago. Also have to wonder if hes putting in the hours. Made a fortune and won everything.

I'd imagine he remains number 1, but he isn't quite the invincible force he has been.

whatever happened to ITG?

Did he get banned?

No
He just likes to be on same forum as gaz

That didn't really work out then.

[cidermaster]

Taylor at his best would beat MVG more than he lost because he would get right into his head.

[Ross, Bob]

Taylor at his best would beat MVG more than he lost because he would get right into his head.

Fascinating stuff, there.

[Randall]

Taylor at his best would beat MVG more than he lost because he would get right into his head.

Fascinating stuff, there.

True as well Robert

[cidermaster]

Taylor at his best would beat MVG more than he lost because he would get right into his head.

Fascinating stuff, there.

I salute a fellow Bottom Fan

[Bennett]

Reached the final this weekend but he didn't look like winning at any point really. What's happened to his scoring? Motivation issues? Form has definitely dropped significantly past year or so.

[Randall]

Was lucky (very sprocket) to get there
No answer to Jose's scoring

[mad jock]

Struggled since signing up with one off the bdo longest tournament sponsors, and changed darts, then changed back...bdo curse lol....me personally i think the hunger has gone, was very lucky to be in the final...

[Safc]

Struggled since signing up with one off the bdo longest tournament sponsors, and changed darts, then changed back...bdo curse lol....me personally i think the hunger has gone, was very lucky to be in the final...

VVDV and Asp really should of beat him I still wonder how long the bookies will continue to make him favourite for everything

[The Thorn]

Struggled since signing up with one off the bdo longest tournament sponsors, and changed darts, then changed back...bdo curse lol....me personally i think the hunger has gone, was very lucky to be in the final...

VVDV and Asp really should of beat him I still wonder how long the bookies will continue to make him favourite for everything

As long as the others don't perform either I guess. Price will need more than one major win and the others are even further. Who else would you actually expect to go deep in something at the moment? Maybe Asp but not on that same level. Krusty and Gando are a mess, Durrant consistent but doesn't have the top gear etc

[Safc]

Struggled since signing up with one off the bdo longest tournament sponsors, and changed darts, then changed back...bdo curse lol....me personally i think the hunger has gone, was very lucky to be in the final...

VVDV and Asp really should of beat him I still wonder how long the bookies will continue to make him favourite for everything

As long as the others don't perform either I guess. Price will need more than one major win and the others are even further. Who else would you actually expect to go deep in something at the moment? Maybe Asp but not on that same level. Krusty and Gando are a mess, Durrant consistent but doesn't have the top gear etc

I agree mate but MVG realy shouldn't be a 2/1 favourite for a ET at the minute. Let's see what they do this weekend.

First time in a while u can realy make a case for a dozen players to win a ET

[mad jock]

Struggled since signing up with one off the bdo longest tournament sponsors, and changed darts, then changed back...bdo curse lol....me personally i think the hunger has gone, was very lucky to be in the final...

VVDV and Asp really should of beat him I still wonder how long the bookies will continue to make him favourite for everything

As long as the others don't perform either I guess. Price will need more than one major win and the others are even further. Who else would you actually expect to go deep in something at the moment? Maybe Asp but not on that same level. Krusty and Gando are a mess, Durrant consistent but doesn't have the top gear etc

How could you put money on Krusty, we don't even know what set of darts he is going to use, neither does he !
Gando lost his hunger a while back, much rather be fishing i think