2024 World Matchplay

[shenmue]

https://mastercaller.com/players/james-wade

This is Wade's form. Definitely unlucky here and there in defeat but way too many performances that just aren't up to scratch. Truth is he hasn't played good enough for a while now. He definitely needs a run to a semi final but I just can't see where it's coming

+1unfortunately but i have to keep faith.

[DeepFriedRat]

https://mastercaller.com/players/james-wade

This is Wade's form. Definitely unlucky here and there in defeat but way too many performances that just aren't up to scratch. Truth is he hasn't played good enough for a while now. He definitely needs a run to a semi final but I just can't see where it's coming

The Euro Tour is absolutely crucial for him. Its imperative for him to win his first game on Friday and then hope like fuck he beats Callan Rydz in a straight race (barring any unexpected late arrivals).

[tungsten tossers]

Matchplay race after today

https://www.dartsrankings.com/wmp

Brenda pretty safe now

[shenmue]

Praying for you wadey.

[oche balboa]

1 Luke Humphries 1446.25
2 Michael van Gerwen 1042.5
3 Michael Smith 1016.25
4 Gerwyn Price 606.25
5 Nathan Aspinall 587.5
6 Rob Cross 559.25
7 Dave Chisnall 482
8 Peter Wright 478.5
9 Dimitri Van den Bergh 471.25
10 Jonny Clayton 467
11 Damon Heta 453.75
12 Danny Noppert 421.5
13 Chris Dobey 411.5
14 Joe Cullen 407.5
15 Ross Smith 405.25
16 Stephen Bunting 391.25
=========================================
17 Dirk van Duijvenbode 376.25
18 Josh Rock 334.75
19 Gary Anderson 333.5
20 Andrew Gilding 332.75

Pro Tour

1 Gary Anderson 115
2 Luke Littler 86
3 Ryan Searle 85
4 Ricardo Pietreczko 79
5 Martin Schindler 76.25
6 Ryan Joyce 72
7 Gian van Veen 72
8 Josh Rock 70.25
9 Daryl Gurney 65
10 Brendan Dolan 59.75
11 Krzysztof Ratajski 59.5
12 Raymond van Barneveld 51.25
13 Ritchie Edhouse 48.5
14 Luke Woodhouse 45
15 Andrew Gilding 44.75
16 Callan Rydz 43
======================================
17 James Wade 42
18 Kevin Doets 41
19 Gabriel Clemens 38.5
20 Mike De Decker 36.25

[DeepFriedRat]

THOUGHTS

- Everyone above Barney is 100% safe for the Matchplay obviously.

- 3k more for Barney should see him safe. He's not the best at Euro Tour Fridays but he should win at least 1 of the last 3 and his floor form is decent. He's not popular at all here but he really deserves another year in the majors as his ProTour results in 2023/24 have been excellent at best and never terrible at worst.

- I think Edhouse makes it too. His form is too solid and although he could mess the bed the closer it gets to the cut-off, I see him having one more good run on the Euro Tour to guarantee he makes every major in 2024 (except the Slam). He could do with making either ET7 or ET8 tomorrow, as missing both would make a nervous wait likely.

The rest are tricker to be certain about.

- Woodlouse. His form atm hasn't been the best, aside from a good run on the floor a few weeks back. He completely spunked away 2k against a terrible Smudger on the Euro Tour and he is capable of imploding in games he should win.

But credit where it's due, he has improved massively since this time last year and after scraping into the 2023 WGP, his consistency has improved significantly. Stick another 1.25k on his ranking right now too as he's gonna be at ET6 as a replacement for Luke Humphries.

- Gilding. He hasn't been good enough since the UK Open. His 2024 Euro Tour form has mixed the shite tonic of terrible performances against facing tough players. He completely messed the bed against Daniel Klose last time out and was very lucky to even draw a hopeless jobber first game in the Austrian Friday. Should be 2.5k worse off.

His results on the floor have been okay recently but performances only mediocre. I wouldn't back him to beat any of the rivals in the race either in a one-off game, except maybe Rydz due to rhythmic differences.

- Rydz. He is so overdependent on his floor performances. Callan Rydz has been absolutely god awful on stages, genuinely since back end of 2022 (apart from a total decimation of Peter Wright on the Euro Tour which might have been last year? Can't remember exactly).

But he can be unpredictably explosive on the floor. I could see him having one good run like he did yesterday within the next month, to totally throw the cat amongst the pigeons.

CUT-OFF

- Wade. How has it got to this? Complacency, bad luck, losing to jobbers and not being arsed, all four could count at various points in the past year. It really looked like he was back at the end of last year, his win vs Rock at the Slam was legendary and I'm not even a Wade superfan. The Matchplay would miss him (especially as a dangerous floater for a PL player).

But the numbers don't lie. He was blessed with a good board today and he blew it. He's also not been great at beating top 32 players lately. Should he be losing to Edhouse or O'Connor when playing well?

- Doets. Probably the only player near the cut-off who won't be absolutely gutted if he misses out. Almost all of his ProTour money is from the floor (and 8k alone from the career changing final last year). He's only qualified for one ET this year but will be invited to another one at least before the cut-off, ET7.

But this is a nice problem for Doets. He could be starting again from zero if it weren't for the balls he showed at Ally Pally and the floor last year. I suspect there's more to come from him.

- Dirk- been shite for months with one fluke floor run really masking his true decline. Needs 7k more than the others to even draw level with the rest- where does it come from? 4k on Saturday would be a start.

- Clemens- as I prophesized earlier in the year, the ET rule change has destroyed him. With him and Schindler it was sink or swim, now everyone else is given freebies, you need to be better than the rest to make gains. Schindler is flying, Gaga has drowned. Desperately needs a big run and soon.

- Jose- totally fucked. Can't even be arsed writing a paragraph on him because he's a chore to watch these days. Throw is completely shot and he looks gone.

- De Decker- didn't take advantage of good ET qualifying form. Losing close games to Menzies and Barney could cost him and his floor form is poor atm too. Unlikely to make it but will be at two of the last three ETs at least, so you never know. More likely than Dirk or Jose absolutely.

- Menzies and Veins. Both are playing pretty well but too far away imo. They should target the WGP as a realistic goal which would be a real highlight for them, especially Veenstra in his second year on tour.

Good luck to both but especially Veins bc I do adore the mad cunt. Would be amazing if he could soar into Blackpool but, as Rogg points out, he's not got the killer instinct to "get there". The new Vincent van der Voort on tour.

CONCLUSION

- Woodlouse, Rydz and Wade make it.
- Gilding blows it.
- Doets falls away as others make ground on the ET
- De Decker runs it close but misses out narrowly
- Dirk and Clemens pick up some results but miss out (Dirk will have a run on the floor)
- Jose will be absolutely nowhere near. Embarrassingly so.

[DeepFriedRat]

EURO TOUR WATCH in the Matchplay race- Updated

- Barney- invited to ET6, 7+8
- Edhouse- qualified for ET6. First reserve for ET7+8
- Woodlouse- will replace Humphries at ET6 and is invited to ET7+8
- Gilding- invited to ET6, 7+8
- Rydz- misses ET6, invited to ET7 and qualified for ET8
-----
- Wade- invited to ET6, 7+8
- Doets- misses ET6, invited to ET7 and second reserve for ET8
- Clemens- invited to ET6, 7+8
- De Decker- qualified for ET6+8 and invited to ET7
- Dirk- seeded at ET6, invited to ET7+8
- Menzies- misses ET6+8, qualified for ET7
- Veenstra and S Williams- fucked, will miss all three.
- Jose- invited to ET6+7, misses ET8

[The Thorn]

Jose is a legend

[shenmue]

He is the obese one and he is finished

[The Thorn]

Was a great player in his pomp

[oche balboa]

Nice summary DFR

[sennafan24]

De Sousa had a good 2 or 3 year run where he won the GSOD, won a handful of floor events, cracked the top ten in the PDC OOM, and made the PL final. Those achievements exceed those achieved by Bunting, Dobey, Ross Smith and others throughout their PDC careers.

That said, in no way should he be seen as a legend of the game unless we want to cheapen the meaning of that distinction.

[Safc]

Nice summary DFR

+1

Cant argue with any of it.

[Dfc180]

Jose is a legend

For his miscounting and different finishing

[The Thorn]

De Sousa had a good 2 or 3 year run where he won the GSOD, won a handful of floor events, cracked the top ten in the PDC OOM, and made the PL final. Those achievements exceed those achieved by Bunting, Dobey, Ross Smith and others throughout their PDC careers.

That said, in no way should he be seen as a legend of the game unless we want to cheapen the meaning of that distinction.

Could argue he's a legend for Portuguese darts seeing every other player is miles behind him even on his current weaker form