another off topic post..any one watching the world cup of darts on sky..who`s your favourite player..who do you want to win..for me its co stompe,lovely bloke good player and talks a lot of sense...go stompe go..can any one do his pose,i can with ease the wife loves it

I think if the wizard Whitlock plays like he did today he will take some beating. Would love to see Wade v Taylor.

I only like Anastacia.

perv..

Only saw a couple of world cup games, Besides Taylor my favourites are Stompe and Whitlock. Is next weeks tournament the one where Whitlock defeated Wade and Barny on the way to losing in the final to Taylor? I love his entrance music aswell, that is what made me a fan of his before i saw how good he was haha

he lost in the final to taylor..his entrance music isdown under by men at work a classic 80`s song..

Just downloaded it now haha

I won a nice few quid with an each way bet on Whitlock last year...

Realistically I can't see anyone beating Taylor, but I'd [ilove[/i Barney to get back to his best at the Worlds, and Whitlock will hopefully build on what he did there last year with another year's experience on the PDC circuit, with the crowds etc, behind him.

I have a feeling Wade is never gonna win it, at least until Taylor retires. He's good enough to do it while Taylor is still around, but I just suspect he won't. He hasn't got anywhere near the drive and desire of Phil. Unfortunately Barney's belief in himself is shot to bits and doesn't look likely to return any time soon, so the two most talented players outwith the fifteen time champion, who are without a doubt good enough to beat him if they play as well as they can, just don't seem to fancy it.

That for me makes Whitlock the main contender. He isn't as good as Wade or Barney, but isn't as held back by his own head the way they are.

Paul Nicholson (the aussie /geordie bloke) is a great outside bet. When he is at the top of his game he is easily as good as Wade, Whitlock and Barney. Did anyone else see the final in which he beat Taylor earlier this year? Won 10-9 after taking out 7 or 8 100+ finishes.

I thought Barney's problems were all supposed to be behind him, after his blackmailing. He had a strong finish to his PL season around Aprilish. Sorry, don't follow darts as much as I used to

Really?

He seemed to be perfectly content within himself when he won the World Cup of Darts with Holland at the weekend.

I didn't watch that so fair enough. He's a different man when he's playing Taylor though. He hasn't believed he can beat him for ages now.

Remember when he lost a final to Taylor earlier this year (the Matchplay I think but I'm not 100% sure) after a great tournament, and was asked "Is the real Barney back?"

His resigned response was, "I was already the second best and I'm the second best here." No belief when it counts.

REALLY. ERR World Championship final 2007. 3-0 down to Taylor, then battles back to win sudden death play off would suggest otherwise

He believed he was the best player in the world then. By his own admission one of his aims when he joined the PDC was to prove he was better than Taylor. He was sure he was, and in that final he played like it. It was amazing to watch.

However, self doubt has gradually crept in, and surely anyone who regularly watches darts can see that. When he's on fire he's really on fire, but when his head goes he struggles, and at times you get the feeling he's resigned himself to losing to Taylor before the match even starts. That's understandable for average players, but a Barney full of confidence and firing on all cylinders, a la 2007, has nothing to fear.

I'll be suprised if anybody apart from Taylor wins it. His nearest challengers are James Wade, Barney, Simon Witlock and Adiran Lewis IMO. I love watching Lewis play.

Also, how good is Co Stompe for entertainment value?

gary anderson should go well now he's adapted to the pdc circuit,tremendous scorer,taylor is the best ever thrower but i think a few cracks have started to appear this year and if someone gets into him in the earlier rounds he might not have it all his own way.

A darkhorse is Mark Webster, 33/1 at William Hills.

Thanks for clearing an argument up. I always thought Black Beauty was the dark horse. Its Whitlock who I think could win in outside Taylor & Wade.

Mark Webster

If you are backing webster get down to ladbrokes, 40/1 in there.

Adrian Lewis shouldn't even be put in the same sentence as the above. Whitlock has showed he has championship material by being a finalist in the PDC and the BDO tournament. Wade has shown his class and is a multiple major winner (yes, he did beat Lewis in the World GP earlier this year), and Barney, well, everyone knows about Barney.

Lewis doesn't have the darts, nor the mental agility to become a champion. He gets wound up easily (see the videos of him and Manley for instance) and despite him being a big scorer at times, he's terrible on his doubles. The only achievement he's ever had is finally beating Taylor on television to reach the final of the World GP, but Taylor was well off his game that night (averaging a mere 92) and when he got to the final, Wade beat him with a shocking 88 average).

I only included Lewis because of his win against Taylor but I see him as a threat. People also forget how old he is, I think he's 25 so he definitley has time on his side and alot of work and effort to put in. I do think Lewis will make the SF's.

Also, I've had a fiver on Mark Webster each way to reach the final with Ladbrokes after hearing yesterday on here that he was 40/1.

Surprised to see Beaton out, thought he was one of the better ones?

Sad to see how far Rafa has fallen that he must have left Inter now as he's playing against Phil Taylor in darts now. He's not very good at that either.

Wade does alright until the crowd start singing about his girlfriend and then he starts losing it mentally, so won't win it imo.
Lewis is probably the most talented darts player when on his game and can beat anyone, apart from Taylor who he always seems beat against before the start. Problem for Lewis is that the top players know how to get into him verbally and disrupt his flow.

Re: Barney. One of the saddest sights I've seen was when he played in the Las Vegas final against Taylor. Had a bad start but clawed the deficit back to something like 5-3 when he had a double to be only one leg behind. He missed and Taylor went ahead. He then just fell to pieces and it was like watching someone breaking down mentally on stage as he began throwing his darts anywhere at one stage and shrugging his shoulders.
Even Taylor looked really comfortable as he won. I dont think he's got it in him on that hot stage to hold it together for two weeks. My money would be on Whitlock who was fantastic last year in his debut at the Pally.

A cheeky little e/w on Webster (who's been backed into 16/1 from 40/1) is still value.