Premier League Week 5

Posted: 05.03.13 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We have Jackpot's darting woes, a Power theory and some tips!

Oh Dear!

Things are going from bad to worse for Jackpot and for me as I try to defend my decision to advise against taking odds of 7/1 on him getting relegated. I even tried not very subtly suggesting that we could help Adrian out with our video analysis expertise. Sadly the knock on the door from Jackpot didn’t come. Never mind, we do actually have another former World Champion booked in this week for a session, but more of that another time.

Last week was awful. Newton posted the second worst average of the tournament so far (85.77) but yep, you guessed it, Lewis contrived to “beat” that with 84.18. The only moment of glory for Jackpot being a 117 outshot that scuppered our Wes to hit the biggest outshot bet! Ouch, rubbing salt in the wounds there! There was plenty of advice as ever for Lewis to “help” him overcome his darting woes. Mardle suggested he needed more “zip” in his throw. Hmmm.

My comparison for you about Lewis’s technique problem is to imagine there is driver who every time they change gear they forget to push the clutch down! Would changing gear with “more zip” help? No, it wouldn’t. You would of course correct the error first, and then practise pushing the clutch down until the habit was formed. Once it had formed and become automatic, then decide if this technique would benefit from being a fast or slow action. Lewis can only sort this poor form out by identifying exactly what is causing his loss of precision, correct it and then move forward.

New Darts Please

Phil Taylor played with a brand new set of darts last week, a slimmer version of his previous set.  He only got them the day before his match with The Machine but decided to play with them anyway. He explained this arguably risky tactic by suggesting “that is what I am like”. This is hard to argue against as he decided the right moment to trial wearing glasses during a darts match was during a high profile TV event!

He also suggested the darts would make him a better player. Gulp! Before last Thursday he had a plus 101 average and a near 45% on the checkouts! So how can these darts make him a better player? Don’t worry, I have a theory! It goes like this.

We have previously written about breaking a darts match into three distinct passages of play. Stage 1 – Power Scoring – Stage 2- Power Scoring and Counting to get on a finish and Stage 3-The Checkout. Taylor rarely, if ever, makes a counting error and his finishing is generally immaculate. There is an argument that he needs slightly more darts to finish than he used to but I don’t have the data as evidence to back that up. He is on 42% for this season so far, which is high quality.

So maybe the darts are to help his power scoring. He is no slouch in this area but his previous darts restricted his 180 chances as they had to lay in the bed in a certain way.  If they didn’t land perfectly he would more often than not run for cover and go down to the treble 19’s. He has witnessed Mighty Mike blitz opponents with his unique brand of power scoring but Van G does sometimes stutter on the finish. MVG has usually built up such a lead though he has built in insurance that allows him to miss a few doubles and still take the leg.

Maybe The Power is reckoning on keeping pace with Van Gerwen and any other big power scorers by hitting more 180’s and 140’s than he previously did and then with his precision finishing stay one step ahead? On the other hand he may just want to sell more of his new signature darts!

This week’s matches:

March 7 - Capital FM Arena, Nottingham
James Wade v Robert Thornton
Raymond van Barneveld v Andy Hamilton
Adrian Lewis v Michael van Gerwen
Phil Taylor v Gary Anderson
Wes Newton v Simon Whitlock

Tips:

Whitlock to beat Newton 5/6 at Unibet. Yes Wes did win last week but The Wizard will surely be too strong!

It’s money where your mouth is time! Taylor to score over 2.5 180`s at evens! He has only managed this once in the first four weeks; can the new darts do the business?

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