Has The Power Finally Gone Out For Taylor?

Posted: 25.05.15 in Darts Performance Centre Blog category

Dare we write off The Power?

Write him off at your peril, that’s what the experts say. And, of course, many have suggested in the past that Phil Taylor’s career is over, and the 16-time champion of the world has bitten back and made them look ridiculous.

But this time....

It’s his Premier League results that are responsible for the ‘Taylor’s finished’ bandwagon to gather momentum for the thousandth time. There’s no denying it: the Power lost 7 of his 16 matches, winning just 6. That’s a win ratio of just 37.5%.

The stats don’t lie, and sometimes neither do performances. The way Taylor failed to win in three crucial matches – that 6-6 stalemate with Lewis in Week 12, and the subsequent 4-7 and 5-7 defeats to Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson respectively – were not the manner in which a champion conducts their business.

His form in the 7-1 hammering of James Wade will have given him some crumbs of comfort – 108.9 average, four 180s and 70% checkout success – but only a small amount. In ten years of the Premier League, this was the first time that Taylor had failed to make the semi finals at least.

Indeed, of that decade of Premier action, Taylor has won six out of ten stagings.

Temporary Measure or Terminal Decline?

In truth, the Power was a wire away from becoming the 2015 World Champion. After leading 4-3 in sets at the Ally Pally in the final against Gary Anderson, but missed three darts at double 16 to extend his lead to 5-3. The rest, as they say is history.

And if you read between the lines, you could argue that Taylor’s form in 2015 so far has been pretty good. Okay, he was knocked out of the Premier League prematurely, but his average across his 16 games was 102.95 – and this was only bettered by MVG’s 105.15.

He’s already picked up two trophies too – a UK Open Qualifier and the Players Championship event in Crawley, so perhaps the rumours of his demise are greatly exaggerated.

There’s no doubting that The Power is finding it tougher to dominate opponents these days – but that’s because the standard of play is so high. Any of the top 32 players now represent a potential banana skin rather than a walk in the park.

But his performances in the final of the two majors he won last season – the Grand Slam final against Dave Chisnall and the demolition of MVG in the World Matchplay – suggests there’s plenty of power left in the Taylor batteries.