What a difference a year can make.
At Newcastle, on February 22nd 12 months ago, Phil Taylor really got into his Premier League stride with an 8-2 mashing of Peter Manley and a 101 average. He kept up 100 averages right through to Week 10 when he blasted Terry Jenkins 8-1 with a 107 average.
We move to the Ricoh Arena at Coventry last Thursday and a complete turnaround. Manley laces a jaded Phil 8-3 with a 102 average. The bouncy, confident killer is not the bloke from Stoke. No way; the conqueror is a pink-shirted fluent exhibitionist with all the pantomime charm of Baron Hardup. Manley glows confidence and efficiency, hot from yet another night on the exhibition circuit. Taylor, to put it bluntly, flounders like a pale shadow…
What is up? And what if anything can Phil do to shape up?
Before the forensics, I’ll give you clue. Manley has used the same arrows since he was 16 because they suit his thrusting, fast throw. But Phil for four harrowing weeks now has used darts that, I swear, are wrong for him.
I have written more about Taylor’s ballistics in 15 years than Werner Von Braun did about rocket science. And here, in a nutshell, is Sid’s analysis of Phil’s bad form.
PROFESSOR SID THEORISES
The old knitting needle darts were not thrown heavily. They were lobbed to enter the board at 10 degrees to the horizontal. They were skinny enough to accept two more darts stacked on top. This also allowed lies at Treble 19 and Double 16 to be used as platforms. The new ‘torpedo’ darts are too thick. They land too flat and Phil has only limited room to wiggle round them. He compensates by doing a Manley and hurling the dart too hard, hence lies are blown and 100 averages are a thing of the past. I don’t care who designed the darts; Taylor can practice from now till Doomsday and he will never get murderous consistency with them.
It is a fact that all the other players know Phil is vulnerable, as his results at top level since June 2007 show. So there is devil-may-care attitude when they play him, especially in the short format of the Premier League. The bottom line is that I think he lacks confidence all round, especially in the new missiles.
THE YOUNG ONES
I wrote in the Sky Sports magazine a month ago that our sport was blessed to have Adie Lewis and James Wade doing their thing at top level, and haven’t the boys hit the Premier League running.
Given Taylor’s problems and Barney’s fragile psyche, James looks to be favourite to win the whole shebang. He’s looking cool under all that needed aggression and is currently leading the field.
Adie is in his element and loves getting up the noses of the crowd. He has the arrogance of Bristow and the vulnerability of John Thomas Wilson. Above all, you must remember that the League is EXHIBITION darts, and Adie loves being in that spotlight.
And how about Terry Jenkins first three winning legs against Taylor at Manchester? Average up to 130, deadly finishing. I loved it.
Finally, the spread bet on Lady Godiva references at Coventry was 10 -15 and Dave Lanning and I managed a mere SEVEN! We are calming a bit now we are respected po-faced members of the Hall of Fame.