Jimmy White, Alan McManus feel Hossein Vafaei 'not done yet' but needs to cut out 'nonsense' against Ronnie O'Sullivan
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Updated 21/04/2023 at 18:19 GMT
Hossein Vafaei was the talk of the Crucible for his outspoken criticism of Ronnie O'Sullivan leading into their second-round clash at the 2023 World Snooker Championship. The Iranian was the talk of Sheffield's snooker followers at the start of the second frame after smashing the pack with his break. Eurosport experts Alan McManus and Jimmy White were not impressed.
'Extraordinary' - Vafaei smashes into reds on break-off against O’Sullivan
Jimmy White and Alan McManus believe Hossein Vafaei still has hope against Ronnie O’Sullivan, but feel he needs to leave the nonsense behind the scenes.
The build-up to the second-round clash at the World Championship was dominated by Vafaei’s criticism of O’Sullivan.
Vafaei, who said he wanted to shut O’Sullivan up, appeared a little overawed by the occasion - which was reinforced by his wild break in frame two.
O’Sullivan was thoroughly professional in dominating the session, but a missed pink in the final frame allowed Vafaei to escape with a 6-2 deficit.
With it being a race to 13 over three sessions, Vafaei has the opportunity to mount a comeback but White and McManus feel he needs to be more professional in his attitude.
Reflecting on the wild break in frame two, which saw Vafaei smash the pack, McManus said: “Pre-match, this is where you need to be strong and forget about all the nonsense.
“I am assuming this, he looked up to his box prior to that break in frame two as if to say ‘here we go, I am going to do it.’ That is nonsense.
“You have to be hard, be strong, as he was all that against Ding (Junhui). He let himself down early on.
“I think the build-up definitely had an effect on him, we saw that with the break in frame two when he split the reds. It was silly. If it was not silly, he would be doing it all the time and he doesn’t. You can’t make that sort of move against anybody.”
Speaking in the Eurosport studio, White felt the occasion and pre-match histrionics got to Vafaei.
“Before he was going out he looked under pressure,” White said. “He probably wished he’d not said those silly things. We will find out one day what the real beef was, but you just can’t do that.”
Reflecting on the break, White said: “If he’d gone out in the second frame and broke normally, and played the match how he should have done from the start and forget all the nonsense.
“But he’s carried it on out there on the greatest stage at the World Championship and you can’t do that.”
McManus feels taking the final frame of the session has allowed Vafaei to gain a foothold.
“The good thing is he salvaged something out of the session and his task is a lot clearer,” McManus said. “That is to win the second session tomorrow, even if he wins it 5-3 he is right there. 6-2 is not insurmountable, a lot of matches have been won from 9-7 down, so he has given himself a lifeline.
“He has got to regroup, but it is good he has got overnight to do that. This match is not done yet.”
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O’Sullivan makes 200th century of his Crucible career in clash with Vafaei
White felt Vafaei did well to pounce after O’Sullivan made a mistake on a pink in the final frame.
“It was a really good break from Hossein,” White said. “In that final frame, Ronnie missed a couple of positional shots and Ronnie was livid as he was playing well and cueing well.
“He does not have any extensions, it’s a one-piece cue, and if he’d had an extension he would not have missed that pink.
“It was a mistake by O'Sullivan. It should have been 7-1, but fair play to Hossein that was a good break.”
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