I hardly see such criticisms and discussions about LCW's interview in the Chinese forums. What you're referring to could be just the small minority of die-hard CHN fans in BC...compared to the similarly die-hard MAS fans, these people you mentioned are negligible!
Two heads are better than one. But if you have more, worse eight heads - what will become of the product?
There are lot of critics on LCW in BC, for years. You hardly see, doesnt mean dont have, read this thread alone, so many. Those so called die hard Msia fans are actually a minority in real life, most Msians critise LCW for not winning the 2008 OG gold & WC. Read the reader's comments in Berita Harian & see what they say about LCW not backing Misbun when Misbun resigned. But main point is - if one read & believe press articles, which fans of other countries do, then cannot say other people gullible. Worse still if dont keep up to date, then think other people talking nonsense
I guess I can only speak from experience from what I have read on the other forums and at BC here. The die-hard MAS fans just stand out more frequently and significantly than the CHN ones. I agree and hardly read these press articles anyway, and so should real fans who are interested in seeing good competitive matches. There is no point to criticise for example LCW for losing to CL a few times now and LD for not being able to consistently trash LCW every time they meet and having to bear a loss record of 8 times to LCW out of 25. Let us all just enjoy the matches and let the players do what they can.
To quote my dear Pa: "Balik2 LCW!! Those Ah Bengs they dont care?" They = Medias, BAM, Menteri Sukan & Belia, fans, etc Ah Bengs = back up players (I believe the girls also included, judging from his angry face lol) Maybe if 'they' go low profile a bit and let LCW and the rest work on their game? No need to bising2 much? Can ah?
Woh woh woh.. all excited for badminton olympic gold medal and malaysia open ya? Relax and have a sip of coffee 1st.. Mas Open is coming in 2 weeks.. 421 pages already and stil going strong. We might reach 500 pages before the OG12
Maybe MS is challenging LCW to go pro? Just like what he did the last time and managed to reach the world cup finals agains Liem Swee King. He is a rebel and did pretty well. Kudos to him. No one gave him any chance and he almost won it.
I consider Tang Xianfu as the all-time greatest player and my reference in badminton. It would be of my greatest interest if you would share a bit on his philosophy and training methods for badminton. You may reply in another thread if this space is not appropriate. Thank you.
Totally IMO here..I haven't posted in a long long time. Here's why I don't think LCW is a better player than LD: 1) Mental toughness - I think this is sorta obvious. LCW makes a lot more errors and can't find his game in big moments. He almost let Tago win the 2010 AE, and lost to LD in OG, WC2011, etc. 2) Lack of winners - I know LCW has a bigger smash than any of the top 5 (except maybe Chen Long) in terms of speed - he's consistently clocking 260 km/h, which is faster than LD, PG and Taufik. But the bird doesn't go to the floor when facing CL or LD. It's frustrating to see LCW having to rely on their errors because he can't put the bird on the floor. And then you see CL or LD completely destroying LCW's defense whenever they get a chance for a big smash. 3) Speed - okay this is probably really controversial. But serious, look at the way that LD imposes himself at the net, and compare to LCW. Compare their cross court netshots - LD is almost always taking the bird above the net and guiding the shuttle downwards, whereas LCW seems to be crossing from below, making his stroke defensive in nature. And then there's diving - I'm used to seeing LD make a dive, get up super fast, and then keep the rallies going. Too often I see LCW do a dive, sit on the floor for a good second, realize the rally is still going, and then take the bird late. 4) Defense - LD's defense has gone insane since 2010 TC when he started doing all sorts of cross-court blocks/drives to break down an opponent's attack. That's probably the biggest reason why he trashed LCW in the 2010 TC semi match so hard. And just defense in general - LCW isn't the same person doing those crazy dives in 2005, he's not as quick and can't get the bird back when he needs to. 5) Game plan - IMO, LCW's game plan seems to fizzle when he comes to a player who's at his speed. Pretty much he just wants to get the lift, then start doing lots of drops and smashes (especially that slice smash across court) and hope that he can break down his opponent that way. It's burning him out and doesn't work when his smash isn't being effective (like against LD - he rarely gets smash winners). His ability to get a game plan going based on other strokes is really nullified. Compare to LD who wins the rally when he takes control of the net, and also is able to win when doing lots of clears, waiting until the opponent opens up and becomes vulnerable to a counter-attack. Other misc stuff: I don't like LCW's reverse slice crosscourt drop from around the head, it's not that threatening nor consistent. How often do you see Taufik or LD miss with the equivalent stroke? And I think LCW's fitness is in question too, he gets tired during matches, which never really happened to him before, and doesn't happen to LD. So those are my thoughts on LCW. I like him as a player, but I'm frustrated when he consistently shows that he cannot match up to LD. How come LD wins games when he feels like attacking, whereas LCW cannot when he's feeling aggressive? It's not just mental toughness, other factors are at play. I'm waiting for when LCW proves me wrong and takes a WC or OG, but until then I'm convinced that LD is the better player.
Good analysis above. In short if he can improve on his netting (which is horrible, taking from lower points and also slow to follow through) and be more aggresive in attacking, He could win it. When he plays LD, he seems to make more unforced errors also. So, minimizing this will also give him some hope. Let's see how it goes.
. I will probably start another thread for Tang Xianfu's philosophy on his training and his playing methods . I did not just spend hours with him, listening to what he said, but watched the demonstration of how he did things. Actually, watching his demonstration is easier to understand what he meant, compared to what he said in his lecture. It will be difficult to write - probably an essay of 100,000 words won't be enough to explain just one topic itself, for example: What is Good Footwork? .
This, in fact, is the main thesis of Timothy Gallwey's book The Inner Game of Tennis. Direct verbal instruction is actually harmful in most situations. But yeah, sorry for the off-topic and please make that other thread for this side discussion. ;-)
interesting read.. Agree with much of what you say.. except yor views of the smash.. Both LD and Taufik usually clock faster smashes when I followed the radar measurements. Gade on the other hand probably is the weakest top-10 smasher, he produces very god angels on his sliced attacks though.
there is a report by ttymq a few days ago that Misbun had kindly declined to return to train LCW again... http://www.ttymq.com/viewnews-20747.html
