What's happened Barneveld??

themullet

Does anyone know what has happened Barneveld? I'm a huge fan and always have been but lately I'm finding it hard to watch him. He's way off his best and in my opinion not throwing as fluently as he used to. He has put on a serious amount of weight as well, not unusual for a dart player I know but he doesn't look healthy! has he slowed down his game intentionally? I'd love to see him return to form because I'm sick of Taylor.

Kingp35

To be honest he isn't that far off his best. Barney is still averaging around the 98 99 mark which was doing when he was at his best. The main reason for Barney getting nowhere near Taylor is because Taylor has gotten better, much better. The man improves every year which is frightening.

Barney's main problem is in his head, he has lost to Taylor in his head before he even gets onto the stage. His attitude is horrible, he shakes his head all the time and he has no mental strength. He tinkers with his darts too much because he thinks that's the problem but it's not, it's his head.

I'm sorry to say we won't be seeing Barney beating Taylor on a regular basis again, he is miles behind Taylor at this stage.

themullet

Yeah well I'd have to agree with you there as regards his mentatilty. I think that the final in Dublin few weeks back proved this. He couldn't have gotten a better start against Taylor but failed to build on it. It was like he was just waiting for Taylor to come back.

However, I think his throwing isn't as fluent as it once was. I don't know if he has purposely slowed down his game???

damo180

i also find it hard to watch barney, he always looks like he doesnt want to be there, i remember a tournament a while ago when he just started lobbing his darts on the board, against taylor in a final.

hopefully the rest of the pros up their game, getting very boring watching taylor stroll through tournaments

wayne76

have to say was delighted when he changed over even more so when he hit the ground running and winning things but indirectly woke a monster that is taylor in that he realised he needed to improve, dont forget it was only last year taylor sat backstage at an event and cried thinking his time was up but he all of a sudden found an old set of darts in a drawer and improved, was at the worlds final last jan taylor barney great i thought couldn't have asked for more till barney went a set down and rather than try he just shook his head and accepted defeat that was the end of him in my eye's dont like him since, and i dont think practicing with taylor will help i think the opposite, hard to think of a pro who has the mentality to compete in a final with taylor maybe wade, king, jenkins or anderson soon, but until barney stops being a loner and get the chip off his shoulder he'll win nothing unless taylor goes out early:mad:

shockframe

if you go back to his days at the bdo he went 4 years without winning the worlds before 2003.as good a player as he is he has always gone through phases of brilliance and mediocrity.

he threw his darts in the river after mason beat him in 2000.this sulking is nothing new.

yes hes going through a bad spell but its nothing we havent seen before.the only difference is this time he is featuring in more tv events.

give him another year or two and i reckon he could be back to his best.

sc86

i duno shockframe i get the impression in a year or 2 barney could be retired, he seams so uninterested at times he looks like hes gona just jack it in

dartbhoy

With the way Taylor is throwing at the moment no matter how much Barney would improve his averages the reality is it still wouldn't be good enough to beat Taylor and Barney has got to a stage where he accepts it. When he's playing Taylor now it seems that Barney is a beaten man before he even throws a dart. Can't see Barney getting back to the heights of success he had 3 years ago. He has also been diagnosed with diabetes recently so this might explain why he hasn't been looking so well recently and this won't help his darts career either.

wayne76

shockframe wrote: »

if you go back to his days at the bdo he went 4 years without winning the worlds before 2003.as good a player as he is he has always gone through phases of brilliance and mediocrity.

he threw his darts in the river after mason beat him in 2000.this sulking is nothing new.

yes hes going through a bad spell but its nothing we havent seen before.the only difference is this time he is featuring in more tv events.

give him another year or two and i reckon he could be back to his best.

big difference being the standard has got so much higher since 2003 cant understand his constant changing his darts stems flight's etc. it's lack of confidence at the moment ed de veer was the blame but he's gone now so what's the next excuse?

shockframe

i reckon apart from taylor the game hasnt changed much since 2003.

taylors average has gotten higher and higher.the rest have remained the same.jenkins apart its more or less the same field.wade has done well but has crumbled against taylor when he has played and lewis has been a massive disappointment since he burst on the scene.

barney is still the second best player and has been in the semi final/final stages of 4 out of 5 tv majors this year.if he regains his form he will be a serious contender again.

MBC

When barney first changed over to the PDC he had to play all the floor tournaments to get his rankings up to justify his entry to most of the big tv tournaments...........to me this is his downfall he doesnt seem to be playing them anymore.

Same with Taylor when he went through his recent blip when he changed over his darts.........he entered every competition there was and with in a matter of months he was back to his best.

clivebaby

I think he plays every tournament hoping that somebody else beats Taylor.He doesnt have the confidence to beat Taylor anymore.He said his aim is to win the World Championships.

Any Double !

I'm afraid I think this is the real Barney and the one we're gonna keep seeing. He's playing now as he did in the BDO before switching. There he had seemed to lack any motivation and was getting picked off regularly by lower ranked players. Barney had no dominance in the BDO anywhere like Taylor across the great divide. He admitted having formerlylacked motivation when he joined the PDC. Once there he rose brilliantly to the challenge as he had to make his own way up the rankings to qualify for most of the big TV tournaments.
I think he found new levels of confidence as he proved beating Taylor in the PL and World Champs. He definitely had got into Taylor's head for a while ... so much in fact that Taylor was even getting caught by far worse players. Then once Taylor rediscovered his form he began to pick Barney off who in turn found the very same thing happening to him.... losing without ever getting as far as Taylor. Nowadays when he meets Taylor it seems to be getting worse and worse for him. He looks like a dog now that is so used to being kicked out at night that he now sits waiting by the door for it !
I think in his early days he had an awe to him that puzzled Taylor for a while but thats long gone now. I think its all psychological and if he doesn't get that bit right he'll wait a long time to win again.
I think proof of that is that having taken 2 months break before Dublin he admitted on TV that he was suffering from illness and to avoid further complications he was going to go to the Gym, lose a lotta weight and knuckle down to the practise for the Grand Slam.
I couldn't see any evidence of any improvement in any of those 3 departments last week ... he looked worse if anything.
He may have lost about 14 stone when he recently got rid of Kim ... his manager ... but I don't think thats what he wants. He said he had a sports psychologist (his Zenmeister) helping him when he joined the PDC. I think he is so brittle at the moment he either needs to get him back or if he isn't working, get a new one.
I'm worried we've seen the best of Barney ,,, but I really hope not though as it seems Wade is waning, King has got as far as he probably will ever get and Anderson seems to be stuck in the one spot so if nobody steps up to the plate soon they might as well hand the trophies and the winners cheques to Taylor and play with the rest of them then. He is further ahead of the rest of the opposition now than at any time in the 17 years I've been watching him and though other games ... especially earlier rounds in the tournaments are still exciting .... Taylor's matches through no fault of his own are becoming more boringly predictable by the day.

DrDarts

Barney still getting into the fairly big money and able to beat lOwer ranked PDC players but is now putting up no fight against Taylor. The head definitely all over the place and he looks lazy to me. He would give you nightmares if you backed him. Shame as nobody else throwing any way well either now to frighten Taylor.

damo180

how long more will it last i wonder with phil taylor dominating. 3 to 5 yrs maybe?
will darts be more enjoyable on tv when he finally hangs up the arrows ?
i guess the pros cant wait til he does.
i was in killarney in october and my god it was an eye opener.
its taylor and the rest.
you could mix and practise with ALL the pros all weekend,,, except phil.
i got to meet him, but it was like an audience with the pope, had to arrange a meeting with him at a specific time, so not to disturb his practise, in his own practise room, where as the rest of the pros had to queue with everyone on the practise boards. is this the way it is in the players championships.
in saying that, i can see why taylor needs to be protected as he was mobbed every time he came out to play in killarney.

greened

maybe that is why he is so good. Always practicing, never happy with his game. Not resting on his laurels. Did any of the other pro's ask for a private practice room? He is bordering on obsessive with his dedication and single mindness, but is that what is needed to stand out from the rest and be truley great at your chosen sport?
Not many people can be that dedicated...but there may lay the answer as to why there are so few truley great sportsmen in each type of sport.

DartManiac

Great discussion lads,and some very interesting views on Barneys dip in form. I agree that Barney seems to lose belief in himself very quickly when he plays "The Great One",which is sad considering some of the fantastic battles they've had in the past. His comeback from 3 sets down to win the World title was incredible. His final leg decider to beat Taylor in the UK Open was also memorable. For what it's worth I believe Barney will get back to his best eventually,but he must re-motivate himself and try to remember his great matches with Taylor. He's a 5-time World champ who is still young enough to win another few.
Gary Anderson is a fantastic scorer,who certainly has the talent to win a major,but seems to lack belief in himself when it comes to hitting those vital doubles.
Wade needs to beat Taylor in a biggy,Lewis can't hold his form for the duration of a full tournament,although he seems to be maturing mentally a little,and Jenko's happy to keep picking up a fat pay packet!!
Merv has had enough goes to win a big one. Same goes for Hamilton. John Part is on the slide with Mardle. Thornton never stops giving out to himself and Osborne is consistent but too nice.
So it looks like Taylor will continue to dominate unless Barney snaps out of his slumber. Lets hope he does.

Any Double !

Barney gets another chance tomorrow in Germany, he got through to 1/4's ok. Great line-up though, good money too.

Quarter-Finals (Sunday 12pm)

Phil Taylor v Adrian Lewis
Terry Jenkins v Paul Nicholson
Raymond van Barneveld v Ronnie Baxter
Mervyn King v James Wade
Losers £3,000
Best of 15 legs