COOL HAND INTO THE FINAL! 🥶✋ Luke Humphries hammers Michael van Gerwen 10-5 to reach the PL final on debut! The champ is dethroned! 📺 bit.ly/PLD24Live #PLDarts | Play-Offs | SF2
''Last few months I have too many ups and downs'' - Michael van Gerwen realistic after defeat against Luke Humphries in playoffs
PDCFriday, 24 May 2024 at 08:00
Michael van Gerwen usually is a sure-fire bet for Premier League Darts play-offs success and usually leaves his best displays for The O2 (or subsequent finals night venues). But he went down hard to Luke Humphries in a pretty damning defeat.
Van Gerwen managed to take a 1-2 lead early in his match with a 103 finish, but then saw the match quickly go the way of the World Champion. Humphries took six legs in a row and eventually won 10-5.
The defeat did not come as a total surprise, Van Gerwen confessed afterwards. "It's not going wrong in this match, this is something from the past few months. I'm just not constant enough, not for months," Van Gerwen said in his interview on Viaplay.
"You see I am trying everything and trying my hardest. I also prepared very well for this match, but both during the game and in recent months I have too many ups and downs. That shouldn't happen, but it happens now."
So it was not to Van Gerwen's advantage that he faced an unleashed Humphries. "It makes a difference that I'm playing against the best dart player in the world. What he has shown in the last 12 months is of an unprecedented level. I want to get to a certain level myself, but there's really no question of that right now."
Ahead of the Premier League Darts playoffs, Van Gerwen decided to switch back to the arrows he used to win the 2020 UK Open. This switch did not have the desired result. "After last week I thought I could do a bit more. But the first dart didn't go well. Then it becomes searching, forcing and irritating. Then you start making mistakes and it becomes even harder to win. This is another tap on the chin. It hurts when you lose."
Despite missing out on the Premier League title, Van Gerwen does keep a hefty sum from his Premier League title. He will receive £85,000 for reaching the semifinals, topped by £40,000 in bonuses.
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- Am not outraged and as said above i dont like anyone from any country doing it to anyone from any country. Whoever is going for a double should have best of order.Mysstree17-11-2024
- Say what? It happens in other countries; Littler in January - this year (Holland), go and watch the evidence on YouTube. If it is going to be done to English players, then we are more than entitled to dish the same back when players face off in England. When it happened to Littler in Holland in January... where was your outrage then? ABE attitude.MrYnyslas197117-11-2024
- I dont like individuals or crowds trying to put any player off when they are trying to check out, how anyone can think its okay for the crowd to whistle or shout as someone is throwing for a double is beyond me but it does seem to have become part and parcel of the modern game. I no longer play now, darts is as good as dead at a local level round my way but when i did play many years ago, no matter how intense the rivalry you never shouted out or whistled when an opponent from the other team was throwing for a double.Mysstree17-11-2024
- The pundits glossing over the other factor at play in that match. They appear to be somewhat constrained in what they can say publicly.
UndartedWaters16-11-2024 - So, you don't like Littler, then? I was cheering him on, being a fellow Englishman. Honestly, some of us get far too offended nowadays. If you want to see crowd passion... watch a match when German and Dutch players face off... that can be just as bad if not worse for crowd noises. It happens, I have watched and heard Littler being jeered - Dirk van Duijvenbode in Holland, January this year. Where was your outrage then? Yes, I can clearly see what is going on here.MrYnyslas197116-11-2024