Mardle on rise of in-form De Sousa: "That consistency and the way he's feeling, that confidence - he doesn't care"

Jose de Sousa continues to emerge as one of the top box office stars in darts with his incredible scoring power and also likely miscounting or going for interesting routes for finishes.

After his PDC Super Series double recently, Wayne Mardle spoke to Sky Sports about his rise and how he shares his set up play with a certain Power.

"Jose at the moment is throwing as well as anyone in the world and that is including the world champ and world No 1 (Gerwyn) Price, that is including (Michael) Van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton, Dimitri Van den Bergh," said Mardle to Sky Sports.

"He is playing as well as anyone. I was watching him through the Super Series - he was leaving dodgy numbers but he was setting them up perfectly, so he is taking out 166 in four [darts], he is taking out 199 in four darts.

"Phil (Taylor) did it for decades, but we've never seen anyone outside of Phil really do it. Phil had the ability, the accuracy and the constant level that was above everyone else, so he would invariably get away with it.

"Because leaving 166 for Phil when someone is sitting on 241 - they hit a ton, he sets up the 166 and takes it out after they miss. It is not a problem and it was never a problem until the very latter end of his career, when his accuracy wasn't as great."

Confidence to back it up

Mardle added on the confidence that De Sousa will be feeling at the moment and how he has in a way simplified the game of darts with his lack of worry about finishing.

"That consistency and the way he's feeling, that confidence - he doesn't care. That in itself is freeing the mind. If you were worried about something, you would get down to that position in a leg and your rhythm would go, your timing would go because you're panicking," he continued.

"We've seen it with Jonny Clayton a couple of times in the Premier League, where he just had to stop. I remember one of the later league-phase games; Jonny took an age off 182 - he stood there, stood there and still hit a big 20. In the end you bamboozle yourself.

"That is what Jose is not doing. He is not bamboozling himself, he is throwing with freedom. It is fine now, but at the wrong time, when it happens, all of a sudden, I'll be against him!

"Jose has simplified his game because he doesn't worry. We've seen him a lot of times recently on double seven. He is not particularly adept at hitting double seven, but he doesn't care, because it's a double and he's thinking: 'I can win the leg.'

"That is Taylor-like. That is absolutely Taylor-like. I remember practising with Phil. He would say: 'What double don't you like?' I would say double three. He was like: 'I'm not really keen on double five.'