LUKE LITTLER has been branded “vulnerable” in the Premier League format after his opening-night defeat.
The World No1 suffered a 6-4 quarter-final loss to in the first week of the major tournament at Newcastle.
Luke Littler was beaten by Gian van Veen on Night 1Credit: PA
Matthew Edgar has spotted Littler’s biggest weaknessCredit: Getty
It was only the eighth time in 33 Premier League appearances that Littler has lost his opening clash.
Yet former pro Matt Edgar believes the short, race-to-six structure could expose a weakness in Littler’s game.
Edgar pointed to struggles on the ProTour, where there is little time to recover from slow starts.
He told OLBG: “He’s vulnerable on the ProTour — it’s the same format, and Luke struggles there.
“We’ve seen at times at the World Matchplay him going 5-0 down.
“We’ve seen him go multiple sets down to and then pull it back. He doesn’t have time in the Premier League.
“Maybe this is where we are going to see Luke not be as dominant.”
content creator Charlie Murphy believes there is no cause for panic just yet and backed Littler to respond when it really matters.
He added: “I don’t think it’s going to continue for Luke to lose round one games. I don’t think that will happen very often.
“Let’s say we get about halfway through and it starts to get to the point where he needs to win nights to get into the top four — I can definitely see that happening.
“I think he can switch it on when he really needs to and when he really wants to.
“It’s night one — did it really matter to him? Yeah, he probably wanted to win, but there is that subconsciousness as well where he knows it’s not that important.”
Littler returns to Premier League action next Thursday when he faces in a blockbuster showdown in Antwerp.
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Eze Chidiebere Paul
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