Ronnie O'Sullivan has been told that he didn't need to apologise to the Alexandra Palace crowd following Thursday's Masters win over Barry Hawkins.
Former three-time champion Steve Davis claims the Rocket should focus on the positives of reaching the semi-final stage instead of his below-par performance.
O'Sullivan was far from his best as he came from behind to beat Hawkins 6-3 in their quarter-final clash.
The 48-year-old gave an honest admission of how he played when speaking afterwards.
Ronnie O'Sullivan apologised to the crowd following his quarter-final win
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He apologised to both the crowd and Hawkins for his performance, which he claim led to an 'awful' match.
O'Sullivan said: "I just feel sorry for Barry.
"He was playing good until he started playing me and I just dragged him down to probably the most awful standard of snooker.
"So I'm really sorry about that today but I'm just lucky to get through really, that's all I can say."
However, Davis says O'Sullivan should focus less on entertaining and more on the result.
He admits it was a 'lovely gesture' to say sorry to the Ally Pally crowd.
But the pundit believes the seven-time champion is adding extra weight on his shoulders by doing so.
Davis told the BBC: "It always feels like Ronnie wants to entertain, but I don't think that's really the most important thing.
"He'll probably feel he's let people down. Apologising, you can't really apologise for a performance like that.
"You've just got to say 'thanks very much, I've got over the line'.
"And I think the crowd appreciated that.
"The apology to the crowd was a lovely gesture as much as he does feel the responsibility as maybe the best player we've ever seen to entertain as well.
"That's hard, the weight on his shoulders."
O'Sullivan produced the moment of the match in the final frame with an audacious shot on the red.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan was very critical of his own performance against Barry Hawkins
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Davis was left purring but reckons Hawkins will be kicking himself for missing an opportunity.
Davis added: "It does seem, occasionally, Ronnie gets into the zone where he doesn't want to be bogged down with tactical play, so he prefers to be much more aggressive.
"In the end he did a good job.
"It is all about the win. It depends how you go about trying to rectify faults.
"If you blame your technique, if you're the type of player that would blame your technique, you'd go to the practice tables and work on technique.
Barry Hawkins missed an opportunity against Ronnie O'Sullivan
PA
"But in the end he finished the job - and that's all that matters.
"It's all about how you finish off and he finished off in style. Fantastic last red, you can watch that all day long.
"But Barry Hawkins will be going back to his dressing room and saying: 'I had so many chances - and I threw them all away.'"
