Ronnie O'Sullivan's friend Jimmy White has called the Rocket's criticism of Alexandra Palace 'nonsense'.
Former Masters champion White hopes the 48-year-old will return to the venue in a better frame of mind on Saturday.
O'Sullivan made it through to a 15th Masters semi-final with a 6-3 win over Barry Hawkins on Thursday.
However, he was extremely downbeat after the match, lambasting his own performance and giving a scathing verdict of the London venue.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has been criticised for his comments on Alexandra Palace
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Hawkins let slip a 3-2 lead to crash out at the quarter-final stage.
White admits O'Sullivan was well below his best and claims he is lucky to still be in the tournament, with Hawkins also having an off day.
The pundit said on Eurosport: "[O'Sullivan] was well below par, he didn’t have any discipline.
"He missed so many easy balls, he miscued a couple of times.
"He was very lucky the Barry Hawkins of late didn’t turn up because he would have lost yesterday.
"Ronnie would be the first to tell you that, but he’s now through, he’s got to play [Shaun] Murphy, who’s in good form."
In one interview on Thursday, O'Sullivan admitted he is not a fan of Alexandra Palace and claimed it makes him 'feel ill'.
He said: "I just don’t like this place, I find it disgusting.
"Everywhere is dirty, cold, I’m freezing. I have to sit here in my coat.
"Everywhere you go, you’re going through car parks, there are bins.
"I don’t know if you’ve seen up there, there’s food and stuff and it makes me feel ill to be honest with you.
"I’m a clean freak. When I come here, it gives me the heebie-jeebies and I can’t wait to get out of here.
"I’m sorry, that’s just how I feel."
However, White has branded the comments 'nonsense' and believes O'Sullivan has taken out his own frustration for his poor showing against Hawkins.
White added: "All nonsense, I think he’s just talking about his performance.
"I think he’ll come in tomorrow and hopefully in a better frame of mind, because he wasn’t at the races.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed Alexandra Palace makes him 'feel ill'
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"It’s just a bad day. Sometimes you’d like him to reign it in because probably today he’ll think he shouldn’t have said that.
"I think it was a reaction [to] his performance."
Meanwhile, O'Sullivan concedes his recent schedule has had an impact on his performances, while revealing he is also struggling with a cold.
The seven-time Masters champion said: "Trying to do everything can be hard and I think you can, especially at my age, it can take a little bit out of you.
"I don't know, I'm just trying to give you answers here, I still don't know the answer.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has made it through to the semi-final of the Masters
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"I feel alright. I think like everybody else in this country I've had a cold for about four weeks, lost my hearing as well in China.
"So not been too well but I think everybody's been like that."
