Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

There is an old saying (respectfully) Paul, that you don't need to go down a coal mine to know that it is dark.

Indeed not, in much the same way you don't need statistics to watch a single game of football.

However if you were trying to work out the most efficient way to light a coal mine having statistics about the mine, the lights, the cabling, etc is a lot better than walking through and dropping torches every now and then.

The miner with a torch can see but the miner with the canary survives.

[brian green]

I believe in the concept of "group brain".  Basically human survival depends on human intelligence being able to "snap shot" threats.  There are signs all around us all the time that are shorthand for imminent events.  The classic example is new born babies reacting to cartoon smiley/scarey faces.

To put it into football context, long, long ago we were teetering on the brink of relegation at the end of a season.  We were clinging on to a precious point  in the last minutes of a game.  The ball was hoofed long and high towards our Holte End penalty box.  The ball seemed suspended in the air,  Nigel Sims was stranded, only Jimmy Dugdale stood on our goal line.

Nobody in the Holte knew or cared about statistics but what every one of us knew was that Jimmy only had one foot, his right one.  As the ball fell out of the sky to his feet we just knew if it fell to his right we were safe.  It fell to his left and finished in the net.  These days there would be numbers to show how right sided Jimmy was.  We did not need the numbers then.  We just knew.  Group brain at work.

[paul_e]

I believe in the concept of "group brain".  Basically human survival depends on human intelligence being able to "snap shot" threats.  There are signs all around us all the time that are shorthand for imminent events.  The classic example is new born babies reacting to cartoon smiley/scarey faces.

To put it into football context, long, long ago we were teetering on the brink of relegation at the end of a season.  We were clinging on to a precious point  in the last minutes of a game.  The ball was hoofed long and high towards our Holte End penalty box.  The ball seemed suspended in the air,  Nigel Sims was stranded, only Jimmy Dugdale stood on our goal line.

Nobody in the Holte knew or cared about statistics but what every one of us knew was that Jimmy only had one foot, his right one.  As the ball fell out of the sky to his feet we just knew if it fell to his right we were safe.  It fell to his left and finished in the net.  These days there would be numbers to show how right sided Jimmy was.  We did not need the numbers then.  We just knew.  Group brain at work.

Statistics don't change any of that though and they in no way replace it. For a current example I don't need statistics to prove that Taylor can't kick a moving ball, I've seen him stop, take a step back and then try to cross far too many times to not see it as a massive weakness in his game.

However that also doesn't mean that stats aren't useful. If I saw a stat (that I'm going to make up) that showed Taylor crosses with his 3rd or 4th touch 90% of the time I'd get a similar impression and I'd expect to see him play the way he does.

Stats will never be better than watching games but if you can't watch (or re-watch) every game then they are a useful way of summarising it.

[brian green]

I agree with you totally Paul.   I find, as my ability to absorb information declines, to use shortcuts to cognitive awareness helps.

Thus

Me)  Who has got the ball?
My Son)  Cafu
Me)  Let's see if we can catch it.

[Footy-Vill]

Dean Smith gathered the villa squad together on the pitch after that league cup final loss and Guilbert is quoted as saying:
"The gaffer said in the huddle, 'Stay together, win or lose. If we win, we stay in the Premier League. It's a question of mentality.'

There are many good things about Smith and this was just class act getting the players in a group and keeping their spirits up.
I think his own mentality is very strong and he is hoping the players can also take that .
Deano never stops encouraging and there's not for one second he won't do everything he can to keep the club we all love up in premier league.
In Smith we trust !

[itbrvilla]

Sack him to give us a fighting chance at least! WTF are the board playing at? Surely they've seen the same performances as us?!

[Villan82]

Purslow- do you think the shit we have watched/endured since December is acceptable?

If you do, then you also need the sack.

[PaulWinch again]

Thanks for last season Dean, but far too often we’ve been badly coached and way way below the required standard. Time for a change, because sadly there’s no sign of any sort of improvement.

[ChicagoLion]

They had the chance After Southampton and Watford.
They should have acted then, now it’s too late.

[frank black]

So who we getting in to save our bacon?

[PeterWithesShin]

I've stuck up for him but wouldn't give a shit if him, Appleyard and all the coaches were binned tonight. To still be making the same mistakes in game 28 that you were making in first game is fucking scandalous.

[Richard]

Yep Smith and Kelly are 2 championship coaches at best plus an inexperienced guy in Terry. None of them seem to have any tactical nous.

[Monty]

Ultimately, I'm afraid that the postmortem of this season will say that Dean, while a decent manager and obviously good bloke, just isn't up to this level. Without Grealish we'll need someone really capable of getting the best out of the team as a collective, and I'm afraid that Dean has never been that man.

[themossman]

Said a while ago the kindest, best thing was for him to leave in January with his head held high. Now he’s in danger of becoming just another piss taker on a lucrative contract, who’s completely undone his own good work. In doing the right thing I don’t think we did the right thing at all.

[Jon Crofts]

Has to go. Cannot be allowed to be here next season, get someone in now who may keep us up or keep us afloat in that cesspool division.