There’s no such thing as Des Ball. There’s no such thing as Manning Ball. There’s no such thing as anybody ball. It’s just modern football bullshit, just like everybody suddenly saying “playing a low block” instead of “dropping deep” for no reason whatsoever.
Everybody is constantly in search of significance but the performance against Pumpey was no more a demonstration of “Des Ball” than the first half at Reading was or the second half this afternoon. The reality he’s a young manager trying to find his feet in a dificult and high pressure job. Whether he’s up to it or not remains to be seen, but there’s no hidden meaning in any single performance or moment - just as with any manager, we’ll find out over the course of a season or two what he’s actually capable of.
Right now, I’m just mystified at how the team can play with such fight and grit to come back when going 2-1 down against the league leaders and then be so insipid when 1-0 up against half a team like Reading. Dunno if that’s naivety from Des asking them to take their foot off the gas, or some kind of collective brainfade from the squad or what.
