Gabriel Agbonlahor is usually the last person to come out in defence of Arsenal Football Club, but he has told TalkSport listeners that we have ‘overachieved’ by even coming close to the top-four this season.
🔨 “I’ve seen a lot of pundits trying to hammer #AFC for a disappointing season.”
👀 “Arsenal have overachieved! Looking at #THFC, they have two world-class players in Kane and Son. Arsenal have zero!”@Ga11Agbon believes Arsenal have ‘overachieved’ with their players 🔴 pic.twitter.com/uipbGhZYtM
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) May 18, 2022
Before the season started, very few people touted us for a top-four finish, and by the end of August some of us had worries we could well be dragged into a relegation battle. Fast forward to January, and you have to say that we let the ball slip by not bringing in some key players to bolster our central defence, central midfield or attack, and that ultimately hampered us.
With what we had at our exposal however, we definitely have overachieved, which makes you wonder why the manager is getting so much stick. I personally think he has done a good job with what he has, but he has to also shoulder blame for his role in allowing players to leave without replacing them, as I struggle to believe he wasn’t involved in managing the size of the squad.
All things considered, do you believe we have overachieved this season?
Patrick
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We have because we haven’t had a proper striker all season, world class out not. However, it’s frustrating because that was entirely predictable – auba was trash last season and bar a short period, never really looked like regaining his form. Fortunately laca did enough to get us on a good run of form and then Eddie for a couple of games recently – that’s somehow been enough to get us to fourth and now fifth.
Overall I’d say that spurs and united have underachieved far more than we’ve overachieved. We’ve been so dramatically inconsistent it fathoms belief neither of them pulled clear of us with the players they have. Spurs’ goal difference compared to ours says it all.
Agree,
Much of the frustration obviously is that with a few additional options we may have been better placed to compete effectively in the last two games. Instead, we were having to rely on some of the squad players who are clearly not at the required level.
That’s true and added to that some of them were not fully fit after injury
One can blame the January transfer policy but none of us know why so many were shipped out leaving a thin squad if injuries occurred.
I still go back to the summer, the focus on defenders (aside from Tomi, who was a necessary signing for the first team) when we had no striker really bothered me. I know we were banking on auba but surely we could see the likelihood of him coming back to his old self was low. He checked out last season, and even though I think he tried to improve with us, there seems to have been something holding him back mentally. And without a player of his stature in the side, we’re really nothing special
Completely agree Davi, we have massively overshot what was expected this season. Our target set by the club was more than likely get back into the Europa league. The team have done that and if we weren’t so inconsistent we would be over the hill and far away. But that the risk with young players thy will be up and down. Players like Saka, Ben White, Tierney also played in the Euros last summer and it has caught up with them in the end.
as I’ve expressed on numerous occasions, any talk of overachieving is utter nonsense, as the goalposts weren’t moved by those from within the fanbase, but by the manager himself…let’s face it, we looked a gift horse in the mouth, then punched it straight in the face…unless some sort of miracle occurs this weekend, this was a failure of epic proportions, from an organizational perspective, as we desperately needed a CL invite in order to entice the kind recruits necessary to succeed, considering the exceedingly negative and naïve managerial tactics
That’s right TRVL.
Plus how people say a team with such a huge investment “overachieved” while having series of epic bottling to finish FOURTH, is way beyond me.
The claim that no one gave us a chance to finish in the top four is such a lazy one.
The goal prior to starting the season was to CLEARLY finish in the UCL places. We only initially capitulated with the abysmal start we made to the season. And after decent run ins, coupled with the far shitty performance from Utd and Spurs, handling us the chance on a platter of gold, everyone again (manager and players inclusive) were up and out for it.
‘F’ is harsh on him but an easy ‘E’ for Arteta, or maybe ‘D’ at best IMHO, and whichever way that isn’t good for Arsenal.
Cheers dO2…it’s clear that some individuals are so brainwashed by the Arteta-centric PR train that they’re willing to cherry-pick and massage facts in whatever way that best suits their particular agenda…for a team who’s massively invested in the backline, including the Keeper position, how does one rationalize the fact that we’ve conceded more goals this year than last….on the offensive side of the pitch, some have likewise highlighted specific matches to suggest that somehow we’re on a positive trajectory, except for the fact that we’ve failed to score in 25% of our games, which is an unacceptable and embarrassing situation….not to mention, anyone with a working set of eyes knows full-well that what’s on offer is drab, uninventive and amateur hour personified, from a tactical perspective…even if a miracle happens on the weekend, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility, if we don’t massively invest up top and the middle of the pitch, bring Saliba back into the fold and hire someone to help our novice manager get over the tactical hump, we’re still a considerable distance away from competing against Europe’s best and brightest, let alone be guaranteed anything when it comes to top 4 next season
and in the middle…
Good to have you back whether we agree or not.
On this occasion on MA’s tactics I am in agreement with you.
thanks IGL…no worries, as I certainly wouldn’t expect that everyone should or would be in agreement with everything I have on offer, as that certainly wouldn’t be very realistic…that is why this cult of personality 2.0 initiative, which is eerily similar to the one involving our former manager, albeit the Wenger love-in had some basis in reality, has been so stifling, as it has a tendency to suck all the common sense out of the room, thereby making it very difficult to have a rational debate about the state of the franchise…take care
@TRVL the goalposts were not moved by anybody we have overachived cause we beat a Utd side that it costs 1.5m per point. Also technically still in a top 4 battle till the final game with very strong Spurs squad. But its the fans expecting too much too soon again. Your right in a way that though Arteta did move the goalposts, by putting us in a top battle the club never expected to be in this season. Missing out will be disappointing but that’s football
People jumping on the tactical naivety band wagon because Sky sports and other media outlets want you to see it that way, it suits their agenda. The media pray on the Arsenal social media click bate warriors and it works every time. Like the COVID cancellation against Spurs, it’s fine for Spurs themselves to have 4 games cancelled around Christmas, Leicester, Burnley, Brighton, Liverpool, Chelsea to have postponements. But when the gunners do it, it’s a travisty and unacceptable.
Xhaka himself admitted against Newcastle the players didn’t do or play the way the manager asked. But all that gets aired is him saying the team hasn’t got the balls comment. We have massively overshot this season which is a good sign. I listened Gabbys talksport slot, he’s right Arsenal lack world class players like Kane and Son. Spurs, Chelsea, Utd, LFC and City have world class players we have potential World class players.
We need to add to the base now and move on
it’s laughable that you would even postulate the notion that I could be some sort of tin foil hat wearing yokel who simply followed the lead of some talking heads…I’ve been speaking about Arteta’s tactical naivety long before any big-headed suits entered the fray…the difference between them and me is that they were willing to give our novice and exceedingly timid manager a considerably longer leash, as they ultimately care infinitely less about the future of this club than myself…btw Xhaka’s cake and eat it too second term as our captain, on the DL, speaks volumes about both this clownish and entitled character and our paper tiger manager