November: Over-Achievement
What is over-achievement? Over-achievement is defined; by the Google definition service (others are available), as
individuals who “perform better or achieve more success than expected. The implicit presumption is that the “over achiever” is achieving superior results through excessive effort.” Well, when you consider what we have achieved in the past two months, including this one, and where we now sit in the Premier League table, I think that we are the definition of the term over-achievement. Nobody at the beginning of the season gave us a chance; we were even given odds of 1000/1 to challenge for the title (I personally think that is worth a £1 bet!) However, we continue to defy the odds just like we did in the Championship last season.
This month alone showed our opponents that no matter the stature of the club, the players those club’s possess, that we are not afraid to go out and attack a game in order to come away with the result we want and deserve. This month we showed that to be our ethos. West Ham didn’t stand a chance and just weren’t given a sniff of a chance but instead crumbled against us and posed very little threats on our goal. The positive after effect of this game was evident in the second game of the month against Sheffield United. Sheffield United will be in and around us come the end of the season so it was fantastic to get such a good result against them.
The result against Southampton, despite it putting an end to our three game winning streak, was probably the best result of the month. Southampton, under the new management of Marcelo Bielsa, possess some great players and I will not be surprised if they challenge for a spot in Europe towards the end of the season. Despite coming up against the likes of Coutinho (formerly of Liverpool), Wilfried Zaha (formerly of Manchester United), Sami Khedira (formerly of Real Madrid) and Olivier Giroud (formerly of Arsenal) there was only one player who stood out. Jordan Ibe put in a fantastic performance which out-shown all of the international players that were on the pitch. Ibe is still a young player and with the amount of game time he is receiving, he will continue to develop. I do intend to try and sign him on a permanent deal for the club as I feel that with him on one wing, and the ever impressive Jack Grealish on the other, the chances and goals will surely come.
Player of the Month – Jordan Ibe