Yep, I'm defo not looking at Alisson, Virg, Mo, Mac etc etc and being like "3rd would be a massive overachievement for these guys!". 3rd and a trophy is solid, not gonna hate on the season overall but finishing above Tottenham, Villa and co def isn't some giant overachievement.
Think people are misunderstanding the "overachieved" thing. We have overachieved in that this was a transition season where we've had to build a completely new midfield with four new signings and having missed out on 3 of our first choices in these positions. We went through a long spell at the turn of the year missing 9-10 players from every match day squad resulting in kids being thrown in and somehow we still got results. We went to Old Trafford with two 20 year olds in the back line who werent even in the squad at the start of the season, and a back up keeper. So to challenge for the league under those circumstances was an overachievement for this squad at this point in time.
I always felt we had too many young players that needed one more years experience and development. Kelleher (yes he's 25 but hes played so few games overall), Bradley, Quansah, Gravenberch, Szboszlai, Jones, Elliott, Nunez, Gakpo. Some of these have several levels to go up and are going to be huge players for us. Others have big question marks against them now, particularly Dom, Nunez and Gakpo. But we're in a very strong position for the new manager who will certainly have funds to spend. Got to imagine Mo goes this summer and that will provide a chunk of finance along with the wages we'll save from Thiago and Matip and moving on a few squad players, we should have plenty to spend. Replacement for Mo and a quality DM are crucial for us now.