It's a blip, probably the first real big blip... But you have to love the answers he comes out with.
“You can level any accusation you want. I get it and I'm happy for people to run that sort of commentary because it's meaningless to me. I don't see fourth as the prize. This club has finished fourth before. It's finished second before. You can throw all types of things at it, it's reached the Champions League final, you can throw all sorts of things but this club has achieved things. So fourth is not my end goal. I don't want to finish fourth if we haven't grown as a team and developed as a team. If nobody believes me then that's fine.
Part of the narrative is to push you in these kind of positions where you think that fourth is some kind of achievement that gives you something for next year. It doesn't give you anything unless...fourth would be great if I feel like we're growing as a team and we're creating something that is going to bring us success next year. But fourth is not our goal. It hasn't been.
It's not my goal. It certainly isn't my goal but I get it from the outside, particularly in the Premier League, it seems like people push you into that position where you succeed or fail just on an outcome. I just don't think that's how you get success. Success is built on, I think, more tangible stuff. If we finish fifth and if I think we've got a team to challenge next year then I won't be disappointed.”
