spurticus87 sent us the following:
Our business this window so far has been nothing short of abysmal! We have sold the best right back in the league and weakened our starting eleven.
The questions at the end of last season were how could we improve on what most considered to be the best starting eleven in the premier league... well we have somehow managed to weaken our starting eleven and have made no improvements to the squad.
I simply will not buy the argument that we cannot find players to improve our starting eleven and therefore didn't sign anyone for one very simple reason... It is a squad game. Squads win titles and trophies and not starting 11's.
Darren Fletcher, Ji Sung Park, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Not exactly 'world class, must have players'. However, all of them were crucial components in a world class squad!
I use Man United as the example because they set the standard on what it takes to be successful in the Premier League and their deviation (admittedly started under Fergie when he knew the end was in sight) away from their model is the cause of their poor form of the last 10 years. Man United invested in youth and players that continued to improve them. After winning the league or Champions League they didn't use the excuse 'we couldn't find anyone to improve our starting 11'.
There were two differences between us and Chelsea last year. Firstly, they had no European football. Secondly they had Fabregras, Willian and Batshuayi as squad players to call upon when others were injured, looking for form or they needed to play in a different style. We do not have those options. This window should have been about improving our squad. It should have been about improving squad depth in order to be able to successfully rotate and provide our manager with options.
This window has been a catastrophic failure up until this point. I am angry with the board right now. Furious even! It is time to fire up the fax machine and ensure we have a squad capable of competing in both the league and Champions League. They threw one golden opportunity away with a lack of investment in key players at a key time. I will not be forgiving them if they do it again...
