Klopp didn't make a signing in his first transfer window, however then proceeded to make nearly 10 in the two after that, of which you could easily say 7 or 8 of them signings were first team bound, then made 5 first team aquisitions in the two after that, which equates to near enough a new first team!
You talk as if City don't have class options in every position to cover injuries!
Coaching is obvioulsy important, but of equal importance is the quality of squad you have. City's squad is most definitely better than ours.
My point is everyone signs players. What Pep and Klopp have NOT been doing is going on to the market and buying the equivalents of Kane, Sancho or whatever it is we claim we absolutely need to stand a chance. Well, Klopp has perhaps bought two very expensive players, but they were not regarded as the world’s best in their positions at the time. It is clear that they had a vision for these players and how they would work within their plan, and got the RIGHT players, more than just the best. But you can only get the right players when you know what you want to do with them. Otherwise, you have to simply rely upon hopefully getting the best.
Gundogan as a striker is not a class option for cover, and Jesus is no more a class option than we have.
City have great depth in a specific area of the pitch, unsurprisingly, because of their philosophy on how their football should be played. My point is, their depth and players will always look better anyway because the team is typically playing well. They come in, and perform. Not because Zinchenko is a level of player we need to aspire to. John Stones was a caf laughing stock for a long time. Fernandinho is older than Matic, and they have no regular left back.
When the players they do have were generally signed with a purpose, and because they were specifically chosen due to the qualities that they have, they have complimented the team well. We don’t have the same approach. For example, we have Bruno, and then we have VDB as an understudy in a role as crucial as #10. These players have no similarities in terms of qualities, and were clearly not signed because of how they fit anything bigger than them, they were seemingly signed because we needed a better 10 than what we had (Lingard/Pereira) and they are better players that we could get. There’s a reason why many said Bruno wouldn’t fit in Pep’s team - and that is not because Pep doesn’t like good players, it’s because he knows exactly what functions he wants from them (in detail, not just ‘be good and show courage’). It seems we want to sign any good player we can get our hands on in whatever position we want to strengthen.
Take Sancho, for example. Why do you think we want to sign him, specifically? In terms of his own qualities. He isn’t rapid on the counter. He is a great dribbler and short passer. Is that what we specifically want/need? Have we even considered how that will work in a bigger picture with Bruno and McFred? It doesn’t appear so. We just ‘need a right winger’, and Sancho (sort of) is one. These may seem small, and Sancho will likely still play well because he’s a top player. But these small things are the difference between getting 100% of his capacity and 80 or 90%. When you have no plan and multiply that across 3 or 4 players, the outcome is inevitable.
I raised a similar question with Harry Kane. We all know he’s a brilliant striker. Perhaps the best on the market. But is there any thought beyond that? I said I felt Haaland would suit us more, because, looking at the pieces we already have - we have a 10 without a world class short game, but likes to quickly spring forwards in behind with almost one touch passes where possible. Haaland likes to immediately run towards the goal at pace, Kane likes to come towards the ball and isn’t as quick. I feel as a result, Haaland suits us better. Now some posters provided some good counter arguments, but as long as we are all thinking about the specifics. Rather than just ‘get a world class striker’, which seems to be the approach.
My view is that when the pieces are all put together based on their strengths and how they will relate to one another, then you het a unit that is even better than the sum of its parts. Which is the exact opposite of what United are, and have been, for a long time. Scott, Pogba, Bruno are better players than what started against Wolves, for example. But the Wolves midfield of Matic, VDB and Mata, with Amad dropping in too - made more sense as a unit. Unsurprisingly, we immediately saw an additional 10-15% from VDB.
So yes, players are, of course, important - but our players are not poor. We need a plan, or a better plan, more than we simply need more quality. If you asked Pep, for example, who he would take from United, he likely wouldn’t just take the best players, he’d take the ones that fit. I get the impression that the United Way is the opposite of this. For years people have been saying stuff like ‘don’t but players from Dortmund, they only look good there’, or calling them ‘system babies’ or whatever. This is top level football. It’s a team game. Players will always look better in teams, and following instructions, that suit their strengths. Be prepared for Sancho to be torn to shreds next season because he doesn’t have the speed of Dan James. He has other qualities. But AWB doesn’t have the qualities of Hakimi. And Scott McTominay doesn’t have those of Dahoud.
