If you look at his record with Alkmaar, Munich and the Dutch, then you can assume we will do better than last season. Especially when you consider what he had at his disposal at Alkmaar and with the Dutch. Bayern Munich's transfer windows weren't as good as they are now, when he was there, still he got them to the Champions League final and won the championship with them.
Ferdinand's and Vidic's form last year wasn't any better than most of the squad. Giggs didn't play much and Evra was reliable, but still made far too many errors, mostly because he was overplayed IMO. We had to replace them eventually. Since when has it been a bad thing in our history to trust the youth and the manager for the season ahead? And I'm sure, we will sign some players before the window closes.