Yes, I guess I've repeated several times and made my point crystal clear - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Obertan, Bebe etc. were obviously the failed ones but they did little harm to the team, as compared to the 80m Maguire who took up the majority of transfer budget and refrained us from signing a good attacking midfielder, which was undoubtedly our no. 1 priority.
And yes, with the position we are in, we need someone to make an instant impact. Maguire replacing Smalling versus Bruno replacing Lingard/Pereira, which signing provides a greater impact? If Ole wants an upgrade on Smalling, fine, but the more sensible way is to spend the money on the prioritized position first, and use the remaining fund trying to find better options to polish the team.
People always fail to assess weaker teams properly because they only watch them in the only two meetings when they play against us. They assume it's how these teams set up to play week in week out, but they actually don't. Of course West Ham are going to sit deep when they face us next week, but that doesn't mean they don't play a high line when they face other midtable sides, especially when they were under Pellegrini.
I have no idea. Leicester conceded 48 goals last season with Maguire in the team, and they have improved the number to 36 this season with Soyuncu as the only notable change in defence. Yes he has made some mistakes and he got a red card for losing the temper and fighting with someone (I don't know how is that relevant honestly), but the same can be said for Maguire, who of course costed 4x the transfer fee of Soyuncu's.
