Im far from Erik-Out, but there are definitely a lot of things he could have done differently, but also that the club could have done differently. The main thing would be refusing to speak to Rangnick and get any kind of handover or input, and to just assume that these players would suddenly start to perform under a new manager. I said at the start of the summer that we needed a really good transfer window, we couldnt afford not to. Unfortunately Ten Hag decided that he would give the current crop a(nother) chance.
Similarly, the transfer targets - presumably Ten Hags choices as they have pretty much all previously worked with him - have been uninspired, limited, and no backup options seemingly identified. The club is also - and probably moreso - to blame due to scouting and recruitment deficiencies, but again we have just gotten rid of a man (Ralf) who had identified plenty of targets and has largely been proven right regarding his judgement of them.
We have a few weeks to turn things around, but unfortunately everyone in world football now knows how desperate we are, and a lot of the presumably first/second choices will have already made their moves. The rest of the 'big six' (which feels more like a big five now) were already stronger than us, but all of them have done much better business than us this summer and strengthened considerably;
City - Bought Haaland and Phillips, also Alvarez in January
Liverpool - Nunez, Carvalho, Diaz in January
Arsenal - Zinchenko, Vieira and Jesus, Saliba returning
Chelsea - Sterling, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Chukwuemeka, and still spending it seems
Spurs - Kulu and Bentancur in January, followed by another 6 or so players this summer
Meanwhile we have lost a bunch of players (thankfully), and not even replaced them yet, let alone thought about really strengthening. Our transfer window pales in comparison to the above, and to plenty of others in the league beyond that. Its simply not good enough and we are reaping what we have sown.
