Would ETH have been better off entering the winter window 5th?

I don't think not spending in this transfer window had anything to do with keeping McTominay, Weghorst and Eriksen on for 90 minutes despite them being complete passengers for most of the match.

I think we have to accept we had limited ambition today and got caught out.
 
No, and to be honest I think we make ourselves sound ridiculous when we keep bleating about a supposed lack of spending.

The Glazers are guilty of many things but withholding transfer funds post-SAF is not one of them. We overspent in the Summer and, contrary to popular belief, the club is not a bottomless pit of cash. There are new FFP rules coming in and if we're not careful, we'll struggle to comply without a more sensible approach to spending.
 
Can't understand criticising the owners. He was given over 200 mil last summer + Dubraka and now Weghorst on loan.
The signings have been good with the exception of Antony who I've not given up on, but it's looking dodgy for that money.
Re the loans: best not talking about them!
 
I don't think not spending in this transfer window had anything to do with keeping McTominay, Weghorst and Eriksen on for 90 minutes despite them being complete passengers for most of the match.

I think we have to accept we had limited ambition today and got caught out.

I think it was the opposite. Had we gone in with 3 MF, as in the case away to City, our LHS would be better protected as well as more steel in the middle. So IMO we went in with too much ambition, not limited. We deployed an attacking formation with high possession intent, but end up playing 90min on the counter-attack. Not sure which was the original game plan.
 
I get we spent heavily in the summer. What i dont get is why we never seem to sell and recoup some money on players.
we seem quite good at loaning players but completely crap at selling.

Henderson, Elanga ,Mctominay, Fred, Lindelof (or Maguire) , Williams, Jones, as a starter. sell and upgrade.
 
I get we spent heavily in the summer. What i dont get is why we never seem to sell and recoup some money on players.
we seem quite good at loaning players but completely crap at selling.

Henderson, Elanga ,Mctominay, Fred, Lindelof (or Maguire) , Williams, Jones, as a starter. sell and upgrade.

Boils down to EtH coming in and not knowing how the players are going to respond to his methods. It takes months for him to know what players are going to come good and who isn't. Look at players like Dalot, Rashford even AWB to an extent, the first two have kicked on and AWB could be a solid bench option. I agree, all those players you listed should have been shipped out regardless but you need some bench options and selling players while their stock is low doesn't scream brilliant business either. I don't have much faith in the board trying to get rid of players but this summer will be the test to see if they have improved in that regard.
 
I get we spent heavily in the summer. What i dont get is why we never seem to sell and recoup some money on players.
we seem quite good at loaning players but completely crap at selling.

Henderson, Elanga ,Mctominay, Fred, Lindelof (or Maguire) , Williams, Jones, as a starter. sell and upgrade.

It is really difficult to sell players when we finish 6th and most of our players were in terrible form. If we continue to progress, play quality football and win trophies I'm sure we will be able to sell our reserves just like City does.