Ah come on, he may not have gotten all the targets he wanted but it was hardly a shambles. We at the very least have a stronger squad now than last season and probably the 2nd or 3rd best squad in the league, which means I think he should be improving on top four and actually mounting a title challenge, and he should be winning a trophy like the FA Cup or EL along the way. Right now he is on course (sort of) to do those things so it's all good but serious questions should be asked if ultimately he can't improve on last season.
Besides, surely the bare minimum a manager at a big club should be doing is improving upon the previous season, no? I'm not sure how that could be up for dispute, even in this weird season.
Mate, he wanted a CB, RW, and LB (maybe a CM too if we were thinking Pogba was off) to improve the first XI. The only thing he got from that list was a LB, which didn't necessarily improve the XI. Donny and Pellistri were bought with a view to the long-term, and so too Diallo - that's close to £80m we have committed on talent which wasn't going to be used in the here and now. Cavani was an upgrade on Ighalo, and a damn good one too, but it doesn't change the fact that he wasn't going to be a first choice player, at least in the interim (and more than likely further beyond that, considering his recent injury record).
We have a stronger squad yes, but only because of the numbers. In quality there's been a minimal net improvement - if we wanted to really improve and challenge, we needed to improve the squad by improving the first XI - i.e. bringing in Bruno-level players who would be the undisputed first choices in their positions and raising the level of the team overall. Imagine what the impact of a Sancho instead of an out of position Rashford/Greenwood/Pogba would have had on the right, or if we had bought Grealish who wouldn't be sat on the bench like Donny, but would be the undisputed starter, or a proper CB with pace next to Maguire would have had at various points this season. Greenwood and Rashford have been forced into doing a job on the right despite the position not really being suited to them. While the likes of Fred, McTominay, Lindelof, et al are currently first choice players by default when ideally, they should be squad players. That's not to denigrate them or the outstanding progress they've made from where they were pre-Ole. That development is a credit to them, but let's be realistic. In the summer of 2019, no Utd fan had at least two of them down as starters in what was a poor Utd side back then.
Adding more 6s and 7s out of 10 players to a squad that is generally a 6 or 7/10 doesn't improve the quality of the squad, it just increases the depth of it. We needed players who were 8s and 9s to elevate the overall level, and for that reason, the transfer window was a shambles to me. Where we are now, is similar to where Klopp had Liverpool before he bought VVD, and then later Fabinho and Alisson, with the Coutinho money. Those signings alone elevated that Liverpool team from one that was exciting but inconsistent, to one that had the mentality of winners. Pre-VVD especially, they were very much similar to us. Loads of goals and exciting players going forwards, but porous and easily got at, at the back.
Re your last sentence, don't you think we are improving? We've already accumulated 9 points more than at the same stage last season, and while we didn't ultimately get the job done in the CL (for which Ole and the players deserved criticism considering how close we were) our general performances in that competition were good and we showed that we belonged at that level and should have progressed. We've also shown a lot of mettle and spirit in very trying and difficult circumstances, which was something that we had started to lose under Moyes, LvG, and Jose. The squad is still young and will continue to develop and learn, and I'm sure we will get better as the season progresses too. As things stand, we're 2nd and well placed in the title race. If we beat Burnley and avoid defeat to the scouse, we have a pretty decent set of fixtures up until the switch to European competitions in February, which should hopefully open up a gap between us and the rest of the chasing pack.
My aim before the season started (on the proviso that we got our number 1 target, Sancho) was that we'd get top 4 comfortably and be closer in terms of points to Liverpool and City (anything that was in the 75pts+ range was something I'd be happy with). The fact that we're currently on course for that despite the failings of the summer window, is a credit to the players and to Ole, especially after the bad start we had. I would love for us to get a trophy as well, but I don't think it's the be all and end all and a failure to get it this year wouldn't cause me to question him as the squad, while it is deeper, isn't that much better from where it was last season. The only difference is that we have Bruno for the whole season now, rather than from February like last year. If that squad didn't quite have enough about them to get the job done last year, why should this one? Yes, it has steadily improved, but I repeat my point, players like McTominay and Fred aren't going to be the answer for us in those sorts of games, but we choose them because the alternatives aren't any better, and in some facets, are worse.
If you want us to be winning games like yesterday's, then we need a proper DM there so that we aren't forced to play two players in that area, which would free up a slot for an extra attacking player. We also need a consistent CB to partner Maguire who has pace, and an actual live presence on the RW as we are currently horribly imbalanced towards the left and poor AWB is left to work one whole flank essentially on his own.