For many years, we haven’t really been a team that is more than the sum of our parts. The problem is, as the bar has been raised, our rivals coached by Pep and Klopp have been exactly that. They are less about the brilliance of their individual players than they are about the quality of their unit. And their individuals are pretty good too!
Liverpool and City in recent years have been, I would say, 20-30% better than the simple sum of their parts. That 20-30% accounts for majority, if not all of the difference between them and us. I don’t think their players are as much better as is made out. I don’t think we can look at any of their best performers and confidently say they would have been at the same level if they were at United the last 3 years.
We will always be on the backfoot if our grand plan is to try and bridge that 20-30% gap by simply buying individuals that are 20-30% better than the ones they have. It’s just unlikely to happen. The way it has been in recent years, it’s like we need Mbappé, Neymar, Varane etc to compete. As a collective - nothing special. Which is why; irrespective of result, more often than not in recent years, we play poorly. It’s also why the solution always seems to be in the transfer market. Buy better and better. These players Liverpool and City are buying were of no greater calibre than the ones we buy when all players were at their respective previous clubs. It isn’t like they all just buy the world’s best while we shop in a different market. It’s what happens when they get to these respective clubs that is the main difference.