I expect ETH to not get it perfect this season. Nothing wrong with a new guy getting something wrong. It’s all about how he does after that. It’s no different to any field of work scenario when you start a new job.
I remember Klopp and Guardiola getting humbled in their first outings here. Conte got absolutely smashed by an ultimately atrocious Wenger Arsenal early in his first season, which probably was a crucial point in time as they went on and won like a dozen league games in a row and won the title. I remember Klopp Liverpool looking dead on the feet shattered by the new year mark of his second season and people mocking Klopp then.
If we don’t get our first choice signings, thats fine. That’s par of the course and it happens to every club. I feel more comfortable that ETH would do just as well with alternatives than someone like Solskjaer who I thought would need his first choices to come through in order to work. ETH looks very hands on with coaching and has experience of rebuilding teams with Ajax.
Maybe he can take someone like Cody Gakpo, a player who looks good but you wonder whether he’s that good, find a system for him to play in and he develops that much better. I remember Mane being like that at Soton and the rest is history as they say.
But I think the crucial thing is ETH is a hands on coach, as that will help more in our position than having someone like Solskjaer, Mourinho or even Zidane, who give off that feeling that their methods only work if you get them EXACTLY what they want.