I think it's important when we compare squads to have some perspective, and take into account how the players are evolving throghout a season.
Last summer a midfield pair of Fred and McTominay as fix starters would have been seen as something poor and unreliable, but they've given a giant step forward and it looks like a solid pair right now.
A left back with an inconsistent Luke Shaw and Ashley Young, also with De Gea looking like an amateur in the last months of last season. Despite his howler yesterday I think he's been fine lately, overall, and Shaw has improved his performances too with Williams being a sweet surprise that nobody expected.
Rashford (time to burst his bubble, and so on) as our main attacking weapon, after showing just isolated sparks until now. But I think since October he's been scoring almost a goal per game and showing much more maturity on his game on a weekly basis, showing clear signs of improvement under the current management. And Martial as a number 9 after looking stagnated for years on the wing, with his attitude under big question marks at the end of last season. Talking about Martial now is very different of doing it last summer.
A hole on the right wing, covered somehow by a kid from the Championship who was signed as a punt, and some untested youth players (Greenwood, Chong) that were yet to play an official game with the first team.
And let's not say anything about the cherry on the cake: Mata, Lingard, Pereira as our number 10 options. As we've seen this season there's no remedy for these guys, and we've been carrying three intruders for the whole year.
If we look half decent at the moment it's mainly thanks to the current staff polishing and improving players, introducing youngsters with common sense, making the right calls in the market and getting good performances from their own signings from the first minute, creating also a positive and hard-working atmosphere. One can rate Ole and the staff more or less and it's legit, but pretending to ignore the platform they're developing in difficult circumstances is simply dishonest.