Interesting from Mike Rigg on Football Focus earlier, at organised clubs transfers take months of advance planning. Last summer the transfers were a shambles. Rumoured with this and that then most transfers completed on the last day. Tricky and Ferrari aren't the best in the business for no reason, and are probably very organised in what business they plan to do long-term. I don't know the ins and outs of the Balotelli transfer, but may have been something they didn't plan for and that happened quickly, hence no replacement. Alternatively, it may just be a move to balance the books.
This season could not be considered a "disaster" unless we fail to qualify for next seasons CL. I know we all wanted to kick on from last year and win the league again (for the record there is still a lot of football left to play, we are still on for the double), but if we don't then it is not all over. We have many more seasons to go and we can't expect to win the league every season, that'd just be completely unrealistic.