Good question and difficult to answer unfortunately. I'm not undermining the achievements of our club, I'm simply pointing out that our strategy for replacing key figures has not been great. How long did we all discuss getting a replacement in for Vinny, even when he was still here and playing, for us to let him leave and then try and pick someone that suited us in Dias? We were rather fortunate that Phil was as effective as he was or else we would have been left in the cold when Silva left. We got told nearly 6 months ago that Aguero was leaving, yet here we are 10 days away from the window shutting and it not even looking close. I expect Fern to leave in the summer, who do we have that's a quick out and out DM?
I understand it looks like I hate our transfer dealings but I can assure you I really don't, we always get good players - what is fairly evident is that we are poor when it comes to replacing our key players and doing so in plenty of time. We've gone from having 4 strikers in Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli to having 1 striker who actually looks better when he's not playing as a striker - that might not be problematic in your eyes but I genuinely think its poor planning.