So I was having a chat with someone at work about the team and I was thinking about how at the start of his current run a lot of us were praising his transfer business. However as time has passed on I feel like he doesn't seem as shrewd as he once did.

(For simplicity I'm not going into Academy buys)

Is this because he lacks a Plan B when it comes to acquiring transfer targets?

So it seems like in the January 2020 window he got everyone he wanted. Soucek, Bowen and Randolph all undoubetly were what we needed at the time. Soucek helped us rely less on an ageing Noble to partner with Rice, Bowen gave us a little more in attack and Randolph wasn't Roberto.

Then the next season, he didn't actually get that many players but once again he seemed to be able to get the ones he wanted. Coufal gave us much needed consistency at Right Back over Ryan Fredricks and Ben Johnson. Craig Dawson was also a major suprise to the team. Many, including myself, thought this was a disaster but actually became an integral part of the team for the next season and a half. Then when we got Jesse Lingard he played a major part in us making 6th at the end of the year when it felt like we could have started to flag. Moyes seemed to be able to pick unexpected success stories for our team.

The only exception to this year is possibly Said Benrahma who has struggled to maintain his position in the starting line up until recently. It has been suspected that he wasn't a Moyes signing but I don't think any hard evidence has been brought to light.

The 2021/22 season started to bring in a more mixed reaction. Areola was a good backup keeper signing (and looks like he will be a decent first choice if we stay up) and Kurt Zouma is probably the most solid centre back we've had for a little while.

But then we have the two that didn't make it. After chasing a few DMs to support the position in the event of Soucek or Rice needing to be absent, Moyes signed Alex Kral. He barely made the team and when he did he never looked comfortable in his position.

Then of course is Nikola Vlasic who felt we only got because Moyes didn't manage to get Lingard on a permenant. It also felt that despite Vlasic stating his best position was in the middle, Moyes tried to play him like he did Lingard in the prior season on the wing. As a result we ended up with a player out of position who could barely make an impact on any of the games he played.

Then we have this season, although I will admit the jury is still out on some of these players because we are having a poor season and it is questionable as to whether the quality from some of these guys is a case of the playing environment or just not living up to expected standards.