The whole “we need to be ruthless” speech at the start of the summer was unbelievably naive - the moment something like that leaves your lips there can’t be any question about following through with it. Those deals already have to be done in advance and they need to happen as soon as the window opens, otherwise you end up exactly where we are now: rolling into the season with half a squad of players who know that they’re neither needed nor wanted and, surprise! None of them give a F about playing for you when you need them to.