It is unnecessarily negative, in the eyes of many, to criticise Manchester United's transfer activity this summer with a month still left in the window. And yet, and yet... There has been a great deal of concern about the squad's alarming lack of depth in defensive midfield, to the extent that it has maybe obscured discussion of one key area.

A major problem for United, as Beyonce sang in "Irreplaceable", is to be found "to the left, to the left." Their left flank has been a problem for years. For...

When Marco Silva arrived at Hull City last season, they were bottom of the Premier League. They'd won one of their previous 18 games, had a disaffected fan base and an overburdened squad who started the season featuring just 13 fit senior players. Oh, and two of the best in that group, Jake Livermore and Robert Snodgrass, were promptly sold.

Hull ultimately went down, but the very fact they had a chance of staying up proved what an exceptional job Silva did. And why, after leaving at the end of...