To some extent I agree with you that we have retained some good players at this level and added some good quality.
If you look at individuals retained, purchased & contracts extended we have done well, the trouble is this seems to be at the expense of building a quality team. For some positions we have too many very good quality players at this level competing for the same position and lack depth in quality in other positions. One of the effects of this is we have ended up playing far too many good quality players out of their preferred position, which I would suggest underminds confidence, saps the players moral and weakens the team. An example is AM we have 4 championship quality players who can play this position (Naismith, Hoolahan, Howson, Pritchard) and at least one very promising youngster (Maddison). At present to accommodate Naismith, Hoolahan & Howson we have to play 2 of the 3 out of position and because we have too much cover in that position, Maddison who is someone we should be bringing on is struggling to get in the match day squad let alone on the pitch. The situation is going to get even worse when Pritchard is fit. On the other side of the coin we have Olsson at LB, however as soon as he gets injured we have to put Brady in his place and lose argueably our best midfielder who would be a star in, most championship teams in that position. In the striker we are well short of depth in cover. Jerome gets injured but rather than play Lafferty or Morris in that position, we decide to play Naismith out of position, even though he is playing far from well in his preferred position. If we're not going to play Toffolo and Morris to cover for injuries then why not let them get experience and game time out on loan. An as if it isn't bad enough we are just a single long term injury to Klose away from writing off any chance we have this season from automatic promotion. No doubt if he does get injured we can always get Martin to play out of position as CB rather than cover for our best RB, Pinto. AN still hasn't grasped the nettle of the captaincy, preferring to retaining Martin in the role even though when everyone is fit his level of performance shouldn't justify him being in the starting 11. Then there's Whittaker (although the flack he gets is not always justified) who with a fit Pinto and Martin on the bench should not make the match day squad. It can't just be a coincidence that Martin (last season) and Naismith / Whittaker (this season) seem to continuely get played when their performances don't justify it, when others don't get a fair crack of the whip. In truth somethings got to give. I have heard several reports of players argueing with each other on the pitch at Birmingham and I suspect that despite everyone toe the party line, it's not a happy ship at the moment, I'm not surprised we are struggling to recruit a striker. Blame needs to be put fairly on AN, not that everything is down to him and the board, players and other coaching staff need to take their share of the blame. I'd give AN 4 games to learn his lessons form last season and this and if he can't sort things out then the board should buy him a bike and telling him to get on it.