The way I see it, it's not a shamble unless we are signing our key signings in mid August for no apparent reason. I also don't think that a new system being implemented will be affected dramatically because the manager doesn't have 3 or 4 players out of +20, now we can agree that ideally you have all your signings early and for as little money as possible but it's not something that you control unilaterally. But to be clear ideally I see your point, I just don't think that less than ideal means shambles.
Regarding previous managers I don't see how José can reiterate anything when he got the vast majority of his signings early and it wasn't better at Chelsea. And LVG couldn't either since he targetted international players that were on holidays after the World cup when we started preseason in 2014 and he also by his own admission tried to first sign the most ridiculous players possible(Robben-Muller), he still had Shaw and Herrera. Our previous managers do like to make excuses for themselves.