Perhaps the Liverpool Villa result encapsulates the problem of lack of pre-season and sharpness plus we have a full season starting with no crowds and it adds a training match feel where things can be more erratic.
For City and Pool they've been very fit in the past and have very demanding taskmasters as coaches. I feel they'll be back sooner than us for sure.
We've been blitzed by Zaha. Blitzed by Brighton but they couldn't get the goals they deserved, and roasted by Son/Kane.
The Palace opening 10 mins also shows exactly where we are ie not ready in the slightest, they had us pinned in our own half for 10 mins, were running rings around us and got a goal on 7mins then sat back more and just picked us off and had many attempts. Our backline has been torn to shreds in all three PL games.
I'd say write off the start of the season is more accurate as we're simply not ready and only time will tell if we can finish strong again.