Think that's the same with any club bar city no?
seen it with Liverpool, Thiago/Fabinho out, Henderson and Milner come in, Massive drop.
Maguire as a back up/Rotation option is fine. and whilst i agree on the Goalkeeper, he's Better IMO, than Ramsdale. But needs changing for a more modern keeper.
A spine of Varane, Martinez, Casemiro, Bruno is solid enough for this year to get CL, we need to build on it next window though for sure.
I love the positivity but after years of heartbreak I can't help but to keep expectations low. Yes Liverpool is experiencing that right now, but I can't see them falling out of top 4, although I would love to. Then you still have Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal to compete with, the last having absolutely no trouble killing a game against weaker opposition, whereas we still do. Spurs already have a season under their belt with Conte while we are still trying to build our identity.
I also think all 3 have better depth than we do. Our bench players look good on paper but have already showed they should have no place at this club with the ambitions that we have. AWB, Fred, Maguire, Shaw have already driven two managers out of here whilst certain people kept defending them. They're "fine" against a League Two draw in the cups, but not if we want to join the top of Europe again, which in our case happens to be most of the top 4 of England.
I'm not saying we won't make top 4, but I'm not surprised if we won't. There is still so much work to be done. I've always considered this ETH's Get Out Of Jail Free Card season. A try out for who deserves to stay and who doesn't. Laying the foundation of his footballing philosophy and building upon it in the upcoming summer of 2023. Next year I will absolutely expect it, but this year it's going to be difficult. Hats off to him if he's able to do it this year though.