I’ll be very happy if three of them are below us. We’ve got a long journey ahead

It might find up a while to find our feet, but with a more positive approach and younger side I can see us growing into the league as the season goes on. Not that I'm expecting miracles, but I can't see us getting relegated.

Famous last words?

We could take a leaf out of Rafa's book.

Hired a couple of PL experienced performers, Andros and Gray, they are paying him back straight away.

Quality replacements for Andros and Bats, a midfield general, a full-back.

I can dream.

At least he's off to a better start than de Boer

Milkshakes Against Fascism

Certainly we could be relegated. The good news is that this applies to probably eight other teams. We only need three teams to garner fewer points than us to stay up, if you'll pardon the b....... obvious.
The big positive is that we have a manager who wants to engender a winning mindset. This business of changing expectations in professional sportsmen is complex and interesting. How far you can change the attitude of those players you inherit is arguable. You can bring in winners (Cahill! Schlupp!: well; sort of) or you can bring in youngsters you hope you can turn into winners. And that's what we've done. The concern is that to heap expectation on: Gallagher, Olise, Eze, Andersen, Guehi, who between them do not have great Premiership experience, is asking a lot. Half a new team, in fact. If they all start. How you fit in Eze and Olise I'd like to hear. The same player? Even without the injuries, it'll take a while for that new team to gel. The team we sent out against Brentford, e.g., had never played a competitive match together. Not ideal: we are still in a sense on pre-season.
To stay up, we need to win a minimum of ten games. Along the way we'll likely pick up another eight points from draws. Brentford is a decent unit, but if we can't beat teams like that at home, then where are those victories to come from?
We've weakness with both full backs: one should improve, the other will only continue to decline. The midfield is energetic, but lacks the sort of guile Cabaye, for example, brought to it. Kouyate and McArthur will give away plenty of fouls around the box and, as we saw against Chelsea, that gets punished at this level. Scoring goals is a long-term problem. Wilf looks disillusioned. We need to bring in a striker before this window closes. How hard did we try to sign Danny Ings? There's always someone 'in the know' on this site!
As for the business about hoping the likely defeats in the tough run of fixtures coming up will not affect morale, that's a hard one. Losing becomes a habit and if you've got six points from ten games, you've got problems.
I don't think we are relegation certainties, but it's possible. More so than last year?

we could be in the cut & thrust of a relegation dogfight or not.

we could be nailed to the bottom of the table and a dozen points adrift of the pace.

stranger things have happened

Eze Peasy at Anfield....