I don’t agree for a second that the squad is weaker this season than last.
Well GKs we've gone from Vic Forster Kinsky Austin Whiteman to Vic Kinsky Austin. Less depth but no real noticeable difference.
CBs the same group. Romero will have missed 15 league games this season injury + suspensions which was the same as injuries last season. VDV less than last season. Dragusin was out until Christmas but balances out with Danso only being available from Jan the year before so the same set of players but maybe slightly stronger in terms of availability.
Fullbacks was the same trio except for Souza arriving in Feb instead of a season with Reguilon. Probably weaker.
CM is probably stronger, same group of players but with Palhinha plus Gallagher joining in Jan although Biss has been injured most of the season.
Attacking mid we went from Maddison and Kulusevski to Xavi who has been dreadful in the league. Significantly weaker there.
Wingers we went from Johnson, Son, Moore, Werner, Odobert and Tel (from January) to Johnson (until sold in January), RKM, Tel, Kudus (injured from Jan) and Odobert (ACL). Weaker on the wings.
Up top we've gone from a half-injured Richy and Solanke to a Richy and half-injured Solanke.
Our top 5 attacking contributions last season:
Johnson 25 G/A - SOLD
Solanke 24 G/A - Injured first half of season
Maddison 23 G/A - Injured full season
Son 23 G/A - SOLD
Kulusevski 21 G/A - Injured full season