We didn't have a poor start to the season. After just 6 games in we were 2nd 4 points behind Man City but crucially 4 points ahead of Chelsea, game 7 saw us thrash Citeh and close that gap to just 1 point! If you look where the title was won and lost it coincided when Alderwierld got injured (the very next game 8 against WBA) drawing 4 games on the spin, whilst Chelsea won their respective corresponding 4 games (eventually going onto equaling the longest winning streak in the PL, fortunately ended by us).
But I agree with the article.
Although I'd still say today, without replacing Walker we are weaker in that area in the pitch. But I'm more than confident that we will reinvest the Walker money and I'm also confident in Poch's ability to find a solution to this area, just as I'm also confident that keeping this squad together without having any major surgery will be at the very least just as competitive as last term.