In general, the last season and a bit, you had a group of fans downplaying the ability of the players as it suited their POV and the manager downplaying the abilities of the players as it suited him.
With a decent manager, the latter doesn't happen.
With the change in board, the fans with a point to prove don't have to.
So can't we accept that our players are a bit better than they managed to perform last season? O'Neill has admitted already that he was shockewd that the squad e inherited finished as low down the table as it did.