I think that article accurately reflects the general consensus.
But what I can't understand is, assuming we can kep hold of Milner, essentially we'll have the same group of players that we finished 6th with last season and probably about 5 or 6 of the younger players to come through, where needed - why would everybody automatically assume that we won't do as well as last time? Were we particularly lucky, or did we particularly over-achieve last season? I don't think so.
I predicted 5th / 6th place finish last season and I reckon, as it stands, we'll be good for the same again this time around. A few quality signings would be nice, but we've a solid core group of players that have proved they can do the business over the course of a long season. I'm backing them.