It's always better to be underdogs.
It is just typical short sightedness from the media.
On BBC Sport the main consensus is Chelsea to win the league followed by Arsenal. Several seem to think we'll finish 4th.
Last season we had some poor results but we finished second none the less. We went on a winning run at the end of the season and overhauled Arsenal.
The generic and uneducated view is that City have an ageing squad, they've only strengthened with Sterling, who was overpriced and Yaya Toure isn't the player he was. The truth is that we've got two young centre backs in the squad, with experience there as well. We've added more youth and energy in Delph. More pace and quality with Sterling and there's still the possibility that De Bruyne and Pogba will arrive. Added to that, Yaya Toure is still one of the best midfielders in the game at running the midfield. If we change our shape to allow him to influence the game without needing him to put in so much leg work then we're a better side already. The addition of Sterling is enough for us to create and score more goals and we'll have the balance to improve defensively.
If we add De Bruyne and Pogba our first team squad could contain the likes of Hart, Aguero, Bony, Nacho, Sterling, De Bruyne, Pogba, Delph, Mangala, Denayer, Lopes (possibly) who all have several seasons to a decade in top flight football in their legs. We're not too bad. We're building for the future ahead of schedule, something the rags and chavs have failed to do.