I don't think even our best first eleven is a top six team, honestly. Comfortably mid-table, yes, but I wouldn't go any further than that. Too many inconsistent players - but when you pay minimal fee and wages, you can't expect any more than that.
It's a lower quality league this season for sure. If we'd kept a couple of our experienced players, and spent the circa £4.3m wasted on Tavares, De Neve and Henriksson on one really solid Championship player, we would definitely have a team capable of the top six. Whether Ismael could deliver that as manager is doubtful, mind.
Edit: As KentExile pointed out below, my £4.3m figure is inaccurate for the players specified - amend to around €3.5m (incl add ons, bonuses etc).