Surely they can improve. They have largely the same team that won the league last year, and a highly respected manager. Some growing pains were not unexpected, but there's every reason to believe they'll get better eventually. The more the table leaders flounder around, the more time they have to at least get back to respectability. Same for their CL draw. It gives them time to get their heads in the right place and acquire one or two significant players to fill out the squad. Which might or might not pan out, but that's why we watch.
At the moment, they are pretty awful.