Yep.
If Braithwaite was seriously in consideration he'd be starting today and building understanding with Tarks.
Only optimism I can see is he'll get ripped apart by Villa forwards in second game so will hopefully be benched very quickly this season.
Think problem is while likes of him, Godfrey and Holgate are still on the books there's no room financially to get another CB in. Hopefully Holgate goes somewhere soon and so there might be space then to get in someone who can seriously challenge for a first team spot.
No one sane can argue the defensive options aren't massively weaker than four months ago as Mina and Coady were the backups then.