The Zanzan nobles were not the only ones to be pessimistic about Alexander's chances.
Even his allies Pasha Farzah and Ptolomy were skeptical of it, feeling Alexander was needlessly wasting his fighting potential on such fruitless endeavors.
That was also why Pasha Farzah had sent those 5,000 mercenaries,
Not to help Alexander per se.
But their real reason for being was that Pasha Farzah hoped Alexander would use those sellswords to soak up the majority of the damage from the upcoming defeat, and thus preferably manage to preserve his own forces relatively well.
It was also because such widespread negativity was the general consensus that the noble faction under Alexander had no problem signing his contract.
