Ric Flair

Stayed at the same resort as his son once, got larrupsed up with him.

The last time we had such volume of players with less than a year left we defied science and got relegated, its a valid fear given the toxic culture here.

Good on the ball, extremely poor in the air for his size and very slow. Baring in mind Okoli was signed as the defensive option to give us pace, this would be an appalling replacement. He'd be adequate to replace Vestergaard though.

When has Winks been booed may I ask? He was removed from the squad due to perceived unprofessionalism from Van Nistelrooy. That's on player and managerial not thr fans.

It's what we need to do. Using Cifuentes knowledge of Scandinavia too, theres for example a central midfielder who would be less than £5m and covers almost everything we need. Strong in defensive duels, tall and good in the air, very good passer, takes set pieces, is very much box to box and does both defensive and creating roles well.

Just looked in to his profile, would appear he plays various different midfield positions but watching his goals last season would suggest he's deployed as a striker so i'm confused.

Scored 1 goal in his professional career, so probably likely to be a significant work in progress. Contract up end of this year so might be a deal to be done for a modest fee.

Personal opinion

We could be anything. I said on the podcast we ought to be amongst it points deduction or no deduction but we do feel like a very delicately poised outfit. If we struggle early on then I don't see us recovering like is common in this division (see Coventry numerous times). It also depends if we lose El Khannouss and/or Fatawu, likewise what other business is done. Even if we go with the squad we have right now I see major weaknesses in this squad that could see us struggle to challenge. I'm trying to remain sensible, this cannot be fixed overnight and it is still alarming how nothing changes off the pitch here at board level. If Cifuentes can develop players then thats our best hope right now but it is likely to be a different experience to that of two years ago.

I think this is the team I'd go with as well. Massively torn on Hamza as he's not disciplined enough to track runners but neither is Soumare. I can't have Skipp and Winks as a partnership either as it won't work. Page will hopefully grow in to the role but at present he's probably best suited to being a sub. Hamza will help the team press but Ayew makes that difficult for the front 5 to do in unison.

It's no surprise when they pick players who are incapable of pressing as well. Those that are strong at it are Mavididi (sometimes), El Khannouss, Fatawu, Daka. None of our central midfielders are which is a fundamental flaw in a team press.

Even without the possibility of El Khannouss going, we need a physical box to box midfielder. If he goes we need one and a creator. We also need another striker. Bare minimum two signings. If we can get rid of Justin/Coulibaly, Kristiansen, Faes/Okoli/Vestergaard and Soumare then we might another versatile defender.

Charlie Savage

Staggering opinion it really is.

This is why I am more of the opinion he's best suited as an impact player wide left or right. I don't think he has the timing to find space centrally currently and more often than not at Cardiff he was effecting games when coming on and very quiet when starting games. When the game opens up he gets a fair amount of joy down out wide. Very good crosser of the ball too.

Got quite a languid style to him. Thought he made some decent contributions and is likely to get a chance this season as our midfield really is not riddled with quality. Thought he'd won it us at the end.

Very kind start to the season and hope we can make the most of it whilst we very much fine tune a chaotic squad. Are we promotion material? The squad is a mess in part, especially in midfield. If we can grind out a result and the same at Charlton as we navigate the end of the window then hopefully we'll not fluff our lines. I worry for us if we don't start the season well.

Did enough at Cardiff last season that as an impact player out wide would be of use to us.

This system has flaws if the players most likely to get on the ball in attacking areas are the likes of Luke Thomas and Hamza Choudhury. We saw teething problems at times under Enzo that the philosophy created opportunities to the players who aren't strong at attacking rather than try to work a system that gets your finishers a higher output of chances.

I'm a huge believer in him but as a winger, not centrally. He's 3rd choice currently at LW but based on some of the dross McAteer serves up, I think he might be an option to bring on for Fatawu if Kasey doesn't buck his ideas up. Worst player on the pitch tonight.

He also had a few games where he was absolutely atrocious. Let's hope that 1st half was Nelson just easing back in to competitive football here.

Been better 2nd half but christ that 1st half was unnerving haha.

Yeah I don't entirely disagree with that, but cup games he should be involved with right now at the very least.

Whilst I don't wish injury on players, I hope he has a minor knock rather than not been included of late. Not been overly impressive this pre-season compared to Monga, Aluko, Page and Alves so perhaps we have deemed him not ready but we have to make sure he's shown the pathway to the 1st team.

Many of us have waited 4+ years for this. Go light it up Will Alves.