Has everyone forgotten about Jimmy Mac? The guy is only 33 and provided he stays fit I'd frankly have him in the team ahead of Jairo every week, with all due respect... we badly missed him in the second half of last season.

Predicting the line-up for next season is as impossible as to be worthless trying to do because it presumes we know the answer to the most basic question of all; the one to which the answer will start to be revealed in training this week. That is, what'll be Vieira's tactical approach?

Essentially, a new manager has two options. He can come in and say 'this is the system we are going to play', then acquire the players who fit that system if we don't have them already, or he can look at the players he's got and play a formation that best suits the talent at his disposal. We simply don't know which path Vieira will take (I suspect it'll be the former) but it's the most interesting question of the moment; the pre-season games will tell us a lot.

In a way, that's why it's hard to speculate about incoming transfers right now. Yes, we know there are good players on the market (for instance, Dan James) but are they the sort of players Vieira's approach demands? We don't know. While Roy was here we could much more easily speculate about possible transfer targets because we had a good idea of the sort of player Roy likes. Connor Gallagher, for instance, would almost certainly be a prime target had Roy remained. Whether he's a player Vieira would prioritize I don't know, but time will tell.

Based on his playing experience/style and early managerial career, I'd have to think that his preferred approach will be very, very different to what we're used to. It's hard to believe that keeping possession won't be foundational whereas under Roy, it was barely even important. The problem for us is that after four years of Roy, we have a squad built to defend and counter-attack. Transitioning to a style that's 180 degrees opposite is not going to happen overnight, in one transfer window so either Vieira is going to have to coach new skills into existing players, or we're all going to have to be patient while he replaces them.

Right now, you can assume Guaita, Wilf (if he stays), and I suspect Benteke are nailed on. Probably Kouyate and Mitchell too. Much more than that is guesswork. However, if we start playing with a little ambition, purpose, and determination to win games rather than avoid losing them, I'm prepared to suffer a few losses in the bedding-in period. What the Roy era taught me personally is that I don't go to football because we're in the Premiership. I go because it's Palace and I want to be entertained. Those of us long in the tooth will remember the Malcolm Allison years of the mid-70s. Sure, we were in the Third Division for three seasons but we had ambition, flair, and style and for many of us, they were the most memorable times of Palace lives. And, of course, those years eventually gave birth to the Team of the Eighties. Patience is a virtue. Vieira will need us to show some.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

It could depend on how many of the existing players he plans to use as 1st team starters. If we are buying younger players at about £8-10m a time (Olise and Rogers so far it is rumoured) and there really is at least £50m to spend then we might see 5 or 6 new faces along with Banks possibly coming in.

The way PV was speaking in his interview about what he hopes to do at St George's next week, I got the impression that he wants to introduce his way of playing ASAP. The pre-season friendlies should tell us something on this front.

Eze won't be around for quite a long time so you really need to factor in another player for the first half of the season

You're more observant than either sprites or myself it seems

-----------_--Guiata
--Ward---Kouyate--Tomkins--Mitchell
----------Luka----Downes
---------------Eze
--Zaha-----------------------Olise
-------------Bentekke

Schlupp for Eze at the start of the season with some rotation in position between Wilf, Olise and Schlupp.

I'm surprised Downes has not been linked with us more this summer. We were interested enough for him to have handed in a transfer request in the past. Has only 12 months left on his contract and we have a long history of having stories breaking of us being interested in a player and then seem to keep an eye on them for one or two more windows before signing them.

Edited by Mwncisee (09 Jul 2021 4.54pm)