With Eze injured, Olise not yet fit enough to get started on his preseason fitness work, and the transfer window not closing until the end of August, it's entirely possible that Vieira will have much the same set of players to pick from for his first few games as Hodgson had for his last few.

This will perhaps disappoint those who pined for a massive change in one hit, and whilst I'm sure we are all enticed by the idea of a revolution in our playing staff and style, I'd expect the greatest change in the former will be at the end of the coming season, not the start. By then we could have Eze, ferguson, Olise and Guehi established in the side, plus more newcomers from either this window or the January one, and the best youth players will be several crucial further months into their development. We may be sans-Zaha by then as well.

I've no problem with that. Too much change too soon rarely works, and the new young players should be gradually phasing out the likes of Ayew, McArthur, Ward and (gulp) Zaha, and not be expected to replace them immediately.

I've heard many a retired pro talk about the right and wrong way to manage a senior player coming to his last years at the top. I particularly remember Rio Ferdinand talking about the error David Moyes made in discarding him, Vidic and Evra too soon. They all knew they were getting old, but they also knew how to win. As Ferdinand tells it, they'd have been happy enough to slowly reduce their game time and hand the batton over to the next generation if it was done in a structured way they could buy in to. That's what we should be doing with the old guard that remains at Palace. Tell Ayew and Benteke to take care of Omilabu, that he is thier apprentice, that sort of thing.

This is a crucial season of change, not a crucial summer.

New money.
Have we got a new owner/
or has a new member joined the board with plenty of money to spend,and we know nothing about.

I really hope we can keep Wilf.

In terms of tactical approach it would seem to be more of a case of evolution rather than revolution.
I was at the game v Ipswich and from that Vieira seems to favour a 433 formation, but with some notable tweaks.
Our left back is encouraged to push far higher up the field with a view to the ball being switched to him when play is developing on our right.
Riedewald was our deepest lying central midfielder of the three with Schlupp on the right and Mcarthur on the left.
This had the effect of narrowing the midfield as both tended to run infield using their stronger foot.
It would seem to make more sense to have Mcarthur on the right of the three and Schlupp on the left unless they are supposed to leave the wider areas for others to exploit, but that didn’t really happen yesterday.
I’ve no doubt the team that started yesterday will not be the one that starts v Chelsea, but nonetheless it did provide a few insights as to tactical approach.
We do look to move the ball forward quicker and there is a higher tempo to our passing.
Other observations
- Guehi looks comfortable on the ball and an assured passer. He wasn’t really put under pressure defensively or with aerial challenges so these aspects were more difficult to assess
- Mateta missed a number of chances and looks very raw
- Mitchell does not look ready for a full season as a first choice left back in the Premier League. He still needs development.
It was encouraging overall and good to see some of the promising youngsters given an opportunity.

Playing an effective pressing game would indeed be a revolutionary step for us.

If Guehi is quick enough, and we do sign another young, quick centre back then we'll possibly have the pace at the back that's required to press high up the pitch, but pressing only works when the whole side does it together.

I just can't see Zaha, Eze, Benteke etc being any good at it. Benteke isn't mobile enough, and Eze and Zaha have never really been asked to do it, haven't shown any natural inclination to do it, and seem unsuited to pressing generally.

On the other hand, our counter attacking is no longer the threat it once was. Benteke lacks the pace to threaten in isolation, and both Zaha and Eze hold the ball too long for quick counters to work. I think that was a big part of our struggle to threaten under Hodgson - the lack of pace and directness on the break more than the urge to drop deep and sit compact was killing us.

When they are all fit Vieira has some real assets in the side, no doubt about that, but I can't see that the bits of the jigsaw fit together in any one obvious, natural way tactically.

It'll be interesting, that's for sure.

Good point on awkward fit with our attackers to a pressing style.

It may be that I am over interpreting Jairo's comments but it read to me that PV is trying to introduce a press. If so, though the biggest gap is surely in midfield where we lack legs.