Cardiff did not embarrass themselves yesterday, that's for sure. However alarm bells were ringing for me when the team was announced and the starting 11 highlighted how the players we have recruited this summer have left the team lacking in certain areas.

Reid starting as the lone striker was always going to work against him. I think we can all agree he's a number 10 not a 9. The moment he dropped back into a central attacking midfield role, he looked the part. Was lively picked his head up and had some joy linking up with Murphy and Hoilett. Personally yesteday, despite being relatively poor for Cardiff since joining in January, Madine should have started up top with Reid replacing Paterson in midfield. That way at least Cardiff would of had that physical presence up top. People can gripe but our options for who to play up top are limited since Cardiff did not sign an out and out striker.

Bamba starting as a defensive midfielder was another nod to Cardiff not getting their ducks in a row before the season's opener. City have Arter and Camarasa now, but the former could not play and the latter had 1 training session with the team. Of course Cardiff have Gunarsson still, but he was not available. Bamba is not a defensive midfielder, he gives it a good go but overall with Bamba forming part of our central midfield, Cardiff did not pose too much of a challenge and Bournemouth were able to quickly feed the ball to King and Wilson who would then ask questions of our defence. And for the opening goal Bamba was one of the main players who was at fault. Fraser ghosted passed him, Bamba acknowledged and tracked for about 5 yards before breaking into a walk into the box. And before you know it the ball is cutback into the edge of the 6 yard box, and there's Fraser unmarked followed by a clearly frustrated Bamba when the balls hits the back of the net.

I think looking over other Premier League starting lineups yesterday Cardiff were the only team to feature players playing out of position. There's a desperate need to get Zohore match fit, and to bolster our starting central midfield with Arter or Camarasa. Peltier looked out of his depth and the only other RB option is Jazz Richards, unleas Paterson were to drop back into his old position but I do not envisage that happening.

Tactically however I think Cardiff have to play a little higher up the pitch. In the second half the moment Cardiff pushed up 5 to 10 yards, Bournemouth's attacks were being thwarted more regularly and Cardiff had their best spell in the game. Ultimately City didn't really trouble Begovic and failed to muster any real guilt edge chances, but I'm fairly optimistic that Cardiff can give a good showing this season.