Cardiff City's season is only in its infancy and no absolute conclusions can be drawn just yet about who the club's best player is after just eight games of the Championship campaign. Everyone will have a standout so far, though.
Before Jamilu Collins' injury, he was many supporters' favourite performer. For others, Callum O'Dowda has been the Bluebirds' best player this term. Ryan Allsop could stake a claim, too. For this writer's money, though, Cedric Kipre has been Cardiff's most consistent and most impressive new signing.
With Cardiff deciding to overhaul their style of play, everyone knew there would have to be concessions. And it's been well documented that Cardiff have lost some height and aerial prowess in their turnover of players.
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After all, how many defenders do you see in the Championship who are excellent with their feet, quick, physical and brilliant in the air? You don't, really, because more often than not they get snapped up by Premier League clubs.
But so far in his fledgling Cardiff career, Kipre has been all of the above. And Cardiff have needed it, too. When they line up against opposing teams' set pieces, the opposition now invariably dwarf them, which has rarely been the case in the Bluebirds' recent history given their previous squad make-up. So often now, though, Kipre is the man to get his head or outstretched leg on a cross to avert danger.
It's why the West Brom loanee is such a vital cog in City's wheel at the minute and he has proved to be a very solid acquisition by Steve Morison and his recruitment staff.
His partnership with Perry Ng has been a success more often than not, all things considered. Against Norwich City, Birmingham City and Preston North End they were both particularly very good. (As an aside, Ng was fantastic with Jack Simpson against West Brom, too.) When Cardiff are dominating games in terms of possession, the duo look incredibly comfortable and typically start City attacks, which is the rationale behind pairing them together.
The Bluebirds are trying to do things differently and in what they perceive to be the right way; playing the kind of football which eventually gets you out of this division.
But the Championship is a cruel mistress. A brutal beast that affords you no time for idealism or perfection and sometimes even the best laid plains go awry. There is a fine balance to be struck and against teams like Millwall, as City found out at the weekend, the plan can unravel.
Cardiff were aware of the Lions' pedigree when it came to set pieces, but thought their team were equipped well enough to keep them out, which they did all afternoon until Charlie Cresswell beat Ng to the header to score the opener in the second half.
It was disappointing, especially after Benik Afobe scored from nothing following some lax play from Niels Nkounkou, because Cardiff had once again kept their opponents down to an expected goals (xG) of less than one.
But it's Cardiff's preferred system and when Ng and Kipre are good, they are very good. And when Morison was asked after the match whether he was still confident in the pairing being right, in the knowledge that they might be vulnerable from set pieces, he replied: "We haven't got much of a choice. Let's not focus on set plays. We have to defend them and we have to do better.
"We always knew it was going to be tough today in that situation and we have to do better. On the whole, we defended it well. It was just that poor moment."
It's become something of a talking point, though, with Cardiff having conceded from set pieces now in three of their last four games. Gabriel Osho tapped in easily from a James Bree free-kick for Luton Town, while it was Rob Atkinson who converted Kal Naismith's free-kick with a diving header which did the damage for Bristol City. Andi Weimann crunched one volley into the underside of the bar after being found from a free-kick in that game, too.
It's a game of risk and reward, that's understandable, but if Ng's selection is for the betterment of City's attack, they have to start scoring more than they are conceding and, at present, that is not happening.
What are the solutions? Does Morison stick by the current make-up of the defence with the confidence that it will all click? Does he change tack and revert to a back three, potentially adding Jack Simpson to the side, to bring more height (he is 6ft 3in) but potentially lose an attacking player in the side in the process?
Do they need more leadership at the back in those situations? Sean Morrison is current undergoing rehabilitation with the club and is likely only a month or two away from being fit, with every passing set-piece goal conceded, does he look a more appealing option? Perhaps. Perhaps not, who knows the discussions which have taken place. And that's some way off at the minute, anyway.
One person who would have added some muscle and stature is Mark McGuinness, but he has sealed a good loan move away to Sheffield Wednesday and if he plays a full season at Hillsborough, Cardiff are likely to get a vastly-improved defender back next season - or January, if they feel the need to recall him.
There are some options, but if Cardiff can replicate their success from the games in which they have defended well and nullified set-piece threats, Ng and Kipre can work. Morison has already conceded that he knows Ng will probably ship a goal or two this year due to his height, or lack thereof, because that is the division. It's now a case of whether they have the courage of their convictions to stick with their first-choice partnership in hope that the goals conceded to goals scored ratio flips in a more positive direction.
It's far from panic stations, of course. The Championship is gruelling and it's all about managing periods. It's about ensuring your sticky patches are as small as possible and the good spells are as long as you can eke them out to be.
Shipping eight goals in eight games is hardly a horrendous return, either, it is perhaps just accentuated by the lack of goals the other end. But when the margins are so fine, minimising your weaknesses, such as this little spell they are going through in which they are conceding from set pieces, really do matter.
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