Peterborough United manager Darren Ferguson confirms there are still some places up for grabs ahead of the League One kick-off on Saturday.
With just one pre-season match remaining, at St Neots on Tuesday evening, Posh boss Darren Ferguson is still pondering on certain positions in his side.
A number of players who don`t appear to be in the main team that Fergie has been playing against the likes of Luton Town and Brighton, and have been training well are in his thoughts for selection.
With that in mind, Fergie has decided to use the final pre-season match to give a run out to the majority of his squad and to give everyone a final chance to impress before the big kick-off on Saturday.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing must surely be one of those players as he has impressed Fergie since returning to pre-season and although he has been out injured recently, he has come on as a substitute in the last two matches.
The right-back position is also up for grabs. Michael Bostwick played there against Luton Town but he was destroyed by the speed and skill of former Posh left-back Scott Griffiths on numerous occasions and was often caught up field on the counter attack. A few times, Bostwick could be accused of “Mark Little” type attempts at getting back to defend including the build-up to the Hatters goal.
New signing Michael Smith could be in for a shout of that position and will play at least 45 minutes against St Neots but his lack of minutes on the pitch during pre-season could work against him although on the brief appearances he`s had in a Posh shirt, he should be starting in the right-back berth.
Two other places that Fergie could be looking at is the central defensive pairing and the forward partnership.
Gaby Zakuani and Jack Baldwin are the two in possession of those shirts at present and Fergie was impressed with Zakuani against Luton but out of this pairing, Zakuani must be the one most at threat. Teenager Ricardo Santos is the one pushing and has not put a foot wrong in pre-season. He may be young and inexperienced but if he improves like he has shown already, he will soon be knocking of the door of a starting place.
There is no doubt that Fergie likes the pairing of last seasons top scorer Britt Assombalonga and Conor Washington but one player that has shocked the fans since his return to pre-season and who must surely be in with a shout of starting next Saturday is Kyle Vassell. After working on his fitness since the end of last season and with his first professional pre-season under his belt, he has impressed many and has top scored during pre-season.
Many Posh fans had hoped to see if he could strike up a good partnership with Britt but, apart from a few minutes, he hasn`t had the chance. This may change on Tuesday as Fergie looks to chop and change the players around so we could finally see if there is any spark when they play together.
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