This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Preston North End travel to Wigan Athletic this weekend as they kick off their 2022/23 season.
Ryan Lowe will be hoping his side can get off to a strong start given his desire for the Lilywhites to push further up the table this season.
The boss has been working hard this summer in the hope of strengthening his side enough and last week, he secured the signing of Troy Parrott on a season long loan deal seeing off competition from elsewhere.
After scoring ten goals in all competitions for MK Dons last season, the 20-year-old will be hoping to push himself further this season.
With that in mind, we asked FLW's Preston North End fan pundit Sam Weeden whether he thinks the new signing should go straight into the starting line-up: "I think Troy Parrott should have an immediate start against Wigan.
"I think when you look at the type of player he is, he's really going to compliment Riis really well and I think probably the best way to get that partnership firing as quick as possible is to give them game time together.
"The fact that Sean Maguire's out injured, Mikey O'Neill's hardly played first team football, Ched Evans has really struggled for goals in the Preston team, I think that in itself is a reason Troy Parrott should start.
"Ryan Lowe wants two strikers, he's one of them which would suggest that Ched Evans isn't really in his plans.
"I think on paper, it's a no brainer that he starts.
"I think as a signing it's a really exciting one and I think he'll complement Riis really well and it's a long time ago since Preston went into a new season with a really exciting striker partnership that I think can play off each other so well and I'm really excited to see how it goes starting on Saturday."
The Verdict:
As Sam says, starting Parrott as the weekend seems like the most sensible idea given he is no doubt going to be a regular player for the Lilywhites this season and therefore, the sooner he can get started the better.
The addition of the 20-year-old for the season ahead is a really exciting addition for Preston and they will be hoping that the youngster can unlock the next level of his potential this year.
Not only does it make sense from that point of view but as it stands, you don't see Parrott having any concrete competition for his place in the side and therefore if they are wanting to get off to a good start, Parrott simply has to start.