Coming off the second of five preseason matches, NYCFC looks to be playing as a team as well as they did at any point last year. The 1-0 victory over the Montreal Impact was a strong performance and one that bodes well for the season ahead.

Perhaps the most promising part of the match was the versatility displayed by several players, including Tony Taylor, Ronald Matarrita, Ethan White and others. This has inadvertently opened the door to some positional battle questions, particularly at the left wing position, arguably the position where NYCFC has no natural player.

Let’s take a look, position by position, at the battles for playing time to be fought over the next few matches. We’re only 17 days away from opening day at Chicago, and it’s better to have a problem of too much depth than too little, but let’s attempt to break down what we might see come opening day.

Note that for this breakdown, we’ll be assuming a 4-3-3 formation as all indications point towards that as Patrick Vieira‘s go to. A lot can change between now and the start of the season, but I’ll take a shot at projecting the depth chart for each position as well.