I think he's a safer bet as a regular sub. His pace would really worry tired defences, whilst if he started, some of the rawer edges of his game might be more apparent. Ideally though, Hughton will play who he feels is best suited to a game, and not stick with the same line-up week-in, week-out. Hopefully this season he'll feel he's got the personnel to rotate a bit more.
First and foremost, it will be good if he has that choice to make every game. All too often the question is whether Pilks is fit to play. Elliott Bennett tries his best if put out there on the left, but he's not comfortable there IMO. But I do think we will see more variation in selection this season. It will also be interesting to see if having more options is reflected in CH's use of substitutes. (Incidentally, on that point, while there is a general perception that CH is reluctant to make substitutions, an analysis showed that last season he made more substitutions than Lambert at Villa; if I remember correctly CH's use of the substitutes available to him was somewhere about 86%.)
