Danny Cowley’s prematch press conference for the Birmingham game was dominated by discussion of the plethora of defenders that are unavailable for today’s game.

Danny Simpson (hip), Jaden Brown (ankle) and Tommy Elphick (season ending knee injury) are all out of contention leaving Danny Cowley a selection headache. Here are a few of the options he might consider:

RB: Hadergjonaj CB: Stankovic CB: Schindler LB: Kongolo

This back four is the most obvious selection for Cowley, given Hadergjonaj, Stankovic and Kongolo are the three most likely second-choices for the positions that are available due to injury.

All three of these defensive additions have question marks over them:

Hadergjonaj’s lack of positional awareness and tendency to endlessly back peddle mean he is out of favour with many Town fans.

Stankovic is painfully slow and has struggled to cope with physical challenges when playing in central defence. He looks far more assured as a deep-lying central midfielder where his lack of pace is less of an issue and he has the opportunity to play a more expansive passing game.

Kongolo is probably the best player we have in our squad at the moment but he isn’t a natural left back and there are rumblings that his attitude hasn’t been great lately. If his head is in the right place, he’s capable of doing a good job as a defensively minded left-back.

RB: Bacuna CB: Kongolo CB: Schindler LB: Hadergjonaj

Juninho Bacuna isn’t a natural fullback but he’s played this position before and can do a decent job in that role. His discipline is questionable and he has a tendency to put in unpleasant challenges. While it’s nice to have a player with fire in his belly, Bacuna often looks like he’s on the verge of a red card.

Hadergjonaj is also a square peg in a round hole if he plays on the left. The fact he’s a right footer may work to Town’s advantage on the left flank, as he is naturally more cautious and more likely to hold his position when playing on his less favoured side.

The fullback choices are obviously not ideal in this back four but at least it allows Town to play their best centre back pairing.

Three at the back: Stankovic, Schindler & Kongolo

Town’s squd is lacking depth in the fullback positions, so a potential solution could be to judt not play any. This would allow Christopher Schindler the chance to play as a sweeper which frees him up to maraud forward and intercept passes.

Danny Cowley is known to be a pragmatist when it comes to formations, so switching to three central defenders isn’t a crazy prospect. Jan Siewert was dogmatic about playing 4-3-3 but Cowley is more likely to pick the system that best suits his available players.

My concern about this option is the lack of proper wingbacks. Nobody in Town’s squad has the combination of offensive threat and defensive discipline to play that role well.

Other options

Here are a few other things the Cowley’s might be thinking about:

Play some of the kids – I don’t think this is all that likely as the most promising youth players are out on loan. It would be great if we had some hot prospect in the academy that was currently under the radar but I feel that’s unlikely.

I don’t think this is all that likely as the most promising youth players are out on loan. It would be great if we had some hot prospect in the academy that was currently under the radar but I feel that’s unlikely. Move Chalobah into central defence – The Chelsea loanee plays as a central defender for England Under-21s so could do a job for Town in the same position. His recent form hasn’t been great so I’m not convinced this will be an answer to Town’s problems.

– The Chelsea loanee plays as a central defender for England Under-21s so could do a job for Town in the same position. His recent form hasn’t been great so I’m not convinced this will be an answer to Town’s problems. Play wingers as fullbacks – If Town are planning to dominate Birmingham they could go for a more aggressive selection and play wingers as fullbacks.am City and Liverpool’s fullbacks are virtually wingers, so Town could try the same approach. Sadly we don’t have the same qualrit available as those two teams.

Do you have a better idea to plug the gaping holes in Town’s back line? Leave a comment below.