Notts County: Will they play three or four at the back?
WILL Notts play three or four in defence?
That is the big question ahead of their crunch League One clash at Crawley today.
Magpies boss Chris Kiwomya certainly has an important decision to make at the back because central defensive rock Dean Leacock is suspended for the game at Broadfield Stadium.
He will also be banned for their next game against Preston North End, after being booked for the tenth time this season against Leyton Orient in midweek.
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Notts are also sweating over the fitness of Julian Kelly, who has missed the last two games with a calf injury.
If Kelly recovers in time it would make Kiwomya's decision a lot easier because he could throw him straight back in at right-back, switch Gary Liddle back into central defence to replace Leacock and partner Haydn Hollis and play Alan Sheehan at left-back, if he plays a back-four.
If Kelly is not fit to face the Reds, it will leave Kiwomya will just Sheehan, Liddle, Hollis, out-of-favour duo Manny Smith and Hamza Bencherif and kids like Curtis Thompson and Jake Wholey.
With those players, a back-four would be the best option, leaving Liddle at right-back, playing Smith and Hollis together in central defence and Sheehan at left-back.
Smith and Hollis might only have started three league games between them all season, but they are both good centre-backs.
A three-man defence would be too much of a risk because the likelihood is Kiwomya would have to play Smith or Hollis in the middle and it would be too big an ask of either of them to do that – Hollis because he is a young lad and Smith because he hasn't played since New Year's Day.
It will certainly be interesting to see which way Kiwomya goes and it will go a long way to deciding the outcome of a game Notts badly need to win to keep their play-off hopes alive.
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