The Kris Boyd Dilemma

[CammyF 7,981]

Yip, here it is, your daily/weekly/monthly (delete as appropriate) Kris Boyd article. It is an understatement to say that Boyd splits the support and it is fare to say that both camps are well ensconced in their opinion of Kris Boyd and his merits to Rangers Football Club. Let me state this up front, I have nothing personally against Kris Boyd, he appears to be a Bear and is passionate about Rangers Football Club, but a good player that doesn�t make. There is usually a lot of vitriol in these topics so I am going to try to endeavour not to get personal or overtly passionate in this article where I will outline my reasons for believe that Kris Boyd doesn�t offer Rangers as much as it is claimed and why I believe that Rangers Football Club could actually prosper in Boyd�s absence (which may be a mute point depending on the severity of Lafferty�s injury).

 

Kris Boydââ?¬â?¢s fans point to his goal-scoring prowess as his main, and if they are honest, only redeeming feature and that is understandable as on the face of it, the lad scores goals. However, if you break these goals down, it does take some credibility away from the ââ?¬Ë?factsââ?¬â?¢. As it stands, Boyd has yet to score at Pittodrie, Tynecastle and Parkhead, arguably the three toughest away games that we face and he has managed one solitary goals against Celtc in his entire footballing career. This season, Boyd has scored 19 goals in the SPL and of those, six have been penalties. Further investigation reveals that the vast majority of these goals have come against Hamilton, Kilmarnock and Falkirk and in games where we have won convincingly. There is a lack of goals against Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Celtc, games that are usually close and games where you are expecting and hoping that your top strikers are going to score that all important goal that will ensure that you win the game (just think Ally McCoist here, how many games did McCoist score the winner?). Another criticisms that can be aimed at Kris Boyd is that he doesnââ?¬â?¢t score enough headed goals. For a centre, you would expect a fair percentage of headed goals (just think Mark Hateley or Derek Johnstone).

 

In my opinion, and this isn�t Kris Boyd�s fault, whenever Boyd is in the team, our players resort to firing long hopefully balls to Boyd, something that he has never been able to cope or adapt to. This is a utterly useless tactic as all that we succeed in doing is handing position back to the opposition. For some reason (fitbess?) Boyd appears to shrink when he jumps and inevitably fails to retain position, flick the ball onto his strike partner etc. Outside the penalty box, Boyd is static and offers little or no movement. His control is non-excitant, he can�t beat a man and he can�t outpace even the slowest and sluggish defenders in the SPL. All of the above are basic qualities that any striker should possess. Even the glimpses we have had of Lafferty playing through the middle has shown us that he ticks all the above boxes and given an extended run and the chances that are created for Boyd, I bet that he�d score as many as Boyd scores.

 

I touched on Ruud Van Nistelrooy in another thread and pointed out how Manchester United actually benefited and prospered by selling one of the most prolific strikers that had had. It is worth examining just how prolific RVN was for Manchester United. In his first season at Old Trafford after a �£19M transfer, RVN scored 23 goals in 32 EPL games for Manchester United including a run of scoring in 8 consecutive league games which is an EPL record. He also scored 10 goals in the Champions League and was voted the PFA Player Of The Year. The following season he was even more prolific scoring 44 goals in 52 games including 12 in 10 CL games and was the EPLâ��s top goal scorer that season (with 25, including three hatricks) and ended the season with another 8 consecutive scoring run. RVN was injured for most of the next season but still contributed with important CL goals. The following season he was joint top scorer with Henry (21 goals) before SAF sold his scoring prodigy to Real Madrid. Whilst these goal-scoring exploits are outstanding, Manchester United happened on their worst run of trophies in years. SAF believed that this was down to the way they played to accommodate RVNâ��s goal-scoring threat. He decided that to actually win the EPL and CL, he would have to sacrifice his top scorer, one of the deadliest marksmen in Europe to help the TEAM. He was ridiculed for this decision in certain sections of the press but in hindsight, it was one of SAFâ��s bravest and craftiest moves. Manchester United havenâ��t looked back since.

 

We as Rangers fans were lucky enough to witness a young RVN when DA�s Rangers were drawn with Dutch giants in the CL. We destroyed them 4-1 at Ibrox with Mols on fire and secured a 1-0 away victory thanks to a trademark Albertz thunderbolt. In all honesty, RVN looked like a rich man�s Kris Boyd in those games and it was our Dutch striker Mols who displayed a master-class performance at Ibrox. However, it can�t be denied that RVN went on to become on of Europe�s top strikers and he was still delivering at Real Madrid before injury cut short his season.

 

So, could Rangers benefit from following SAF and Manchester United�s example of selling their top scorer? Having not won an SPL title in three seasons and the likelihood that we won�t win again this season, then yes, we must try something different as playing to Boyd�s supposed strengths hasn�t and isn�t working and more importantly, no matter how prolific he appears, we aren�t winning the title. In Kyle Lafferty, Walter Smith may have stumbled on an ideal replacement for Boyd, now he must trust his instincts and give Lafferty an extended run in the striker role (injury permitting) and find Lafferty a partner that will supplement and flourish alongside him.

 

I believe that I have stuck to my original promise and haven�t gotten personal of over passionate in my argument as to why it could be an advantage to drop / sell Kris Boyd. I would also argue that his stock in football isn�t that high given that when it was made public that he was for sale in January, his only suitor was his ex-manager Alex McLeish who was willing to take Kris Boyd to Championship side Birmingham City. Given his perceived abilities, surely there would be a queue of managers fighting for his signature?

 

Cammy F

[Bluedell 5,614]

He couldn't pass or control a football yesterday. At least twice he jumped to head a ball and landed before the ball arrived. A disgraceful performance.

[ascender 352]

A couple of disappointing things for me about Boyd. One is that win or lose, some fans seem determined to single him out for criticism, regardless of his actual performance and any improvements shown. I don't know why.

 

Secondly, Boyd clearly has some talent. Apart from his natural goal-scoring instinct, he has shown in flashes, that he can head a ball. He can trap a ball. He can get involved in link-up play. The problem is that he simply doesn't do any of these things consistently enough.

 

He's a young player who wants to play for the club. He doesn't look naturally fit, so I don't understand why the coaching staff aren't doing more with him. Or why isn't he doing more for himself to improve his shortcomings? This element and the way some of our team seem to have gone backwards in ability under Smith is just baffling.

 

The RVN thing is an interesting comparison and it could be argued that last season, WS was aping Ferguson by setting us out to be tough to beat above all else and hoping to sneak a goal from somewhere. Ferguson seems to have gone down that route even further this season and it seems to be working again for them.

 

As for Boyd, I still don't think his case is helped by the other shortfalls in our team or Smith's insistence on changing tactics & lineups frequently. If we had a more attacking & creative midfield, coupled with a settled strike partnership, I think any pairing of our current forwards could and should score 20+ goals each per season. The way we're playing at the moment does highlight the weaknesses in Boyd's game and maybe that's why he always seems to be singled out for criticism?

[Bluedell 5,614]

A couple of disappointing things for me about Boyd. One is that win or lose, some fans seem determined to single him out for criticism, regardless of his actual performance and any improvements shown. I don't know why.

 

Are you saying his performance yesterday didn't deserve to be singled out for criticism?

[ascender 352]

Are you saying his performance yesterday didn't deserve to be singled out for criticism?

 

Not at all, he was awful yesterday, so deserves criticism. But consistently since he arrived here he's pretty much been the first and often the only player who seems to be blamed for all our failings on the park when we're struggling which just blatantly isn't the case.

[gisabeer 409]

Are you saying his performance yesterday didn't deserve to be singled out for criticism?

 

I thought Boyd linked up well with Lafferty yesterday and think the critisism is unjustified. there were others who did a lot worse Yesterday, whittaker and Daily to name a few.

[alanmidd 0]

Disagree Totally. Thought Whittaker was ok, there were far worse (Mendes for one)

 

Boyd's committment and general ability were lacking again. If being sent home from training and dropped for the previous 2 matches haven't kicked him up the arse, nothing will.

Edited March 23, 2009 by alanmidd

[bmck 117]

cammy, i've not been to ibrox in a while, so the kris boyd debate's all been in the abstract for me. goal to game ratio; comments made in the media. it wasn't until i saw a half-dead kyle lafferty, who'd busted his ass running about and actually producing things, being patted on the ass by boyd, telling him to hobble out towards the touchline to head the ball down the line, while he remained completely stationary, that i finally saw the anti-boyd argument in the flesh. it's just not right. he barely moved the whole game.

 

now, i've always defended boyd. always, so there's no no-matter-what-he-does-he-gets-criticism from me. i realise that it's just gut reaction; you look at him not moving and it's just awful, it affects your judgement. but i understand now in a way i haven't been able from watching him on the telly, and in clips, why people get some animated in their dislike for him. there are other mitigating factors like selection/formation, but i'm beginning to wonder if the like/dislike divide can be nealty dichotomised into see-him-in-the-flesh versus see-him-on-the-telly-or-through-match-reports. there's more to it all obviously, but ffs.

Edited March 23, 2009 by bmck

[Bluedell 5,614]

I thought Boyd linked up well with Lafferty yesterday and think the critisism is unjustified. there were others who did a lot worse Yesterday, whittaker and Daily to name a few.

 

I'm really shocked by that. As Alanmidd says, I thought Whittaker had a reasonable game. I didn't think Dailly was that bad. I thought Boyd was by far our worst player on Saturday.

 

Just goes to show how people can have a totally different opinion on the same game, I guess.

[Frankie 8,552]

I thought he did reasonably well in the air in the the first half but his overall play (such as controlling of the ball, attempted passing and work-rate) were abysmal...

 

Not sure what the issue is but he certainly doesn't look like he wants to play for Rangers right now.