Since his move to Rangers Kris Boyd has been the subject of much divisive debate amongst Bears – a player with an uncanny knack of putting the ball in the net, whilst at the same time not renown for his work rate outside the box.
I sometimes wonder if we are judging Kris Boyd wrongly. His skill is scoring goals and he appears to possess that uncanny predator’s instinct. For those who still have any doubts about this I would remind you that he is fast closing in on Henrik Larsson’s SPL scoring record. His goal scoring record at both Rangers and Kilmarnock is phenomenal.
What is it about us as supporters? In Filip Sebo we made a cult figure of a player who we paid twice as much for as Boyd and who had a fraction of his strike rate just because he ran about like a headless chicken for 90 minutes. How many matches did that win us ?
For those who would argue that his work rate (or alleged lack of it) does not justify his inclusion in the team, lets just look back to last season. In 2 Cup Finals, when our team played poorly, it was Boyd’s brilliant finishing which meant we were winners rather than losers. Amidst the celebrations did we make the same condemnation of the workrate of the rest of the team who had performed poorly on those days? Strikers need service – I have witnessed too many games where our striker(s) have had insufficient quality service.
For those who watch the team regularly its clear that Boyd’s workrate has improved, his link up play is better as is his overall contribution to the team. In fact his goal scoring record is as good as his current coach and mentor, Rangers greatest ever goal scorer, yet he is achieving that in a team which is nowhere near as creative or a dominant force as the team McCoist graced.
I believe if Walter continues with playing Boyd we will reap rewards. he has been used sparingly against European opposition and even Celtic in the past, which has only added to the misconception he cant score against bigger teams. There are limits to his predator instincts – you cant score goals sitting on the bench.
His fall out with Burley has put him very much in the spotlight and he has even some criticism from Bears on RangersMedia for his decision. Its interesting to note that many non-Rangers fans cannot believe that Boyd was passed over in favour of some untried and relatively unknown Wolves striker. As a side note I noticed recently that Walter responded (angrily) to Burley’s comments about McGregor’s alleged knee problem – one wonders if there is anyone Burley will fail to rub up the wrong way.
Our current squad does not have enough match winners, players whose individual brilliance can turn the course of a match. I believe that Boyd’s goal scoring brilliance allows us to declare him as a potential match winner. The 2 cup finals last season are ample evidence of that.
I hope we continue to exercise faith in Boyd’s predatory instincts. His goal scoring record certainly merits such an exercise of faith.
Matches are won and lost on goals scored.
Boyd is the best goal scorer around at the moment.
Written by D’Artagnan and initially published on Rangers Media.
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