Article on potential Miller/Boyd partnership

[Boab 73]

Striking a balance

RANGERS: Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller may each have their individual shortcomings, but together they can form a potent strike partnership under Walter Smith. Michael Grant reports

IT ISN'T difficult to imagine Kris Boyd pulling a mobile out of his pocket and reading a text during a match. It's not as if he is doing much else in the spells between his goals. Moments after his awesome volleyed opener against Partick Thistle in midweek his fellow Rangers striker, Kenny Miller, felt the irresistible urge to send him a message. "The goal was unbelievable," said Miller, whose calf strain reduced him to the role of a spectator as the Firhill cup tie unfolded. "I texted him straight away."

Boyd had to wait until full-time to see the message but the lines of communication between them should be instant today. Miller is available again and is expected to start alongside Boyd as Rangers take on Hibs at Easter Road. It is a partnership for which Rangers have high hopes. Each of them has assets which can be found in football's finest strikers - Boyd has the accurate and nerveless finishing, Miller the pace and high work-rate - and it is Walter Smith's belief that they can complement each other as a prolific domestic partnership.

Although cases can be made for Nacho Novo, Andrius Velicka, Kyle Lafferty and Jean-Claude Darcheville, Miller and Boyd are the two pre-eminent forwards in the Rangers squad and a rewarding performance today would increase the likelihood of them beginning a prolonged run together.

"I enjoy playing alongside him but the Kilmarnock game was our first real outing together," said Miller, alluding to the 2-1 win at Ibrox a fortnight ago in which Boyd scored twice. "Any partnership needs time. Sometimes you throw two people together and it clicks, and me and Boydy get on great off the field. I think our games playing styles can work on the field too."

According to Miller both of them will reap the benefits of being supplied from midfield by recent signing Pedro Mendes. "His touch, passing and vision are incredible. As a forward it's a joy to play with him. He creates a lot for you and because his first touch and passing are so good he gives you that little bit more time because the pass will come that bit earlier, or he'll play a ball that no-one is expecting. He is a class act."

If Boyd had pace, work-rate and support play as well as goalscoring, and Miller's finishing was as exceptional as his speed and industry, the pair of them wouldn't be at Rangers at all. They would have the sort of comprehensive packages of skills for which leading clubs in, say, the English Premier League can afford to make irresistible offers.

Instead Boyd and Miller have limitations which keep them within the SPL, but also the assets to be hugely valuable to Rangers at that level. "Kenny has the capability of working outside the penalty area," said Smith. "Kris's main asset is obviously his finishing, which he does in the penalty area. From that point of view they are a good partnership."

Miller was not about to contradict his manager's interpretation of their compatibility, but the Scotland forward took the view that there was more to them than their most obvious strengths.

"I don't think it's as simple as me doing the running and him scoring the goals, there's a lot more to it than that. There will be games where I score and he doesn't get any, which kind of knocks that theory away. I will be more than happy as long as I'm playing every game and we are successful. If I don't score and Boydy gets 50 goals in the season then I will be happy to be part of a successful team, winning the league and trophies. I'm a forward and of course I want to score goals, but it's not my sole focus."

In that regard the contrast between him and Boyd could not be greater. Boyd's appetite for goalscoring is voracious and frequently satisfied. Smith found himself raking over the old debate about Boyd's usefulness and limitations in the aftermath of the goal against Partick Thistle. In fact there is no great mystery or enigma over Boyd: he is a terrific goalscorer up to a certain level. He always has been a prolific marksman against every domestic opponent other than Celtic (or Rangers, when he was with Kilmarnock).

In Old Firm games, as in most European ties and international fixtures, the defending is quicker, stronger and more technically adept and Boyd's goals dry up.

Last season he did not play in any of the Old Firm games and the former Scotland managers, Smith and Alex McLeish, and current international coach George Burley, have also left him out of the most demanding fixtures. Although they cannot acknowledge it, and stress that tactics are being deployed which do not suit Boyd, his managers actually omit him because they do not believe he will score against defenders who are superior to most who operate in the SPL.

As a flat track bully, though, Boyd is peerless among strikers in this country and that is why Smith, despite the widespread perception that he does not "give Boyd a chance", actually plays the 25-year-old in the majority of matches. "There are aspects of his play that everybody sees are not the best," said Smith. "There's a fair disparity between his level of finishing and his overall level of play. Throughout my time in football there have always been players like that, especially finishers. Every player can improve - if you're worth your salt as a player, experience should help you. But if you look at Kris now, that's how he's going to be through his career.

"Throughout last year, I took the decision that in a lot of the bigger games, when we played with only one striker, we had to have someone who was more productive in terms of his overall work for the team. I'm not a man for statistics but Kris has probably played in 75% of the games since I came back as manager. I'd hope the team will start to get stronger in the sense that we feel comfortable playing him in a lot of these games, knowing the team can handle all the other aspects that you need to to win a game."

That was a subtle allusion to Smith's growing confidence in the team he has assembled since Carlos Cuellar's transfer to Aston Villa. And it suggested that Boyd is essentially seen as a passenger, albeit one who will be taken along for the ride because he happens also to be a potential matchwinner.

http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/shfootba...g_a_balance.php

[TheGreatRadish 1]

That article was less about Miller than it was Boyd being nothing more than a small-time player, in his opinion. Certainly, the writer is no admirer of either.

[Mark. 69]

Fuck Mhiller.

[robroy72 0]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

[Davy 68]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

Aye, 'cause he's known for sticking his chances away...

[TheGreatRadish 1]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

Particularly the latter, Novo's finishing was rotten but JCD was awful in every sense.

[robroy72 0]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

Aye, 'cause he's known for sticking his chances away...

Mate ... I don't know if you saw the Partick game ... but both of them were WOEFUL. KM looks like fuckin Crespo compared to the way they played that night.

[Davy 68]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

Aye, 'cause he's known for sticking his chances away...

Mate ... I don't know if you saw the Partick game ... but both of them were WOEFUL. KM looks like fuckin Crespo compared to the way they played that night.

I'm only pullin' your pisser mate.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

All I'll say is this

I'm no fan of KM. But that game against Partick would not have gone to Extra Time had he played.

Novo and JCD need to take a look at themselves

Aye, 'cause he's known for sticking his chances away...

Mate ... I don't know if you saw the Partick game ... but both of them were WOEFUL. KM looks like fuckin Crespo compared to the way they played that night.

One thing i never thought id say i did on wednesday "We miss Miller"

[MikeBlue 136]

Hmm - I called Boyd a "flat track bully" on this very forum a couple of months ago - clear plagiarism