Taking him off penalty duty would help to ease the pressure SAYS KRIS BOYD
KRIS BOYD knows precisely what it takes to stand up and be counted under the intense pressure of Old Firm expectation. It’s one reason why he admires James Tavernier’s willingness to put himself on the spot.
Last season, the Rangers captain earned a reputation for converting penalties when the stakes were high. At home and in Europe, Tavernier kept cool to convert 14 out of 16 awards. His position as the 12-yard expert looked secure.
This term, however, has seen the right-back’s accuracy waver along with his general form. Sunday’s strike against the post in an edgy 2-1 win over Motherwell was a third miss out of five, following failures in the Europa League against Progres Niederkorn and Feyenoord.
Boyd feels for how that has added to the criticism the 27-year- old is currently facing. While recognising those costly recent defensive mistakes against Young Boys and Hearts, Boyd firmly argues that Tavernier’s attacking excellence contributes far more to Steven Gerrard’s side than his lesser failings ever cost.
The former Rangers striker would, however, shift the burden of penalty-taker to another set of shoulders. Not for any negative reason about Tavernier. Just because Boyd is puzzled as to why anyone who has scoring as their primary job isn’t assuming responsibility ahead of a right-back.
The 36- year- old netted 20 penalties within 138 goals for the Ibrox club and feels Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe should be scrambling to take over if Gerrard decides on a change to lessen the load on his skipper.
‘I do have sympathy for him,’ Boyd said of Tavernier. ‘With the amount of penalties Rangers have had over the last couple of years, he seems to be the only one who puts himself forward to take them.
‘That will probably change now he is under a bit of pressure. But there have been a number of pressure penalties for Rangers in recent years and he’s stepped up and taken them.
‘People have short memories. From the spot last season, he was unbelievable, scoring 14 out of 16.
‘It’s not happened for him this year and, from what Steven Gerrard is saying, it is time to take him off them.
‘It’s easy saying: “Take them off him” but you also need to have characters in there who stand up and accept the pressure of taking the next one. It will be interesting to see who grabs that ball if there is another one in the next couple of weeks.
‘I’ll never understand why, at big clubs, strikers don’t take penalties. It’s a free shot at goal — even though my last one at Ibrox(i na Legends match against Liverpool) wasn’t great!
‘If you are going to get to the target you set yourself as a striker at the start of a season, you always looked at between five and eight penalties being part of that. You hope you play your part to get the team results, but at the same time it gets your goals tally up.
‘I would always have my striker taking the penalties. But they need to be able to handle it, step forward and accept the pressure.
‘You have more chance of getting penalties with Rangers or Celtic, so you have to be able to handle it.’
One issue might lie in the forward rotation deployed by Gerrard. Morelos started — and scored — in last midweek’s 1-1 Europa League draw in Porto before Defoe repeated that feat against Motherwell.
‘That’s the problem,’ added Boyd. ‘One week it’s Morelos who starts, the next it’s Defoe. So it’s very difficult to pinpoint one of them and say to them: “You’re on penalties now”.
‘James Tavernier is on the pitch every week. He has missed three this season but I think a couple of mistakes he has made in open play as well has probably highlighted it more.’
Gerrard has urged t he I brox crowd to stick by their captain after grumbles were heard at the weekend.
Boyd ( below) knows f rom experience just how demanding an arena it can be, yet is confident Tavernier possesses the mentality to come through this sticky spell and reaffirm his worth.
‘Better players have come up here, struggled to deal with the demands and crumbled,’ said Boyd. ‘I’ve yet to see James Tavernier crumble and I don’t expect him to.
‘He has that arrogance, in a good way, and a confidence to keep playing the way he does. For me, over the course of a 50-game season I think he will have a big impact in 40 of them.
‘In the bigger games, he will be asked questions defensively but that is the modern-day full-back.
‘If all you do is defend these days, you probably don’t play.
‘There is no doubt Tavernier’s technique is fantastic in terms of set-piece deliveries and he offers Rangers so much going forward.’
The point was borne out in the 80th minute on Sunday when Tavernier delivered the corner Filip Helander headed home to keep Rangers level on points with Celtic.
Boyd won two titles at Ibrox under Walter Smith’s management and believes the results of the Old Firm games will swing this season’s race. Gerrard’s men are playing catch-up in that regard after losing the opener 2-0 at home last month.
He added: ‘It will be nip and tuck and I think who takes the most points from the four Old Firm games will come out on top.’ Kris Boyd was speaking at Ayrshire College’s Kilmarnock Campus where hi s KB9 Academy is involved in providing free coaching to local children t hrough t he Connecting Communities i ni t i at i ve. His involvement has created The Kris Boyd Soccer School, Kris Boyd Dance School, Kris Boyd Para Football and the Kris Boyd Care Experienced Sports club.
From the spot last season, James was absolutely unbelievable