The Boyd dilemma

The themes of caution and victory have been constants in Rangers' season. Smith manages a team that has won one trophy and is in contention for three others. He has achieved this through a careful restructuring of Rangers. He has been the acme of thrift, the exemplar of building on solid foundations.

He has also found that there is a constituency in the Rangers support that is unhappy with his defensive approach. Smith can live with that, but can Kris Boyd?

The Rangers striker has been called an enigma. He is as enigmatic as an accountant washing his Mondeo Ghia on a Sunday outside a three-bedroomed house while 2.4 children play next to a gleaming barbecue pit. However, Boyd is at the centre of a fascinating dilemma for manager and player.

The argument from Smith's side is simple. He feels that playing it safe is the best option with the personnel at his disposal. He has been vindicated by a season that has surpassed all expectations but will now struggle to match a rising tide of optimism in the light blue ranks.

He employs either a 4-1-4-1, 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, depending on what way one opts to spin it. The bottom line is that in Smith's preferred strategy, Boyd has become the No.5 choice. He is preceded by Jean-Claude Darcheville, Daniel Cousin, Lee McCulloch and, in Bremen, Nacho Novo. Yet Boyd, as Sunday so clearly emphasised, is Rangers' best goalscorer.

The object should then be to marry the best striker to the best formation. This simple equation has one major difficulty. Boyd cannot play alone up front. This is not a theory. It has been borne out by experience, particularly in Athens against Panathinaikos. He is lethal, though, playing up front with a partner in a 4-4-2.

Smith may be accused of caution, but he is decisive in a crisis. Rangers were outplayed, out-thought and outfought in midfield on Sunday with Willo Flood and Mark Kerr outstanding for United. The Rangers manager's mind was focused decisively, though, by the realisation that his side were 1-0 down and needed a goal.

Darcheville was introduced at half-time and missed two chances. Boyd came on for the left-back Sasa Papac after an hour and scored two equalisers and the decisive penalty. Only Boyd of the Rangers strikers would have scored either goal.

The first was an astute piece of poaching, anticipating and despatching Kerr's ill-conceived back-pass. The second was a header that owed something to his imposing frame and more to Boyd's ability to do whatever it takes to put the ball in the net.

But Smith seems unlikely to select a 4-4-2 system in the big games ahead. Can anyone imagine, for example, the Rangers manager picking two strikers against Celtic at Parkhead or Sporting Lisbon at home or away? Boyd will thus be left to come off the bench or to play from the start in matches such as the Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle tomorrow night.

There is another option. The striker could work on his failings. He must improve his touch and his hold-up play. His running into the channels is a wonder to behold. Sometimes he gallops without thought or menace, sometimes he just does not bother. His stamina is also suspect. He is in danger of being seen as a player who does his best work coming off the bench.

But Boyd is only 24. He has the time to improve if he has the will.

In Ally McCoist, too, he has an assistant manager who can appreciate the difficulty of sometimes being an unloved striker.

Above all, of course, Boyd has that almost intuitive facility for scoring goals. It has earned him a fortune and it will always ensure him employment. But Smith is not only cautious in his planning, but prudent in his words. When he says that Boyd is "frustrating", it should be read as a warning. Something or somebody has to change.

Call me reckless, but I don't think it will be Mr Smith.