Source: Northern_Echo
Strachan confident in misfiring Boyd
DESPITE dropping Kris Boyd for Tuesday night's win against Burnley, Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan believes it is still too early to judge the striker's ability in the Championship.[LNB] Strachan signed the Scottish international in the summer, but Boyd has found life in the Championship difficult.[LNB] At Rangers, Boyd became the all-time leading scorer in SPL history with 164 goals, contributing 23 last season to help Walter Smith's side lift the title.[LNB] So far the 27-year-old has only managed one goal for Boro while the Teessiders have suffered a frustrating start to the season, with scoring proving a big problem. Despite making the bold move of dropping the forward, Strachan believes Boyd will be a hit at Boro.[LNB] I don't think Kris is the only one that's found it hard,[LNB] Strachan said.[LNB] All our forwards have found it hard, only Scott (Mc- Donald) and him have scored.[LNB] Leroy's (Lita) had a few games and not scored.[LNB] He broke all records in Scotland, so I think it's too early to judge him. We'll judge him at the end of his contract.[LNB] Nothing has surprised me with Kris. I like his attitude in training, it's first class. He's a big character. I didn't know his training would be that intense, he's a good pro on the training field.[LNB] Strachan also quashed theories that players coming down from Scotland were out of their depth in the Championship and believes Boyd just needs more time to acclimatise to the new league.[LNB] There's five or six teams that could come down from Scotland and easily play in this league, it's about the same standard.[LNB] He's proven he can score at anytime and he's scored at international level so he can score goals.[LNB] He's not changed since he was at Kilmarnock and has the same work rate here.[LNB] I like him as a fella, he's got a wonderful attitude, he's not selfish, he trains hard and that's all he can do. There's loads of players that don't settle in straight away.[LNB] Tarmo Kink's double on Tuesday doubled Boro's goal tally this season and while Strachan admits hitting the back of the net has been a problem, he has every confidence that his players will improve.[LNB] He said: We've tried to sign people who can score goals in the summer but at this moment in time, we've not scored as many as we would have liked.[LNB] As a goalscoring-midfielder and forward player, that's your reputation, you're not going to lose that talent that's for sure, you just need more chances.[LNB] Meanwhile, Strachan also revealed his No 2 Gary McAllister has not been given permission to speak to Aston Villa after the Premier League side made an approach for former Leeds United manager Gary is waiting for permission to speak to someone at Villa but he's not made his mind up yet over what he wants to do,'' he said.[LNB] We'd like to keep him here but it's just respectful to speak to someone and listen to what they've got to offer.[LNB] He obviously knows Gerrard Houllier from his Liverpool days, so he's just waiting to get permission to speak.[LNB]
