Former Rangers striker and Sky Sports pundit blasted Nikola Katic’s performance against St Johnstone on Sunday and described it as the worst he had seen from a centre-half playing for the Ibrox club.
Speaking on Sky Sports (reported by The Daily Record), Boyd was far from impressed with the Croatian’s display which ultimately cost his side all three points.
So what did Boyd say?
When the pundit was doing the post-match analysis, Katic’s display was under the microscope after a series of blunders and he didn’t pull any punches:
“I could stand here until the cows come home tonight and I won’t change my mind – it was the worst 90 minutes I’ve seen from a Rangers centre-half. That I can remember anyway.”
“The first three clips here (of Katic mistakes) are before the goal – the goal went in in the eighth minute!”
“Steven Gerrard sent George Edmundson out to warm up after 10 minutes. It’s schoolboy defending.”
“If that was once today that that happened, you could say he was unfortunate there. If that was once today that that happened, you could say he was unfortunate there.”
“It was three or four times from Nikola Katic today, if he was heading up in the air, if he was kicking it up in the air. For me, personally, I struggle to find a worse 90 minutes from a Rangers centre-half, I’m sorry.”
“I just thought from start to finish, it wasn’t good enough.”
So is Boyd correct?
Absolutely, it would have been no surprise to see Katic not reappear for the second-half such was the standard of his performance.
Katic can be classed as a “no risk” defender but even the basics were escaping him – as Boyd highlights – failing to just kick the ball out of play cost his side the first goal and only he will know what he was doing prior to Stevie May scoring the equaliser to make it 2-2.
The frustrating aspect of Katic’s game is that he can seem unbeatable on his day, see Legia Warsaw or Parkhead on the 29th of December as the best examples.
His distribution has never been great but his defensive solidity has always made up for this and given him the nod over George Edmundson during Filip Helander’s enforce absence through injury.
Steven Gerrard has a tough decision to make, he can either show support in the Croatian international or throw Edmundson in at the deep end against Braga, Katic, normally, would be nailed on to start in a game in which they could be under intense pressure but his weekend performance has raised serious questions about his ability to cope with such an important fixture.
Edmundson or Katic v Braga?
Edmundson
Katic
Edmundson is a better passer of the ball and is the quickest centre-half at the club, his skill-set may be more suited to playing against a continental side less likely to fire a barrage of hopeful long balls, after losing Alfredo Morelos through suspension, having to make alterations to a normally sound defence would be the last thing Gerrard would want to do in the remaining two competitions in which his side have a chance of competing in.