The Case for the Attack: Novo Wonderland

Nacho Novo bagged a brace for Rangers in a 3-0 win over Falkirk at Hampden on Tuesday night and was back to looking like his predatory self in that forward role he has seen so little game time in.

Whilst statistics show Nacho Novo is one of the best goalscorers in our team, he has found a starting berth up front as scarce as Sebo hit the back of the net for Rangers. He scores plenty of important goals against small sides, whilst at the same time seems to have the capability to score goals against Celtic and in Europe.

The qualities he lacks, he makes up for with goals in the big games;  these are the games where Kris Boyd is said to be virtually anonymous for Rangers.

What exactly does Nacho have going for him that our other lead striker Kris Boyd doesn't have to his name? Three goals against Celtic last season alone.

However Nacho Novo has long been a sufferer of 'Buffel Syndrome', he will start some games, play well, then when he plays poorly, he is dropped, misses a spell of games only to come back on as a sub at a later date and have a great impact, which puts him back in the starting line up for the same thing to happen again.

Despite showing he could be a 25 goal a season striker, he has often been relied upon in other areas of the park because of attributes he lacks. The following is a brief summary of what Nacho Novo brings to Rangers:

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"For Nacho:
- Will chase every ball and harass every opponent
- Has great pace
- Very goalscoring record versus all teams, including Celtic

Against Nacho:
- Because of his height, Nacho is poor in the air
- Can often choose the wrong passes at important times
- Has a poor first touch
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Of course there are other attributes which make Nacho Novo both a great and sometimes a poor player for Rangers. In these times, there wont be many strikers who will stay at Rangers who's positives far outweigh their negatives. If Boyd had the exceptional workrate and pace of Nacho, along with the strength and technicality of Daniel Cousin for example, I very much doubt he would still be at Rangers.

It seems our best bet is to try and make way with having a bit of all the attributes across two strikers. A player who is a fast hard worker and another who is an out and out goalscorer. Now that's not to say the fast hard worker doesn't score goals and the goalscorer wont link up and set up others.

It seems Kris Boyd has the goal scoring spot nailed (for as long as he is wearing a Rangers shirt of course) and Rangers need to come to a conclusion about who plays that second role, a role that had been played exceptionally well by Kenny Miller until his recent lapse of form which has made Kris Boyd even increase his work rate.

Now Walter Smith has to decide whether to stay with the brace scoring Semi Final hero or to bring back Kenny Miller who hasnt been playing the hard worker role nearly as good enough to compensate for his lack of goals as of late. What we do know however is that Nacho Novo can be relied upon for the title chase.

He played his part scoring 25 goals for Rangers in a partnership with Dado Prso which saw Rangers win the league in the 2004–05 SPL Season.