Why is the league's third top scorer playing in midfield?

Liam Boyce has netted only once in the league in 2017. Picture: SNS

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A run of one win in nine has Ross County sitting in ninth place, three points off the bottom. While every club from the top five down has found themselves embroiled in the relegation battle for long spells this season - only sixth place Partick Thistle should now consider themselves truly safe - County are viewed as the biggest underachievers. They finished sixth place last season and entered the campaign as current League Cup holders. And, with the exception of selling Jackson Irvine, they kept together the core of their squad.

Though there are many reasons behind County’s recent slump, there’s one aspect which has the supporters grumbling on a weekly basis, and that’s the deployment of striker and top goalscorer Liam Boyce in midfield.

The Northern Irishman hasn’t started a game as an out-and-out striker this year. He’s played wide on the left as part of a three-man unit, which obviously involves a lot of tracking back, and as the No.10 in a 3-4-1-2 formation.

It was this system which manager Jim McIntyre deployed for the recent match against Partick Thistle. County lost, but they were a little unlucky. They were the better side for a lot of the opening period, causing opposing boss Alan Archibald to shift his team from a 4-2-3-1 into a 3-4-1-2 of their own.

Boyce, as the No.10, played pretty well, and it was easy to see why McIntyre likes to use him in this fashion.

In addition to being a great goalscorer, Boyce has strong vision and passing skills for this level. He also has terrific technique for a Scottish Premiership striker. All of these attributes enable him to receive the ball ‘in the hole’ and make things happen. Or that’s the theory, at least.

Against Thistle he even notched an assist, though with a slice of good fortune as the ball broke off him into the path of Craig Curran who curled a nice finish into the far the corner.

Curran and Alex Schalk, his strike-partner on Saturday, are worthy members of the County first team. McIntyre obviously wants to devise a system that enables him to use the pair and Boyce at the same time.

In the end, County were unlucky to lose at Thistle, but the manner in which they lost provides further ammunition to those opposed to Boyce playing in midfield.

The main difference (you could argue the only difference) between the sides was Thistle striker Kris Doolan. The home favourite, who scored goals 100 and 101 for the Firhill club, won the match by doing Kris Doolan-type things around the penalty area: good movement, strong touch, perfect finish. Boyce is the player most likely to do likewise for County, only he wasn’t in position to do so.

The argument that he shouldn’t be used in midfield is pretty simple: he’s too far away from goal. Against Thistle he would look to attack the box as much as possible, especially when the ball was moved into wide areas, but he’s still starting from a deeper areas. He doesn’t get the opportunities that pop up out of nowhere, the type that a striker of his quality thrives on.

Of County’s nine league games this year, he’s scored only once. Even then it was from outside the area. In fact, he’s yet to even have a shot from open play inside the box in 2017. Across the campaign before January 1, he averaged 1.1 shots from inside the area per game. As you would expect, his attempts from outside the area have increased rapidly, going from 0.16 per game before January to 0.7 per game since (per The SPFL Radar).

It shows how deadly he was in the first part of the season that he’s still third in the Ladbrokes Premiership scorer charts.

Curran and Schalk are chipping in with goals, but with results refusing to improve the fans are becoming increasingly exasperated. Boyce is the team’s best player, and they want to see him restored to his natural position and doing what he does best, which in this instance would go a long way to keeping the club in the top flight.