Ex-Rangers striker Kris Boyd believes Giovanni van Bronckhorst doesn’t trust his squad after making no subs against St Johnstone

Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd reckons Giovanni van Bronckhorst does NOT trust his squad after opting against making any substitutions during Wednesday night’s battling 1-0 win over St Johnstone.

Glen Kamara’s third minute goal proved enough to hand the Light Blues three valuable points in the Premiership title race on a difficult playing surface at McDiarmid Park.

The Gers are currently in the midst of a hectic fixture schedule given their domestic and European involvement, but the Dutchman decided to keep certain players on the bench again after making just one alteration during the 2-2 draw with Motherwell on Sunday.

Sky Sports pundit Boyd believes that indicates a potential squad overhaul is on the horizon in the summer as he pointed to Van Bronckhorst’s decision to play midfielder John Lundstram as centre half at the weekend as an example of not having full trust in his defenders.

Speaking after the game on Sky Sports, Boyd said: “He never made any changes tonight and I think he only made one at the weekend as well.

“It kind of tells me that I don’t really think Giovanni van Bronckhorst trusts his squad to be honest.

“When you look at the European games and the effort Rangers put in over the two games against Borussia Dortmund, there wasn’t many changes.

“You look at Borna Barisic, he’s played a lot of games and doesn’t find himself in, Balogun comes back in and Bassey moves out.

“Glen Kamara has been out, Ryan Jack was in, Steven Davis, where is he? There hasn’t been many changes from the manager and you get the feeling some were waiting for their opportunity but it’s not really coming for the Rangers players.

“The ones who have the jersey, if they keep performing, there’s a reluctance to change it. It maybe tells us there might be an overhaul of players in the summer, whatever happens if they win the league or don’t.

“But the last few games have told us Van Bronckhorst doesn’t trust his squad a lot. I think the weekend showed us that too.

“You take your central midfielder (Lundstram) who has been your best central midfielder in recent weeks and put him at centre back.

“There’s a reason for doing that. Whether you though there would be an overload in possession or you feel he is the only one you can trust in that position.

“You just get the feeling, with the amount of games Rangers have had and only one change at the weekend, he just doesn’t have full trust in his squad.”

Meanwhile, Boyd believes the introduction of VAR in Scottish football would have helped the match officials judge whether James Tavernier’s sliding challenge on Saints midfielder Ali Crawford was worthy of a caution or not.

Several replays suggested the Gers captain was fortunate to escape unpunished for catching Crawford on the ankle as play was waved on with no free-kick given.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst voiced his thoughts on the need for VAR to be introduced in Scotland at the weekend to clear up important decisions.

Addressing the incident, Boyd admitted: “I think it’s a yellow card. A yellow card would be for (it being) reckless, but I don’t think it’s excessive force.

“I think when you slow anything down it looks worse. Again, maybe if we get VAR the referee has a decision to make.

However, former Scotland star James McFadden disagreed with Boyd’s view, stating: “I think he follows through there. The more I see it, I don’t think he needs to extend his leg.”