Boyd's decision is a knee-jerk reaction that's hard to accept

AS if Scotland's manager didn't have enough on his plate just now, Rangers striker Kris Boyd has declared he will not play for Scotland again while George Burley is in charge.

It seems his decision is a knee-jerk reaction to having been an unused substitute against Norway on Saturday, something of a recurring theme since Burley took over the national side.

Boyd has always been a player who divides opinion – some love him, others think he's lazy and doesn't contribute enough to the team.

I'm not sure what to make of Boyd, though I do think his decision to quit the Scotland team is not only pathetic, but also hypocritical in the extreme.

Here is a player who, since Walter Smith took over at Rangers, has been left out of the starting line-up just as often as he's played.

Yet, for some reason, he's never once said he would leave the club, even though there are a whole host of sides willing to take him.

Now though, when it comes to Scotland – or more specifically, Burley – it appears that after waiting five matches to get a start, he's content to chuck the towel in rather than stay and fight for his place like everyone else.

He is not so good that he can expect to play, and rather than spitting the dummy out it would have been far more productive if he'd gone back to his club and used the disappointment of being left on the bench as a reason to train harder.

As for Scotland's campaign, Burley said the target for Scotland was to get 17 points from their eight qualifying matches to have a realistic chance of finishing first or second in the group.

It has to be said that after Saturday's goalless draw with the Norwegians, that total is now looking extremely unlikely.

Scotland have picked up just four points from their opening three games which means they are going to need four wins and a draw from their remaining five fixtures to achieve what the manager was aiming for.

The good news is three of them are at home. The bad news is that the two away games happen to be against arguably the two best teams in the group, Holland and Norway. Those two nations play each other in Oslo on Wednesday night and though international games involving countries outwith the UK would not normally get much press attention over here, on this occasion it may be different as a win for the Dutch is vitally important to Scotland's chances of finishing runners-up in the group, which is surely the best anyone can hope for now.

There are, of course, nine qualifying groups, which means even finishing second does not guarantee a play-off place.

The first eight groups comprise of six countries in which the second-placed team will have its points against the bottom side deducted in order to ensure Scotland's Group 9 is not placed at a disadvantage.

It means Burley and his players are going to have to put some points on the board pretty quickly, not easy when the Scots' next game is a trip to play group favourites the Netherlands on Saturday, March 28 followed by a home game against Iceland three days later and an away trip to play Norway in Olso on Wednesday, August 19.

If they were to miss out on the runners-up spot, or even if they manage that but fall short on the points total, it will be something of a missed opportunity, because looking at the way the other groups are made up there are some nations out there who you'd think Scotland could beat over two legs.

I would exclude three groups from that: Group One featuring Denmark, Sweden and Portugal; Group Four with Germany and Russia, and Group 6 which includes England, Ukraine and Croatia.

The remaining five groups are made up of countries that would be decent opposition, but certainly not unbeatable.

All this makes the current situation even more frustrating for the nation's supporters.

It also highlights what can only be described as a disappointing performance against Norway.

All week there was talk about who would partner James McFadden in attack. Kenny Miller was the obvious choice until he ruled himself out through injury.

Boyd was the next candidate but, as I've said before, it's clear Burley doesn't really fancy him at this level.

The nearer we got to kick-off the more the rumours went around that the previously untried Chris Iwelumo might get the nod. As it turned out, George Burley surprised us all by going with a front three of Shaun Maloney, McFadden and James Morrison.

This formation worked a treat in Iceland last month – even if it was with different personnel – but let's be honest, it bombed on Saturday against a Norwegian side who were far stronger and more tactically aware than people gave them credit for.

McFadden has been a huge success for the national side in recent campaigns, but he's clearly struggling for form just now and looked a shadow of the player we're used to seeing in a Scotland jersey.

However, it should be said he's always been at his best when he's played alongside or slightly deeper than another forward, so the decision to put him in a central striking role on his own was a strange one. He likes to come short and link-up, meaning Scotland were always likely to be less threatening in the final third unless they got midfield runners going beyond – something that never happened. The lack of efforts on goal in the first half was worrying, but credit to the manager for realising this and making the change soon after the break.

Taking off McFadden was the right choice, despite the crowd's reaction, and the team looked a different proposition after the introduction of Steven Fletcher and Iwelumo.

Sadly, the latter's glaring miss will go down as one of the worst in living memory, which is a terrible shame because he showed some promise on his international debut.