On Monday, Kyogo got his first goal against the Ibrox club.
It was his 15th of this campaign in the league.
In spite of a brilliant campaign last time around he scored 12. He did that in 20 games, which means it’s quite a return. But he’s got 15 goals this time in a mere 18 matches, so he’s not only beaten it but he’s done so with aplomb.
The question now looms; with another 18 games possibly in front of him, how many goals can Kyogo Furuhashi actually get for us in the league? I said at the start of the campaign that he and Giakoumakis should be aiming for 20 apiece; the big Greek is miles short of that right now as he’s stuck on 6 goals in the league right now.
Kyogo is not only hurtling towards his goal but he’s going to overshoot the runway I reckon. The kind of scoring form he’s on – 15 in 18 games is ridiculously good – suggests he could keep going all the way to 30 league goals … which is quite a milestone. That would leave the opposition trailing behind him in the dust, and make him favourite for the annual awards.
The thing of it is, he’s not even playing as well as he did last season, when you watched him and wondered how the Hell we ever got someone of his quality so easily. We’ve all watched him in recent weeks and thought he doesn’t look quite himself … but by God, his confidence must be high as he’s still doing the job every week.
Since returning from the World Cup, we’ve played five games. McGregor got the only goal against Aberdeen, but Kyogo has scored in all the rest – which is the last four. That shows you the kind of form he’s on, and that he’s done it when it matters, and it mattered alright at Ibrox, shows too that he’s still the sort who thrives under pressure.
The pressure will keep on coming, but he’s dealing with it brilliantly right now. The job of a striker is to score, that’s obvious, but the job involves being ready for a split second, no matter where you are or who you are up against, no matter if there’s five minutes gone or five minutes left … and to this guy it’s all the same.
He is showing his quality and no-one in Scotland can live with it.
Got to looking at 30+ just needs to take a bigger percentage of chances created
So far so good for Kyogo, the way things look just now for me is that Laurence Shankland will keep pace with him- ( he takes the pens for The Tarts, we get none), on open play goals he’ll wipe the floor with the nearest challengers. If GG got more minutes he would be up there too.
His final tally will depend on how many games he actually plays in. With a new Korean striker being a distinct possibility, Ange will have to assess him properly and get him bedded into the side before next season’s European campaign. Presuming also that GG will be leaving then there will be a rotation system between the remaining two first choices? Throw also Maeda into that mix and game time becomes difficult to accommodate for all of them. I reckon 25+ is a realistic target for Kyogo.
His final tally will depend on how many games he actually plays in. With a new Korean striker being a distinct possibility, Ange will have to assess him properly and get him bedded into the side before next season’s European campaign. Presuming also that GG will be leaving then there will be a rotation system between the remaining two first choices? Throw also Maeda into that mix and game time becomes difficult to accommodate for all of them. I reckon 25+ is a realistic target for Kyogo.