According to Jol, Ruiz will need 6-7 months (I make that next season) to come good. At the same time he gave Dembele as an example of how long it takes a foreign player to settle into the Premiership - as I recall Dembele was up and running against Man Utd. http://http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/fulham-boss-jol-confident-more-come-ruiz-2535641
Dembele was, as you say, up and running against United. Then he blew hot and cold for the rest of the season. He showed flashes of what he's capable of (as Ruiz did with that goal against Everton, for example) but generally frustrated and failed to deliver consistently. I hope Ruiz warms up quicker than the timescale Jol suggests, but Jol makes a fair comparison with Dembele's settling in period. I just hope that Dembele is now ready to deliver week-in, week-out.
Thanks to Internationals and Stoke, Dembele was injured for large parts of last season. That said, I would agree that when he did play he didn't consistently deliver but would disagree that he had difficuly settling in to the premership. Hughes was not the sort to buy (and play when possible) someone who couldn't hack it. My real disappointment of last year was that he and Bobby didn't get the opportunity to blend into what I think could have been a brilliant partnership.
Dembele has disappointed me lately, I still think that often particularly away from home he slows play down too much. Ruiz on other hand genuinely excites me despite a slow start. Hes already shown genuine improvement in recent games and long may it continue.
HangingHog, if Dream league is anything like Fantasy Football, it depends on whether he's listed as a striker or a midfielder. For what it's worth, my guess is that he's going to increasingly make the starting eleven, but as a winger rather than an out-an-out striker. If Dream league lists him as a forward then you might prefer to pick someone who is going to be play further forward for his team.
He will be a terrace favourite very soon, mark my words! He is technically one of the best players in the squad. Also, don't forget there's a lot of other factors to remember when a player moves to a different country and a league that's so different from what you are used to. Having family, new home, other distractions etc all take its toll. He'll come good and electrify us all week in week out!
He certainly needs some time. He still frustrates - In the second half tonight there were times when he appeared not to know what to do with the ball. On Dembele, he looked good tonight - the spark that could have given us a goal a number of times.
He needs a striker to make a run. Zamora was woeful. We need a new Centre Forward, 2 if/when AJ leaves.
Agreed, even tonight one of his highlights was a defence splitting pass when Dembele made the run in behind and probably should have scored.
Ruiz must have given away possession 10 times last night. But at the same time, you could see a bit of that quality starting to leak through. He was much better in the second half at holding the ball and making some nice runs. Zamora was poor last night, compared with Dembele Ruiz and Dempsey, but I'm guessing he's just tired. During the pre-show on Sky, they said he'd played 25 games already this season. Last night might have bee the night to start Johnson rather than Zamora.
Somehow I have the feeling that Zamoras heart is not in it,could this be that now he is in the England squad, he feels that he is superior to those around him. If we can secure some more points before Christmas, and then what cash in on both AJ and BZ. We have some good creative playmakers, so don`t panic buy in the Jan window,( apart from a quality full back And try out one of our youngsters,or strange as it may seem move up the bustling tank Senderos.
I agree that we shouldn't panic buy, but I'm sure there are strikers out there who Jol has identified as being a good fit for how he wants us to play. We were close to signing Gignac (see how I've learned his name now, Bidley!) at the last window, and if we could bring him in it would be good news all round. I hope Bobby doesn't leave in January, whether we bring in someone else or not. Anyone new might need time to settle, and even if they don't the arrival of a serious competitor might push Bobby to up his game. The summer could be a different matter though - I wouldn't be surprised to see him leaving then - but we should keep him for the second half of the season, in my opinion.
Well done Captain! I too hope Bobby doesn't go in January, but he needs to start turning in the performances if he wants to justify his place. I wouldn't be opposed to a cheeky loan move for Berbatov or Anelka...
The Dutch fans I talked to after Thursday's match raved about Ruiz and think he'll come good for us soon. He was certainly mega popular at Twente - I don't know if they showed his lap of honour (complete with large bouquet of flowers) on the TV but the reception was genuine and heartfelt. There were even banners around the ground saying Thank you Bryan (and other stuff in Spanish which looked complimentary). I thought it was a good sign he played the full 90 minutes yesterday and certainly looks like part of the team. I'm sure we'll start to see more of his skill soon.
Berbatov is supposed to be on the radar already,............I'd slightly prefer Anelka. Either would be good.
If AJ or Zamora go then we need a first team striker to slot in, no point buying someone for the future when the future is now. Anelka looks like he's on his way to another continent, probably for financial reasons. Berbatov would be an incredibly capture but I fear there would be CL sides interested, and with Utd out of the competition, there's no reason not to allow him to go to one of them. Here are some of my suggestions: Macheda (Man Utd) Pavyluchenko (Tottenham) Rodallega (Wigan) Maynard (Bristol City)
I wouldn't want Macheda or Maynard, both would be gambles. I've always liked Pav and Rodders, so wouldn't mind seeing them. I'd like Gignac too.
