I'd like to hear their suggestions as to who we should've signed? Hutton, I concede, would've been great. But who else? Crouch? Arteta? Meireles? No, because they wouldn't want to play for us (well, apart from Crouch - it's the other way around for him). Obscure foreign signings is the way forward for a club like ourselves.
I agree. I sometimes think the majority of the popular press don't "get us". We go about business in an efficient and dignified way rather than the public and colourful way which is perhaps more traditional for a football club. We don't make "marquee" signings because we don't want to spend money we don't have but because are signings aren't as exciting as the big clubs' we are criticised for being unambitious (which is unfair as I think we are ambitious just not unrealistically so) rather than praised for being sensible. As soon as Ruiz starts scoring I think we'll suddenly get a lot more attention.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy had 75 in 98 goals in the Dutch leagues, then 95 in 150 here. The quality of the league is irrelevant for good players. However, only time will tell if we have a Van Nistelrooy/Suarez or a Kezman/Alves. But it's stupid to write a player off before he's played a game, based on a huge generalisation.
ok ok, i think everyone needs to calm down. i think we've established that for every suarez there is a kezman. most, of those players came from the world renowned ajax academy. the majority of ruiz' goals were scored when they were eredivie champions in the 2009/10 season, and since then he hasnt scored as many. by the way, have any of you actually seen ruiz play? if not then how do you think you are a better judge than me?
Ok, so you have credentials - you're clearly a better judge of player than Martin Jol is. I trust you've seen him play in the PL far more than we have? What's that? You haven't? Exactly. We're not saying he's a nailed-on hit (our track record of expensive forwards suggests he won't be), but we're not writing him off without any viable reason. You, however, are. Are you a barcodes fan? If you are, sour grapes!
well everyone gets it wrong, even sir alex. he's not the paciest player in the world and he's quite lanky, he'll need to bulk up significantly if he's to not get outmuscled by the typical PL defences. thats one valid reason for a start. his goals have come against poor goalkeepers and defences, so they count for less (in the golden boot each dutch goal counts for a 1.5 multiplier, whereas in england its harder to score so each goal is multiplied by 2.) - theres another reason. finally, he didnt score in fc twente's champions league campaign out of 6 matches, so theres an argument that against stronger opposition he struggles. by the way i think he has his attributes, and he may well prove to be a 10-15 goal a season striker, and i'll be the first to come back here and hold my hands up, but all i'm saying is that i have my doubts.
You'd have to say the same about Liverpool's Suarez then when he played for Ajax, scoring against poor goalkeepers and defences. Ruiz scored for Twente this season in the Champions League against Benfica, home and away. You forgot to mention that in the previous season he was not an out and out striker for Twente as they had Janko and Chadli up front playing in the Champions league and that he was out injured for one of those games. Statistics can always be twisted. Lets hope he can step up to the Premier, and coupe with the pace of the game. It will be interesting to see where Jol plays him, up the middle or out wide.
the twente benfica game was champions league qualifying i believe, as last season in the group stage their group was spurs, bremen and inter, so in my opinion they doesnt count asproper champions league goals. in ruiz first season the front line was stoch, ruiz and nkufo, but it was a formation whereby ruiz was given a license to attack, to suggest he was a winger is baloney. i like him as a player, but he is a completely different player to suarez, who has the luxury of being amongst a few south americans and spaniards who would have helped him settle. suarez is at liverpool who will see much more of the ball than fulham. you could argue that because fulham are struggling he could only get one chance a game.
A quote from one of your other posts (#35) on this subject. That's exactly what I was saying he's not an out and out striker, so I don't expect him to score 20 goals a season though it would be nice, but I expect him to get more than AJ. I don't see him as a replacement for Zamora our main Striker, more to play him along side him instead of AJ. But if Zamora gets injured then it has to be him and Sa. So as the expert on him Swamp, make your mind up is he a main striker or not an out and out striker?
he's not an out and out striker, but to call him a winger is also wrong. in the same way that i wouldnt call ronaldo and out and out striker or a winger, he's sort of in the middle. i suppose jol would know him inside out after his goals helped twente pip ajax to the 09/10 eredivisie but i think fulham will have to change the usual 2 banks of 4 and go 4-2-3-1 or something similar to accomodate him in his twente position.
Seeing as you are probably not a Fulham fan, you probably won't know that Fulham haven't been playing 4-4-2 for a few seasons now. Our injuries have dictated that we couldn't play that system. We've played 4-5-1 or similar if Zamora is the main striker with Dempsey, Dembele and Duff attacking from midfield and Murphy and Etuhu holding. or 4-3-3 (4-3-2-1) when Zamora or Dembele were injured Johnson or Dempsey played the striker. So it sounds like Ruiz can fit into our system. I never said he was a winger !!! out wide means in the Dempsey or Dembele role.
Why do I get the impression that Swampy Big-Potatoes wouldn't be writing Ruiz off if he'd signed for his club?
yes two banks of four, not necessarily 2 up front, i never said that. bidley, your right, if he signed for my club i'd probably be biased. by the way chaps all i've said is 'i have my doubts', i havent written him off, in fact along with janssen he was probably my favourite twente player, some players arent suited to the PL, doesnt mean i dont rate them. by the way, i'm only slightly annoyed at the notion that most of you think i have just read a few newspaper reports and have never seen the player play, and am saying that he wont make the grade because he's from the eredivisie!
Then let me be the first to slightly apologise for us hacking you off, Swamp. To be honest, I have reservations about Ruiz, but also a tingling sense of hope that he might - might - be the goalscoring something special that we've been looking for. It's a fair point that the Dutch league produces players who fail to transfer successfully to the Premier Leauge as well as ones who are a roaring success. You can't blame us for choosing to see Ruiz as potentially one of the latter until events prove otherwise. I still don't see how 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 translates as 'two banks of four' though, and Mrs Captain is a maths teacher!
Nobody's saying that at all. But you have to understand that you can know his physique, goals-to-games ratio, best position, what he had for breakfast last Tuesday, but you still won't know what he's like in the EPL until he actually plays in it. As has been said, it's pretty much 50-50, he could go either way. But it's all pure speculation isn't it. And I also resent your comment on the probability that he'll only get one chance per game with us. The reason we bought him was because we weren't converting chances, not because we weren't getting any.
........don't think Cardiff are in the financial position to sign him. Still I guess even the swampy might think he'd be ok in a mid table championship side.
