Bryan Ruiz News

To steal from that last line, "Here's hoping you succeed Bryan, b/c if you don't and we lose Dempsey, I think us Fulham fans could be in for a tough season.

I'm really surprised by the optimism around this guy having a significant jump in his goal scoring despite the absence of evidence. Hope I'm wrong.

 

While I love watching Ruiz play, mostly because he seems to love playing so much, I have to agree. A little bit of flair goes a long way with a lot of fans, as does a certain type of background. He has proven himself a useful player for Fulham though, and he fits in well with Jol's game plan.

 

Went thru some of the forum archives to find this one about a player that might be the biggest head scratcher on the squad. This isn't just because of the early miss v Chelski (even though that's the motivation behind this post), but as Matt stated in the chat yesterday and on this thread last June (sorry to say you weren't wrong) he might just be a square peg in the round hole of English football. Not even sure what his best position on the pitch is :think: He's gotten better at it, but tracking back to help out so he can play RM isn't exactly his forte. He has tried to assume the Moussa role at times, but while Moose glided by people, Bryan either gets knocked off the ball or seems to end up dribbling backwards to lay off to a teammate. Not really sure a Ruiz-Berba partnership works as well as it should. Ruiz is behind Duff in assists and in 2 seasons has found the back of the net a measly 5 times :shock: Clint was a classic 'tweener' also, but dude knew where the goal was. Bryan on the other hand shows flashes of brilliance and moments of ineptitude in practically every match. Am I being too harsh on him??

 

I think the thing that is harsh is the Berbatov-Ruiz pairing. Prior to Berbatov's inclusion in the squad Ruiz looked like he might have a breakout year and Petric was flourishing but with Berbatov in the squad there seems to be no room for either to play the roles they are best at. I think Ruiz needs to see a lot of the ball and have players making runs around him to be at his best but with Berbatov wanting the ball at his feet to be the playmaker I think Ruiz's creativity will continue to come in flashes. It seems to me that Berbatov will continue to be the playmaker and cut down Ruiz's possessions.

I do think you are being a bit harsh when you say he loses possession a lot. At this point I think he holds the ball better than he is given credit for.

 

No, Joe, I don't think you are. I think we were all hoping for more from him by now. He's obviously a gifted player, but has yet to find his role. I've been ready to write him off more than once.

That said (perhaps I'm just in a particularly generous mood today), I don't know if it's English football in general, or just how he fits into our specific squad. With all the changes going on around him (I honestly have no idea what our midfield is going to look like next year...we can't rely on Iron Man Karagounis forever), I'm inclined to give him another season to prove himself. As he and Berba are Jol's chosen ones, hopefully MJ can use the summer to build a midfield to support them (and also find a true striker so Berba can stop giving Petric dirty looks every 30 seconds---but that's another issue).

Again, perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but with the skill level between those two, I'd like to think that we can find the right players to compliment them and bring out their best. But my patience will wear thin quickly next season if he doesn't start producing more.

 

I agree with you on the pairing. Berbatov/Ruiz/Jol reminds me of the Kobe/Nash/Dantoni situation with the Lakers when both were healthy. The two players' games don't compliment each other and the system makes an even bigger mess of it.

But I also think from a reaction standpoint, Bryan still struggles with the pace and pressure level in the Prem. He's slow to react when men close on him and he gets caught on the ball and turned over by players coming in from behind more than anyone else I can think of. While he has improved his ability to hold the ball and dribble to hold off pressure, when he does keep from turning it over or going down, he usually runs into a cul-de-sac and lays off to one of our cm's (usually behind him). That's fine. But he doesn't alter or continue his offball run, instead dropping back to where he came from to provide an outlet to the cm. That doesn't beat the pressure, it just reboots the whole scenario...at best. At worst, the pressure shifts to the cm, who having far less ballskill talent usually turns it over by getting caught on the ball or making a bad pass. Or they pass back to our cb's. You don't see any 1-2's to beat the press. In fact, we rarely beat the press in any capacity from our set offense. If you go back and look, most of our goals have come on quick counters and a few from set pieces. Bryan isn't particularly good at breaking on the counter either though.

Jol's system does him no favors either. Instead of alleviating pressure from Ruiz, it invites it. We're too slow in the buildup, don't make enough runs and don't provide enough options in the box. As a result, we allow teams to get back and defend comfortably with little expended energy, thus giving them the ability to come out and pressure our midfield longer than they might otherwise if we made their defense work more. Some of that is down to the losses we suffered in the summer but the possession aspect is clearly by design.

I agree that Ruiz could be more effective in the Prem than he has been as evidenced by his form towards the end of last year (before he got hurt) and the beginning of this year. But he is limited by our system and the supporting cast and I dont' think he'll ever be a goal threat for us. However, I think to see the best version of Ruiz, he'd need to move to Spain or Italy where the style of play is better suited to his skillset.

 

There is a lot of merit to the dysfunctional Lakers comparison. It seems to me when Berbatov comes back to receive the ball he is pulling the defense right on top of Ruiz and depriving him of both space and passing lanes. Since I rarely watched United I had a difficult time figuring out why Sir Alex parted ways with Berba so quickly but it is more understandable after watching him play this season. He is an incredible talent but if you want to move fast and play direct he is probably the proverbial square peg.

 

Berbatov seems like he's definitely difficult to play with. Berating players aside, he's just unorthodox. He plays like a target man at times, like a striker at others and even like a midfielder. I think you need someone who can make runs into the box to play off of him and that's one item Ruiz doesn't seem to have in his bag of tricks. But even then, it seems our guys have a difficult time understanding what he wants and when as often as not.

It is odd that after putting up 21 goals for United, Berbatov only featured in 12 matches the next season and only started 2 of them. I can't say that I know the exact reason either, but I suspect it's down to his unorthodox (albeit brilliant at times) play and his slowing the attack.

 

Interesting that as we were having this discussion, a rumor came out about Ruiz returning to Twente. Looks to be nothing more than rumor though. If I had a choice, I'd rather have Ruiz and see Jol and Berbatov leave. The best version of Bryan we saw was last year, right before his injury. But the personnel and system have changed and I don't see our approach changing back under Mah-teen, especially with Berbatov in the side. So if we're stuck with them, then it would probably benefit both parties for Ruiz to move on. Again though, that appears to be nothing more than rumor.

I'm still hoping Schalke isn't just a rumor. :confusion-helpsos: As desperate as that may be.