Fuller - Premiership quality?

Poor old Ricardo Fuller. He really hasn't had the easiest of times with Portsmouth FC - first of all his move fell through due to a dodgy knee, then he watched his strike partners get struck down around him, then he had to spend a few games playing up front with absolutely no support - and THEN he gets slagged off for his troubles as well!

I'm not going to sit here and debate certain aspects of his game. There is no doubt that yes, he seems to fall over a hell of a lot. And of course, the pure fact that he has only scored one goal (plus one for Preston) this season is not really the sort of record you expect from any Premiership striker. Well, except Emile Heskey. But even so, it's far too early to start slagging off the big hitman.

Indeed, he has taken a fair bit of flak for yesterday's defeat against Arsenal; spurning a good chance in the first half, and an even better in the second after a superb Berger through-ball. But as the old football cliché goes, he's a confidence player. Just look at Yakubu last season. By the time January came round, he had amassed just four goals, and two of them in the League Cup against Nottingham Forest. He was slated for being caught offside too much, for falling over too easily, for missing when it seemed easier to score. Some began to claim he wasn't a Premiership quality striker - in fact, even Harry Redknapp seemed to doubt his ability and dropped him to the bench on more than one occasion.

But look how that turned out. From a yard out off his arse against Blackpool, and he went on to hit another fifteen goals in the remaining five months of the season. And that's all it takes - that little bit of luck to get back into the goalscoring groove.

Now I'm not suggesting that Fuller is going to go and smash in twenty or so goals by the time May rolls around. I'd love him to, but what happened at the tail end of last season was such a fantastic high for the entire team, riding on the crest of a wave, and I just can't see it being repeated. But I DO believe he will prove the doubters wrong. He's been playing up front on his own, being marked by two defenders, every flick on being picked up by the opposition simply due to lack of numbers. He's put in 110% effort, even when the team have wilted around him - like away at Aston Villa. He WILL get the bit of luck that gives him the goal, and from there on he'll bang them in.

But he needs time, and a bit of patience from the fans. The pressure of Yakubu, Kamara and LuaLua all breathing down his neck will no doubt spur him on. Don't write him off yet.