It has been a slow start. Following that opening defeat by Arsenal, Brighton dropped points against struggling Birmingham City and Aston Villa, despite strong performances.
Two League Cup wins helped, and the nature of that commanding victory over Charlton suggests Ruiz’s style is starting to take root.
“We still want to play,” said Kirby, “[but] now it’s more about how we harm the opposition quicker. There was an element previously where we overplayed when we could have gone forward.
“It’s hard to change the mindset quickly, but we’ve got a great group of people.
“I’m very black and white. Tell me what you want and I’ll do my best for you.”
Bassett has noticed the desire for possession has become even more pronounced.
“[Ruiz] talks a lot about nullifying opponents,” she said. “He likes to win the ball high and their key threats are on the flanks to open up space in the middle.
“He seems really willing to try things and the message from the club is that behind the scenes, everything is working.”
For his part, Ruiz is also confident his methods are getting through.
“I’m really happy with the performances and the work we have been doing,” he told BBC Sport. “We could have done better to get more points but the beginning is very difficult without previous time to build identity and clarity.
“I hope that from this Sunday we can be more solid and have more consistency and clarity with and without the ball.”
Beating Charlton was important for Brighton before the pause in action, especially given hosts City are on a club-record run of 15 straight home wins.
“They’re a quality side,” Kirby said. “You can nullify one player but then they’ve got another two or three.
“But we’ve got quality that can harm teams. Hopefully, we can put on a good performance.”