The Egypt frontman has still not returned from international duty, and Bruce admitted he was at the end of his tether with his unpredictable loan signing.

While things could not be brighter for Everton boss David Moyes after his side's emphatic victory, Bruce has plenty to sort out.

Bruce would not go as far as to say that Zaki's time at the JJB stadium was coming to an end, but he will want to discover exactly what is wrong with 26 year-old who hit 11 goals for the club earlier in the season.

Bruce said: "Anyone who has known me over the years knows that I have never publicly criticised another footballer.

"In this case, though, I find it ridiculous that this club who have given him his chance in England - and pay him very well I might add - are not being treated properly.

"We are not being shown any respect, it is totally nonsensical. We believe he has a hamstring, but we do not know how bad because we have not been able to assess him.

"We have had some sort of fax or e-mail to our medical people about it, but how bad it is we will not know until he reports back. He is still in Egypt and may be back some time in the week but we do not know when.

"This is not the first time. It is the fifth time and it cannot go on.

"We must now find out what his mindset is and what he is up to. It is a ridiculous situation, I have never known anything like it.

"You would think he would have some respect for me and the club, but in particular his fellow players, and we could have done with him against Everton."

He added: "We have spoken to his agent a few days ago, but whether he is coming back and when I do not know. I wouldn't hold my breath.

"I want him back so I can have a conversation to see where he is at, because he made a huge contribution to the club. Where it has gone wrong I do not know, obviously he is finding it difficult to settle in the country.

"We will just have to wait until we have that conversation. I do not know the situation about whether we keep him.

"If it happens once you can forgive and forget, but people are looking at me in the dressing room and saying 'what am I going to do?'

"It is a very difficult situation. The reason why we are having a good season is because he got 10 goals early on and it is a huge disappointment.

"For the decade or so that I have been doing this job, I have never known anything like this. We will deal with it when he returns."

Things could not have been more different for Moyes, who saw his side achieve their biggest win of the season with two goals from Jo, one from Marouane Fellaini and the other from Leon Osman.

Moyes' side are still sixth, seven points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, and the Toffees' boss said: "The Champions League is still there for us, we are not going to give up. Arsenal have got the points and are coming into form with players back from injury.

"We are not going to give up, but realistically it will be a tough call to catch them now.

"We have got the defeat at Portsmouth out of our system. I was worried about that, but we were back to our best.

"It was a good performance, a good result and another clean sheet. I was pleased with much of what I saw.

"But I expected it to be harder and I told the players that. I thought it would be down to one goal, which shows how wrong I can be.

"The hardest thing is to get your players going again after internationals, you never know how they are. They have all had a couple of games and a lot of travel, but they have every right to be tired.

"But the ones who have travelled the furthest, Tim Cahill and Steven Pienaar, were excellent.

"This is the best we have played for several weeks. They gave us the time to bring the ball out of defence because they sat back, but once the goals came there was no stopping us."