Whilst Chelsea’s loanees haven’t been remarkable yet, and another week has passed without any standout performers, it’s always good to catch up.
We’ll start, as usual, with Michael Mancienne at Wolves. The England Under-21 captain lined up in midfield for the trip to Tottenham and had what was generally an impressive match.
Mick McCarthy’s men held a 1-0 lead until late in the game, when they wilted under pressure, eventually losing 3-1. Michael made way in stoppage time for an extra striker, and may apparently be needed in defence in the coming weeks.
Jack Cork made his first start for Burnley in The Championship but was involved in an unremarkable goalless draw away to Crystal Palace. Ryan Bertrand was also involved in a 0-0 as Nottingham Forest’s draw sequence continued away to Hull, but both players look to be increasingly useful to their respective teams.
Rhys Taylor helped Crewe to a fifth unbeaten match with a 1-1 draw away to Burton and looks every inch their number one ahead of the return of Steve Phillips. The young Welshman could do absolutely nothing to stop a rocket of a shot from former Spurs youngster Jacques Maghoma, but was otherwise accomplished in his duties.
Sunday saw Ben Gordon go up against a Mexican international in Efrain Juarez as Kilmarnock hosted Celtic, and he held his own for much of the 2-1 defeat at Rugby Park. He was booked late in the game for a foul which didn’t include much contact, but was game for a battle and arguably came out on top.
Heading to Holland to check up on the Vitesse trio, and the story remains the same for another week. Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic both started at home to NAC Breda in yet another scoreless fixture.
The clean sheet was kept by Eloy Room, who, for now, is keeping Matej Delac on the substitute’s bench. The Croatian youngster noted in an interview this week that he is confident of starting in the near future, and for now is working with club goalkeeping coach Raimond van der Gouw.
As mentioned last week, Tomáš Kalas took part in a sports festival in Olomouc as a representative of Sigma, and in particular a high jump competition, and took on World Champion decathlete Tomáš Dvořák. He held his own too, leaping six centimetres higher than his esteemed opponent.
At the end of a quiet week on the loan front, how’s that for an irreverent finale?
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