We’ve got another goal to lead off this week’s instalment of the Loan Report and it comes from a familiar face. Patrick Bamford has been banging in the goals for an assortment of clubs since joining Chelsea almost three years ago and he’s starting to find his groove at Middlesbrough.
Headliners
His belated arrival on Teesside combined with an already impressive array of attacking talent meant his integration into Aitor Karanka’s team took a little longer than many might have expected but he’s there now and scored his second goal in as many appearances (and fourth overall) this past midweek as Boro resoundingly beat Norwich 4-0 at the Riverside Stadium.
It was a fine goal from the England Under-21 striker too, a stooping header following a very intelligent dummy and run into space to create the opportunity.
His good form saw him retain his place from the start for a big top-of-the-table clash against Bournemouth at the weekend but was hooked during the second half as the match finished 0-0.
Elsewhere Thorgan Hazard continues to produce something whenever he gets to play and he added an assist to his Europa League resume this term as Borussia Mönchengladbach beat Apollon Limassol to do their chances of qualifying the world of good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTmb7wQm9Cw
He got half an hour away to Dortmund on Sunday but Gladbach lost to a remarkable own goal scored by Christoph Kramer, who contrived to lob his own goalkeeper from roughly the halfway line.
England
Ryan Bertrand and Southampton go from strength to strength and whilst they have their toughest run of fixtures immediately ahead, a 2-0 win over Leicester on Saturday keeps them second place on merit. Bertrand has been an impressive part of that and did well against the Foxes, almost claiming an assist for Sadio Mané only to find the Senegalese forward had strayed offside.
Victor Moses and Stoke have also been trending upwards through the first third of this season and they poured more misery on Tottenham on Sunday with a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane; the Nigeria playing well throughout.
Christian Atsu played 25 minutes of Everton’s 3-0 Europa League win over Lille on Thursday but was an unused substitute on Sunday against Sunderland, whilst Nathaniel Chalobah suffered the same fate for Burnley at home to Hull a day earlier.
Neither Kenneth Omeruo nor Jamal Blackman featured for Middlesbrough in their matches this midweek and nor did John Swift for Rotherham.
Germany
Oriol Romeu played the full ninety minutes and collected a booking at Stuttgart’s poor form continued in the form of a 2-0 defeat to Werder Bremen.
There was no Tomas Kalas as usual for Köln at Hoffenheim and Lucas Piazon played just seven minutes for Eintracht Frankfurt in their 0-4 home humbling by Bayern Munich.
Spain
Mario Pašalić has, slowly but surely, earned his way back into the reckoning at Elche and started his second consecutive match this weekend as his team took to the road for a match at Getafe. The Croatian played the full match and was booked in the scoreless draw.
Gael Kakuta played about as well as any Rayo player did in their heavy 5-1 reverse at Real Madrid; a fifteenth straight victory for the big boys against their lesser Madrid neighbours.
Uli Dávila played just under a quarter of an hour for Tenerife in their 1-1 draw at home to Alavés.
Netherlands
Bertrand Traore was the sole Chelsea loanee to feature for Vitesse as they drew 0-0 against Feyenoord on Sunday. Wallace continues to be sidelined with a broken hand whilst Josh McEachran, although dealing with a recent ankle complaint, simply wasn’t mentioned by manager Peter Bosz this weekend.
Stipe Perica completed his four-match suspension for a dismissal against Heracles and was immediately restored to the team despite a change of manager in his absence. He played 69 minutes as NAC Breda lost 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar.
France
Joao Rodriguez lost his manager at Bastia this week as former Chelsea man Claude Makelele was given his marching orders. It worked for the Corsicans as they beat Montpellier 2-0 but the Colombian was not selected in the matchday squad.
Matej Delač did at least get his starting job back at Arles-Avignon in Ligue 2 though; he kept goal in their 2-1 defeat to Valenciennes.
Italy
Fernando Torres played half an hour for Milan in a 2-2 draw at Sampdoria, with Marco van Ginkel an unused substitute. The Dutchman had impressed in a midweek friendly but is still awaiting his first Serie A start.
Marko Marin played half an hour for Fiorentina vs PAOK on Thursday as he edges closer to fitness but was not to play any part in their 1-0 loss at home to Napoli on Sunday.
Greece
Islam Feruz did not feature for OFI Crete in their 2-1 defeat at Xanthi.