The goals continued to come in a steady supply over the last seven days in the land of the Loan Report with a pair of midfielders adding to their respectable tallies for the season. We begin in midweek, where John Swift broke his duck at home for Brentford.
Headliners
Heading into their clash with Wolves at Griffin Park, Swift had scored four goals this season but they had all come away from home. He made up for lost time with a brace either side of half time in a resounding 3-0 win; the first was a little fortunate as a clearance rebounded in off him whilst the second was a routine finish after good approach play by Liverpool loanee Sergi Canos.
On Saturday he returned to Rotherham’s New York Stadium, where he spent a frustrating few months on loan last season. That frustration extended to a 2-1 defeat for the Bees with Swift, playing a full ninety minutes, unable to affect the outcome in a similar manner.
For Marco van Ginkel, meanwhile, things are looking up since he swapped Stoke for PSV Eindhoven on transfer deadline day. Despite apparently not being considered good enough to be a regular feature under Mark Hughes he performed admirably for PSV in their Champions League knockout goalless draw at home to Atlético Madrid in midweek, before scoring his third goal in four Eredivisie matches on Saturday against ADO Den Haag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuAlqSCJl-0
England
Premier League action resumed this week and it did so with a generally predictable outcome for many. Nathan Aké was restored to the Watford starting eleven after having the cup weekend off and he was solid in a goalless draw with Bournemouth, although he may look back on this incident and consider himself lucky to have not been hurt:
Victor Moses got twenty-five minutes as a substitute for West Ham in a 1-0 win over Sunderland but Patrick Bamford remained an afterthought for Norwich City, being thrown on in stoppage time shortly after the Canaries had gone behind to Leicester City.
In the Championship, Tomas Kalas played a full ninety minutes at centre-back for Middlesbrough in a 3-1 midweek win at home to Cardiff before being rotated out of the side for the 2-0 win at Fulham on Saturday. Reading beat Rotherham 1-0 on Tuesday with Michael Hector once again performing well in a defensive midfield role, one he reprised in a more topsy-turvy 4-3 win at Charlton four days later. Lucas Piazon was an unused substitute on both occasions.
Mitchell Beeney’s extended stay at Newport County lasted less than a week, however, with the Exiles’ boss Warren Feeney confirming this week that the goalkeeper has returned to Stamford Bridge.
Netherlands
Things continue to look less-than-ideal over at Arnhem, where Vitesse lost 1-0 at home to Willem II to extend their inconsistent run under Rob Maas’ stewardship, and the loanee situation has taken a turn for the worse once more.
Dominic Solanke has been back at Chelsea receiving treatment on an achilles injury suffered against Excelsior a month ago and it appears as if he may now not be fit to return until April. That meant Lewis Baker was the only one of the Blues’ quintet to start against Willem II but his impact was negligible, whilst Nathan and Izzy Brown both came off the bench without faring a whole lot better.
Danilo Pantic is expected to formally leave Arnhem this week, with his mentality and attitude having been brought into question alongside his level of ability and performance to date. It remains to be seen where he’ll end up.
Todd Kane and NEC Nijmegen didn’t enjoy their weekend any more though, losing 2-0 to Excelsior on Friday night with Kane substituted midway through the second half.
Spain
Charly Musonda’s fourth outing for Betis was a little quieter than his previous three but he remained keenly involved throughout and has established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet. He had an 88th-minute shot cleared off the line in a 2-2 draw against Rayo Vallecano and might have been awarded a penalty by a different referee on another day.
Christian Atsu was fit to return to the Málaga squad ahead of a trip to Real Sociedad but he remained on the bench throughout.
Italy
Juan Cuadrado played ninety inconsistent minutes for Juventus against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday before being an unused sub on Sunday at home to Inter.
Stipe Perica was an unused substitute for Udinese at home to Verona, whilst Nathaniel Chalobah wasn’t included in Napoli’s squad for their Europa League exit at the hands of Villarreal on Thursday. He’ll likely be on the bench for Monday night’s Serie A trip to Fiorentina.
Germany
It’s been a mixed bag of results for Borussia Mönchengladbach in recent weeks and that was the case again on Sunday as they drew 2-2 against an Augsburg team that was only three days removed from a Europa League trip to Liverpool. Andreas Christensen has at least maintained a strong level of play for the most part, including a spell in defensive midfield in this game, and he was also on hand to produce an eye-catching goal-line clearance to deny Alfred Finnbogason a goal.
Papy Djilobodji continued in his role as Werder Bremen’s experienced and dependable centre-half, playing ninety minutes in a 2-2 draw at home to Darmstadt.
France
A quick and disappointing one from France this week, where neither Jeremie Boga nor Mario Pašalić were included in the matchday squads of their respective loan clubs. Pašalić did at least have the excuse of being injured, but Boga has struggled to find a consistent place in new manager Rolland Courbis’ squad, putting a huge dampener on what had been a generally productive loan spell up until the departure of Philippe Montanier.
Belgium
Sint-Truiden lost 2-1 at home to Zulte-Waregem with ninety minutes for Victorien Angban (central midfield) and Cristian Cuevas (left wing). Joao Rodriguez remains injured.
Turkey
Marko Marin played the full match as Trabzonspor lost at home to Osmanlispor but Kenneth Omeruo was absent for Kasimpasa’s trip to Rizespor, where his team-mates lost 2-0 without him.
Brazil
Wallace played a full match for Grêmio at home to Glória in Campeonato Gaucho action on Saturday bnight, having missed out on involvement against São Paulo RS two days earlier.