The Loan Report: March 5-11

Posted By on March 11, 2018

Following a rather quiet fortnight on the Loan Front, this weekend gave us plenty to talk about, with Kenedy leading the way by scoring his first goals for Newcastle United, whilst Michy Batshuayi got back into the goalscoring groove too.

Headliners

Quite the pair of goals they were too. The Brazilian was in top form for the Toon Army in a big relegation clash against Southampton, and found the back of the net twice in the first half, opening the scoring inside a minute with a most stylish finish.

 

 

He made way after 78 minutes following a job well done, and once again showed that he’s far more useful to a team in an attacking role, and not miscast as a wing-back.

Todd Kane also made the headlines on Saturday after an all-action performance for Oxford United at Wimbledon, and then for his words post-match. The full-back scored an equaliser for United at the Cherry Red Record Stadium, but would end up on the losing side, not least due to a highly controversial first-half penalty awarded against him.

To say he was unhappy with the decision would be an understatement:

This likely won’t be the last we hear on the matter either, as the EFL will surely be interested in his words, and an explanation of them.

Over in Germany, Batshuayi was held off the scoresheet for a fifth game in a row as Dortmund were beaten 2-1 at home by Salzburg in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie on Thursday. He was subsequently relegated to the bench for Sunday’s Bundesliga date at home to Eintracht Frankfurt but came off the bench in the second half to score two very well-taken goals indeed to help his team to a 3-2 win; the decisive strike coming in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

 

 

England

Premier League

Kenedy’s headline-stealing show left his Premier League loanee contemporaries in the shade; Tammy Abraham played seventeen minutes as Swansea held onto a 0-0 draw at Huddersfield, whilst injury and ineligibility ruled Ruben Loftus-Cheek out of Crystal Palace’s defeat to Chelsea. He is, at least, hopeful of returning to action this coming week, after training with Jody Morris’ Under-18s for a few days at Cobham.

Kurt Zouma and Stoke City host Manchester City on Monday night.

Championship

Fulham’s promotion charge is absolutely on course now, despite the continued absence of Tomas Kalas, who missed both of their victories this week through a lingering injury. Lucas Piazon was brought off the bench on the hour mark of triumphs over Sheffield United and Preston, however, and laid on an assist in the former to help seal a 3-0 win.

That came at Jamal Blackman’s expense, with the big custodian able to shake off a niggle of his own, but he too bounced back well at the weekend with a clean sheet in a goalless draw away to Ipswich Town, who he also shut out in a January FA Cup tie. Kasey Palmer, meanwhile, started in Derby’s 1-1 draw at QPR and laid on a dazzling assist for Andi Weimann’s goal, but it wasn’t enough for him to earn a place in the starting eleven for Sunday’s draw at Nottingham Forest, as he had to settle for another cameo from the bench.

Jake Clarke-Salter served out his three-match ban for Sunderland in missing defeats to Ipswich and QPR, whilst Jeremie Boga played 75 minutes against Middlesbrough and eleven against Cardiff as his Birmingham side continue to look doomed to relegation as well. In the first of those two matches, Middlesbrough handed Lewis Baker his first action of any sort in more than 140 days when they brought him off the bench in the final ten minutes, and they repeated the trick at home to Barnsley on Saturday. He could even have had a goal had Adama Traore not been quite so greedy…

Ola Aina played all of Hull’s matches against Millwall and Norwich City, with Michael Hector playing a handful of seconds in the latter, and Fikayo Tomori left on the bench for the duration of both contests.

League One

With Jay Dasilva injured and Iké Ugbo’s Milton Keynes seeing their trip to Bradford City postponed, Jordan Houghton was the sole Chelsea loanee in League One action this weekend. He played his first full ninety minutes in a month as Doncaster drew 0-0 at Southend.

League Two

Brad Collins earned Man of the Match honours as Forest Green Rovers drew 3-3 at Newport County, making a number of key saves in an entertaining contest, but then also ended up on the losing side at home to Notts County at the weekend.

Non-League

Nathan Baxter, who was voted the Woking Player of the Month for January/February, unfortunately ended up on the wrong end of defeats to Sutton and Halifax this week.

https://twitter.com/Woking_NewsMail/status/972530590909116416

Jared Thompson kept things tight at the back for Chippenham Town in a 3-1 win at Whitehawk.

Netherlands

Stories emerged from the Netherlands this week that Leonid Slutskiy is set to be named as Vitesse manager, strengthening ties between the Arnhem club and Chelsea, with Roman Abramovich a trusted friend of the Russian coach, who himself spent time working at Cobham in an unofficial scouting capacity before his ill-fated spell with Hull City this season.

https://twitter.com/VitesseCFC/status/972022646937440256

Whether that impacted upon the beleaguered manager Henk Fraser’s players or not ahead of their trip to Utrecht will remain a subject of much debate, but their woeful performance in a 5-1 defeat will have only hastened the decision-making process.

Mason Mount’s beautiful free kick that came back off the woodwork was a rare positive moment; he, along with Matt Miazga and Fankaty Dabo, all started but didn’t do themselves justice whatsoever, and Dabo was replaced with ten minutes remaining and the damage done.

They didn’t have quite as bad a weekend as Marco van Ginkel’s PSV though, as the runaway league leaders lost 5-0 to relegation-battling Willem II in their biggest defeat for more than 60 years. Van Ginkel lasted 77 minutes of the horror show, but they remain seven points clear of Ajax with seven games remaining.

Cristian Cuevas was booked (again) as FC Twente lost to Heracles on Friday night.

Germany

Baba Rahman remains out and injured at Schalke.

Spain

Josimar Quintero made his long-awaited Betis Deportivo as a late substitute during Saturday’s 4-0 win over Cordoba B.

https://twitter.com/RBetisCantera/status/972860287484399616

Belgium

Victorien Angban picked up another customary caution as Waasland-Beveren lost 2-0 at Mechelen.

Scotland

Charly Musonda was an unused substitute in Celtic’s 3-2 win away to staunch rivals Rangers.

Portugal

Nathan played the final seventeen minutes of Belenenses’ 0-0 draw against Tondela.

Turkey

Kenneth Omeruo played all of Kasimpasa’s 2-2 draw away to Sivasspor on Saturday morning.

Russia

Mario Pašalić was an unused substitute as Spartak Moscow beat SKA-Khabarovsk.

Serbia

Danilo Pantic missed Partizan’s wins over Rad and Cukaricki this week.

Mexico

Joao Rodriguez remains out through injury and missed two more of Tampico Madero’s matches this week.

Ireland

Mitchell Beeney’s Sligo Rovers were beaten 2-1 by Waterford on Friday night.

Statistics

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