Things haven’t been tremendously positive on the loan front so far this season and, indeed, quite a few Chelsea youngsters didn’t play a single minute of football this week, but there remains reason to be positive as for the first time in 2014-15 we have multiple goalscorers to kick things off with.
Headliners
The first of those was Patrick Bamford, who capped a first start for Middlesbrough with his first strike of the season. Having previously come off the bench for brief cameo outings the England Under-21 forward was handed a place from the start against Brentford. Whilst his overall display was a little rusty he took his goal well, heading in a delivery from the left wing.
Kenneth Omeruo played the full match at centre-back, as he did earlier in the week for their 1-0 win at Cardiff, and continues to show he’s one of the finer options in his position in the entire division. Jamal Blackman served as backup goalkeeper in both fixtures.
The second goal of the weekend was provided by Gael Kakuta, who found the back of the net for a second successive week. After scoring a right-footed effort against Elche last time out, he opened the scoring for Rayo Vallecano away to Villarreal with a header but it was to prove a false dawn for the Madrid side as they fell 4-2 to the yellow submarine.
Also in Spain, Uli Dávila came off the bench for Tenerife to grab a consolation stoppage time goal in their 2-1 defeat at Valladolid.
England
Ryan Bertrand’s solid start at Southampton is now extending into him becoming a fairly important player for them and his goal line clearance from a corner was a major part of their 1-0 win away to Swansea on Saturday.
Victor Moses has also been faring pretty well up at Stoke and impressed in his 80-minute display away to QPR on Saturday whilst notching an assist for Peter Crouch’s goal.
Christian Atsu was given a first start for Everton against Crystal Palace on Sunday having not featured against Wolfsburg in the Europa League but he clearly needs time to adjust to his new teammates after cutting something of a frustrated figure in their 2-3 loss.
Nathaniel Chalobah is still awaiting his first involvement in a Burnley shirt and wasn’t in their matchday squad to play Sunderland.
John Swift was not a part of the Rotherham squad for their matches against Bolton and Charlton this past week (he played instead for their Under-21s) and question marks must now be seriously raised with regards to the point of keeping him at the New York Stadium. He hasn’t played for Steve Evans’ side whatsoever since August 17th.
Germany
Köln played Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday which should have theoretically seen Tomas Kalas square off against Thorgan Hazard but neither man started and Kalas, once again, wasn’t even in the home team’s squad. In their defence they haven’t conceded a goal all season and shut out Gladbach in a scoreless draw but his absence even from the bench is concerning.
Hazard was an unused substitute, just as he was in their Europa League outing against Villarreal.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Oriol Romeu played 76 minutes of Stuttgart’s defeat to Hoffenheim whilst Lucas Piazón also trended south this week as he was dropped to the bench and wasn’t used by Frankfurt in their draw at Schalke.
Netherlands
With each passing week Vitesse appear less reliant on Chelsea’s loan talent but, with just one win to their name this term, that fact may tell its own story. They drew 1-1 with Heerenveen (which probably passes as a good result) on Saturday with Wallace the only temporary Blue to start. The Brazilian has been solid if unspectacular so far whilst leaving some question marks over his defensive ability and it was his area of the pitch from which the visitors scored, although marking him as directly to blame would have been very harsh indeed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGKWPoSUVzM
Bertrand Traore returned from a recent injury to play fifteen minutes of ineffectual football, leaving Josh McEachran on the bench throughout the contest.
Stipe Perica played the full match for NAC Breda on Friday night but they lost 2-1 to a Ben Sahar-inspired Willem II.
France
Joao Rodriguez was an unused substitute as Bastia lost 3-1 to Metz whilst Matej Delac conceded his first goal as an Arles-Avignon player in their 1-0 defeat to Brest.
Italy
Fernando Torres made his Milan debut as a late substitute on Saturday as the Rossoneri lost 1-0 to Juventus; Marco van Ginkel was an unused substitute.
Marko Marin did not play for Fiorentina in either of their matches this week.
Spain
Mario Pašalić was another who didn’t play a moment this weekend as Elche dispended with his services in their 2-0 humbling by tiny Eibar.
Greece
OFI Crete beat Atromitos 1-0 on Saturday with Islam Feruz an unused….you know the rest. Manager Gennaro Gattuso went a bit ballistic at the press after the match, which is a side story to keep an eye on in one of the odder loan tales this year.
Chile
Universidad de Chile had no fixture this week, so there was nothing for Cristian Cuevas.