A festive Loan Report covers the busy schedule from the past seven days, with plenty more football in store yet before 2017 is out. We start, as we have done so often recently, in the Netherlands.
Headliners
Marco van Ginkel finds Eredivisie football too easy. That much is patently clear, and was emphasised again in midweek when he scored for PSV at home to VVV in the Dutch Cup, his 27th goal in 48 appearances for the club across three loan spells. A significant chunk of those have been penalties but, with PSV’s record from the spot last season rather poor, his ability to convert from twelve yards has been an asset this term as Phillip Cocu’s men top the league.
They hosted Vitesse on Saturday and triumped 2-1 to heap further pressure on beleaguered manager Henk Fraser, who has recorded just two wins from the last ten matches in the league. Matt Miazga and Mason Mount each played twenty minutes, whilst Fankaty Dabo came off the bench late on, and Charlie Colkett missed out through injury. Mount had a quiet day, as did Van Ginkel, whilst Miazga looked awkward again on the right of Vitesse’s new back three.
England
Premier League
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been fouled more often than all but three Premier League players this season – even more than Eden Hazard – and one of those 41 fouls earned Crystal Palace a penalty away to Tammy Abraham’s Swansea on Saturday. Abraham had been restored to the starting eleven by caretaker manager Leon Britton in the wake of Paul Clement’s departure in midweek, and both young England internationals had respectable outings in the eventual 1-1 draw.
Kurt Zouma returned for Stoke ahead of schedule, after suffering a hamstring injury last week, and proved an important asset in their 3-1 win over West Brom despite not being 100% fit. Izzy Brown and Kasey Palmer missed out altogether for Brighton and Huddersfield though, with David Wagner not quite ruling out a change of loan for the latter after their 1-1 draw at Southampton.
#htafc David Wagner added after 1-1 at Southampton, on Kasey Palmer, that he has by NO means written the Chelsea loanee out of his plans, even though Palmer is "not in the best of form at the moment".
— BBC Sport West Yorkshire (@BBCWYS) December 23, 2017
Championship
Fulham welcomed Lucas Piazon back to the matchday squad this weekend for the first time since breaking his ankle in September. The Brazilian didn’t get on the pitch against Barnsley, where Tomas Kalas (90 minutes) helped defeat Iké Ugbo (12 minutes) and company, but he’ll be a welcome addition to the squad for the second half of the campaign.
Hull were defeated 1-0 at Leeds United but manager Nigel Adkins was generally pleased with his team’s display. Fikayo Tomori and Ola Aina continued in their respective full-back roles, with Michael Hector in midfield, and all received positive reviews post-match.
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Jeremie Boga had a useful 79 minutes for Birmingham away to Sunderland, whilst Sheffield United once again failed to win having left Jamal Blackman on the bench. The Blades have yet to win in the three matches since Simon Moore replaced him between the sticks, and manager Chris Wilder would do well to reconsider his stance, not least as Middlesbrough manager Garry Monk was sacked on Saturday.
His refusal to use Lewis Baker for the last two months might not have cost him his job directly, but by eschewing the capable talents of the young midfielder, his lack of good judgment became increasingly and glaringly apparently.
League One
Jordan Houghton played ninety minutes, and picked up his customary yellow card, in Doncaster’s 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers. Jay Dasilva also completed all ninety minutes for Charlton in their 1-1 draw against Blackpool.
League Two
Brad Collins and Forest Green Rovers lost 1-0 at home to Carlisle to remain bottom of the league.
Non-League
Nathan Baxter missed Woking’s 2-1 defeat to Barrow through injury, whilst Jared Thompson and Chippenham Town lost their local derby at home to Bath City 3-0.
Netherlands
Cristian Cuevas returned from suspension as FC Twente drew 0-0 at Excelsior, whilst Todd Kane missed out as Groningen hosted Sparta.
Belgium
Victorien Angban was handed a three-match ban, with an additional match suspended for one year, in the wake of his tackle on Standard Liege’s Uche Agbo a fortnight ago. The challenge was initially punished with a yellow card, but the league association decided there was sufficient cause for a review when taking the Ivorian’s previous indiscretions into account. He had previously collected twelve yellow cards and two reds In 40 Belgian league outings.
France
Nathan was once again absent for Amiens.
Turkey
Kenneth Omeruo completed ninety minutes as Kasimpasa lost 2-1 at home to Istanbul BB.
Winter Breaks
Danilo Pantic, Josimar Quintero and Mario Pašalić are on their extended winter breaks and won’t return to action until February. Pašalić’s agent recently poured cold water on links with Galatasaray, whilst Partizan are working towards activating their option to buy Pantic outright for somewhere in the region of €350,000.
Statistics
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