It's another weekend in the books, so it's time to look back and see how the Chelsea youngsters out on loan did. The unexpected cold and snowy weather throughout Europe did prevent two Chelsea youngsters from potentially debuting this weekend as the ADO Den Haag game was postponed due to the pitch being deemed hazardous. That might be a good thing for Kenneth Omeruo and Milan Lalkovic as it gives the pair another week to acclimate to their new club. Rhys Taylor also got an unexpected weekend off due to the snow. On to the games that actually got underway though...
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Thibaut Courtois - Thibaut had another solid outing, racking up his fifth clean sheet in a row as Atletico drew Valencia. All in all it was a pretty quiet afternoon for the big Belgian. The Atletico defense has been much improved since they returned from their winter break.
- Kevin De Bruyne - De Bruyne celebrated his Chelsea signing with one of his quietest performances of the season. He picked up a minor injury in the very early going that wasn't serious enough to force him off the pitch. I'm sure he's been evaluated since the contest finished and hopefully this won't be a nagging injury. Anderlecht dominated possession en route to their 4-2 victory which should surprise nobody that's been following the Belgian league so far this season.
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Jeffrey Bruma - Bruma had himself a rare weekend off against Bayern Munich as he picked up a slight injury during training this past week. After filing a late fitness test, Slobodan Rajkovic got the start in his stead and impressed greatly as HSV held the Bundesliga leaders (now former leaders). Congratulations to former Chelsea player Jacopo Sala are in order as he fired in his first HSV goal in this one.
Tomas Kalas - Kalas was again solid if unspectacular. He anchored the defense that didn't allow NAC much at all in the 1-0 victory, hanging back to cover the marauding runs from PvA. It was another solid 90 minutes for Kalas.
Patrick van Aanholt - PvA just sent us a little reminder of why he was rated so highly before the season. He was easily the most dangerous attacking Vitesse player on the pitch Saturday. NAC would have been wise to try to exploit any spaces opened up behind his runs, but for whatever reason they simply sat back and tried to absorb his menacing runs and allowed him to keep attacking at will. I can't imagine he hasn't established himself as first choice after his last two displays.
Ulises Davila - Davila played the full 90 for the Vitesse reserves midweek and reportedly was one of their better players in that contest. He was slated to start this afternoon for the reserves again before the game was cancelled due to snow.
Josh McEachran - Little Josh was an unused substitute over the weekend as Swansea defeated WBA 2-1. They obviously rate Josh there, so he'll have his opportunities.
Gael Kakuta - Like McEachran, Kakuta was an unused substitute over the weekend. It seems likely that he'll be given the start during Wednesday's Cup match with a chance to establish himself. The Dijon coaching staff seems to be looking for more consistency and less individual flair from Gael, something that was noted here as a bit of a concern going into the season. Hopefully he'll really buckle down and work on that, as he's got the capability to do some unbelievable things if he ever added any consistency.
Ben Gordon - Gordon again played 90 minutes in Killie's Scottish Cup tie, but unfortunately their journey for that piece of silverware has ended. Killie still have a cup final to play against Celtic, and Ben seems to have established himself as their first choice at left back.
Sam Walker - Walker extended with Chelsea this pas week and went on to have another pretty good game for Yeovil. He'll be disappointed in the 2-1 loss, but really there was nothing he could have done about either goal.
It was nice to see that display for PvA, but Kakuta is really starting to disappoint me. Hopefully he'll show enough throughout the remainder of the season that he'll get a good look at the club, but at the moment it's hard to picture him fitting into our long term plans. All in all it was another good week for our youngsters on loan though.
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