Only a few weeks to go for the youngsters out on loan, and not much has changed on the playing time front. Several teams are fighting off relegation, while several others are fighting for European play next year. There's also still the Europa League semis for one of our youngsters, so there are going to be some massively important games in the coming weeks. I covered the midweek games from last week already, so here's the wrapup of what happened this past weekend:
- Kevin De Bruyne - Wow. That's about all I can say after watching the last several Genk games. With their playoff underway, Genk is now facing off against only the best competition in Belgium and De Bruyne has been in an absolutely astonishing run of form. De Bruyne was easily the best player on the pitch as Genk defeated Anderlecht, the highlights are below (fyi, that's the little Lukaku starting on the left for Anerlecht):
- Gael Kakuta - Kakuta has started getting a bit of special treatment, as opposing holders are starting to focus on making Kakuta receive the ball much deeper than he usually does. He's been struggling to adapt a bit, and he wasn't particularly effective in a 1-0 loss this weekend. The fact that he's altering defenses is encouraging, even if he's struggling at this point to have the same type of impact. Dijon are now very much in the relegation picture and face a talented Lille team this weekend. That one should be worth a watch for Chelsea fans...
- Josh McEachran - Again, Josh was an unused sub.
- Thibaut Courtois - Well I guess he got over facing Real Madrid quickly enough. After getting beat up by the "orgasmic" Ronaldo midweek he bounced back to keep yet another no-nonsense clean sheet this weekend. He's now reached 20 clean sheets this season before he reached his 20th birthday.
- Jeffrey Bruma - Bruma made his third start at right back for HSV, and it was a good one. Hannover really attacked Bruma all game to see if he'd struggle out on the flank, but Bruma more than held his own in this one. The 1-0 win was enough to put HSV 5 points clear of relegation, they are almost safe at this point.
- Patrick van Aanholt, Ulises Davila - PvA and Davila had the weekend off as neither were included in the Vitesse 18 to face Den Haag or Venlo.
- Tomas Kalas - Kalas was his usual solid self in the 1-0 victory over Den Haag. Den Haag were really pushing the attack from the right wing in this one (more on that in a sec), but Kalas was very efficient in his work cleaning up. He also featured in the Thursday victory over Venlo and was exceptional in that one.
- Kenneth Omeruo - I was actually kind of glad that PvA wasn't involved in this one after seeing Omeruo just torture the Vitesse left side. I've been a bit critical of Omeruo in attack, but in 2 games this week he was absolutely sensational. He scored his first goal in the 3-0 victory over Groningen on Thursday before being equally exceptional from the right back slot against Vitesse. Wow...just wow. I still think he's best suited at CB or as a holder, but he looked an awful lot like Brani this week. Here's the goal:
- Sam Walker - Walker has struggled with crosses, and it showed in the 6-0 thrashing Yeovil took this weekend. Let's forget this one happened...
- Rhys Taylor - Taylor also had a rough one, although the 3 goals he allowed were probably more due to shoddy defense than the ones allowed by Walker. For the most part, Taylor looked good in this one and was just a victim of good finishing.
- Matej Delac - Nothing to see here...move along
- Ben Gordon - Gordon didn't have a game this weekend, so he didn't play. It's funny how those things work...
- Reece Louden - Surprised to see this name on here? Well Louden is out on a work experience loan at Potters Bar Town. He made his first start this past weekend and reportedly held his own in a 1-0 loss. I didn't see this one, so I can't really give you much here.
That's it for this week, the next week begins tomorrow with the Europa Semis. Now that that's out of the way, let's beat the poo out of Barcelona today. Let's Go Blues!