ENGLAND:
Tammy Abraham, fresh off his two goals for the England Under-21 side, started for Bristol City in the Severnside Derby versus a Cardiff City side bolstered by the signings of former free agents Junior Hoilett and Sol Bamba in the wake of Neil Warnock’s appointment as manager. City showed good movement forward at times but turned in a relatively poor performance overall ... and somehow still ended up losing the derby 2-1 against an even poorer Cardiff side. Abraham in particular was both starved of service and given a very tough time by Sol Bamba; he was replaced after 80 minutes. Post-game, manager Lee Johnson claimed Tammy was quite ill before the game and that they’d taken a gamble on starting him. Hopefully he’ll be at his healthy best on Tuesday, when the Robins travel to Loftus Road.
Gutted about the result tonight. Hope to back better for Tuesday
— Tammy abraham (@tammyabraham) October 14, 2016
Upcoming fixtures: QPR (A, October 18), Blackburn Rovers (H, October 22)
Izzy Brown started for Rotherham versus strong promotion contenders Norwich City. Not very unexpectedly, the Canaries proved to be too much for Rotherham to handle and won the game 3-1. Brown played 88 minutes.
This highlights video features little of Brown but I feel obliged to include it on account of my undying love for Wesley Hoolahan.
Upcoming fixtures: Birmingham City (A, October 18), Reading (H, October 22)
Kasey Palmer returned to the Huddersfield lineup for their Sunday afternoon kick-off against Sheffield Wednesday (featuring former Blue, Sam Hutchinson) and played 70 minutes. He was taken off for Jack Payne soon after Fernando Forestieri scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. Huddersfield have now dropped down to third place, a point behind leaders Norwich and behind Newcastle United on goal difference.
Upcoming fixtures: Preston North End (A, October 19), Derby County (H, October 22)
Tomas Kalas was still unfit to play, but Lucas Piazon started for Fulham against Barnsley and played the whole 90 as well, something he did only twice in the Championship last season. In fairness, Piazon put in a great shift, also scoring his side’s opening goal in what ended as a 4-2 victory.
Piazon seems to have had a good start off to life at Craven Cottage; while he also contributed for Reading in terms of a few goals and assists last season, he seems to be a better fit for the Fulham side as a whole. Speaking to Andrew Beck from over at Cottagers’ Confidential, I confirmed the same.
This is what Andrew had to say:
His passing was really good, off the ball movement was great. Took most of the Fulham set pieces even though their usual set piece taker was also playing. His finish on his one shot was really good.
He didn't really press aggressively and only attempted a few tackles or interceptions the entire match, though.
Fulham were playing a 4-2-3-1 and it was pretty fluid. He spent time in all three attacking positions, mostly on the left side (he started on the right). He tended to want to float towards the middle, but was aware enough that I never saw spacing become an issue.
He's pretty good and calm with the ball in traffic. His two biggest weaknesses are that he's not really that fast and got caught on what looked like breakaways a few times. He also could be muscled off the ball by a physical defender (though I think most of those should have been fouls)
While there are recurring faults in Piazon's game from last season, there's reason to believe he'll have a better season in the white of Fulham.
Upcoming fixtures: Norwich (A, October 18), Aston Villa (A, October 22)
Christian Atsu was handed another start and played 72 minutes before being replaced by DeAndre Yedlin, as Newcastle comfortably completed a 3-1 victory against Brentford.
Upcoming fixtures: Barnsley (A, October 18), Ipswich (H, October 22)
Nathan Ake was an unused substitute for Bournemouth.
Upcoming fixtures: Tottenham Hotspurs (H, October 22)
Kenedy was not selected in the match-day 18 by Walter Mazzarri.
Upcoming fixtures: Swansea City (A, October 22)
Patrick Bamford was given 10 minutes as Burnley chased Southampton’s 3-1 lead right at the death. He had barely any involvement in proceedings though.
Upcoming fixtures: Everton (H, October 22)
Charlie Colkett started and played the full match as an attacking midfielder in Bristol Rovers' 3-5-2 formation versus Gillingham but didn’t see much of the ball in the first half. He grew into the game when Rovers switched to a 4-man midfield in the second half and provided the assist for Rovers’ equaliser, with a return pass to Chris Lines that put him through on goal. Jake Clarke-Salter was an unused substitute.
Upcoming fixtures: MK Dons (A, October 18), Oldham (A, October 18)
Alexander Kiwomya made his return from injury for Crewe Alexandra, coming on in the 58th minute and picking up right where he left off, providing the immediate response to Notts County’s 80th minute opener.
Kiwomya now has five goals and two assists on the season in nine appearances for the League Two side.
I'm back https://t.co/FTWi2mj0ZI
— Alexander Kiwomya (@Golden_Kiwomya) October 15, 2016
Jordan Houghton played the whole of Doncaster’s 1-0 win against Colchester United.
Jamal Blackman started Wycome Wanderers’ 1-1 draw against Mansfield Town.
Mitchell Beeney was an unused substitute for Crawley, while Alex Davey missed the game due to illness.
Nathan Baxter started in Met Police’s 2-2 draw against Lowestoft Town.
GERMANY:
Michael "Big Hec" Hector started on the right side of a three-man defence for Eintracht Frankfurt, who managed to hold the mighty Bayern Munich to a 2-2 draw despite going a man down in the 65th minute. Hector was replaced by midfielder Shani Tarashaj in the 70th minute as Eintracht looked to change their shape to try and find the equaliser (which they did, a few minutes later).
Upcoming fixtures: Hamburger SV (A, October 21)
Borussia Monchengladbach were somehow held to a goalless draw by Hamburg after squandering crucial chances and missing two (!) penalties. Andreas Christensen played the whole 90 alongside Julian Korb and Nico Elvedi in defence and had a good game by all accounts.
In an extremely unfortunate turn of events, though, Christensen apparently suffered a gluteal injury in the game.
The #Fohlenelf will be without Andreas #Christensen for the foreseeable future. The defender suffered a gluteal injury against @HSV. pic.twitter.com/XrTc3Ok05E
— Gladbach (@borussia_en) October 17, 2016
The ‘forseeable future’ is all we have as the duration of the injury layoff as of now, let’s hope it’s not too serious. This will mean that Christensen will definitely miss two crucial games Gladbach are to face in quick succession, at Celtic Park in midweek and the Allianz Arena next weekend.
Upcoming fixtures: Celtic (A, October 19), Bayern Munich (A, October 22)
Baba Rahman returned to the Schalke starting XI and slotted in at left-back, but Schalke could only manage a 1-1 draw against Augsburg.
Upcoming fixtures: FC Krasnodar (A, October 20), FSV Mainz (H, October 23)
SPAIN:
A trip to the Vicente Calderon was what awaited new Granada manager, Lucas Alcaraz as his first assignment and it seemed to be going according to plan for the first 40 minutes, which saw Granada sneak a surprise lead through Isaac Cuenca, which Yannick Carrasco matched in the 34th minute. After the equaliser, however, Granada totally lost the plot, and ended up 7-1 losers. Victorien Angban and Jeremie Boga were both restored to the match-day squad, with Angban playing 64 minutes but Boga remaining on the bench.
Upcoming fixtures: Sporting Gijon (H, October 22)
Charly Musonda, on his 20th birthday, was an unused substitute as Real Betis hosted Real Madrid and lost 6-1.
Upcoming fixtures: Osasuna (A, October 21)
THE NETHERLANDS:
Maikel van der Werff sustained an injury in training, leading to Matt Miazga finally getting his first start in a Vitesse shirt, versus fifth-placed AZ Alkmaar. Miazga started alongside captain Guram Kashia in defence; Lewis Baker also started while Nathan was an unused substitute. Vitesse got off to a flying start via none other than Baker, who scored his sixth goal of the season with yet another excellent free-kick. Ricky van Wolfswinkel added a second from the penalty spot in the 58th minute. Vitesse seemed to be heading towards a well-earned three points but suffered an inexplicable collapse in the final ten minutes, seeing two Robert Muhren attempts find the back of the net. The game ended 2-2, but at least Miazga turned in a relatively solid defensive performance overall.
Upcoming fixtures: NEC Nijmegen (A, October 23)
Danilo Pantic was sent off in Excelsior’s previous game and hence missed their fixture this weekend.
Upcoming fixtures: PEC Zwolle (H, October 21)
Bertrand Traore started on the right wing again for Ajax, and made up for an early miss by scoring his third goal of the season with a first-touch finish from Amin Younes’ through ball. It was also his team’s second, as they beat ADO Den Haag 2-0.
⚽ GOAL 0-2 Bertrand Traore. #ajax #adoaja pic.twitter.com/fzNJuVuFj0
— Planeet Ajax (@planeetajax) October 16, 2016
Upcoming fixtures: Celta Vigo (A, October 20), Feyenoord (A, October 23)
OTHERS:
Matej Delac started for Royal Mouscron in their 2-2 draw against Genk. Islam Feruz was an unused substitute.
Cristian Cuevas was un-involved for STVV.
Kenneth Omeruo started for Alanyaspor and impressed in the 1-1 draw against Fenerbache.
Mario Pasalic was an unused substitue for Milan, although some progress is perhaps being made off the pitch, judging by the words of his manager.
Montella: "Pasalic is improving a lot physically. I see him getting better, he is a player with important features."
— Milan Fans (@MilanEye) October 15, 2016
Wallace was an unused substitute for Gremio, while Joao Rodriguez continues to be absolutely uninvolved for Santa Fe.
On a slight tangent, I must say it’s absolutely wonderful to see two long-time loanees, Nathaniel Chalobah and Victor Moses, especially the latter, stepping up to contribute to the first team this season. Hopefully, they won’t be the last ones to do so.