Chelsea Loan Round-up: February 6 - 12

ENGLAND:

Kurt Zouma was sent off after the final whistle in Everton’s 1-0 loss to Watford but his time on the pitch deserves plaudits, as it was an aerially dominant display from the center-back. He was arguably Everton’s best defender on the day but will now have to sit out of their next fixture.

Kenedy didn’t make it off the bench in Newcastle’s 1-1 draw against Wolves. His poor form was addressed by Rafa Benitez in his pre-match presser, though, and this is what he had to say about the misfiring winger.

“Each year is different.

“At the beginning, he was taking some time to settle down here again – they had another baby, so it was taking some time and now he has to start again.

“Kenedy was another player who was training well this week. Everybody could see his potential, so this year, he has to reach his level again and he’s working trying to do that. We will see if we can give him his chance.”

“Yes. He has the potential – we have seen that, so it is not someone telling you (he has potential). We have seen here how good he is, and he has to go back to his level.”

“Yes. [Loan player technical coach] Paulo Ferreira, who normally follows players on loan, he was here and we have been talking and when we were there, we were talking with them.

“They know he is not playing at the same level because they can see him when he comes on the pitch.

“We have had a lot of conversations and watching videos and talking with him and the people close too him to be sure that he is focused. We are trying to do our best and he is training well now, so we will see.”

- Rafa Benitez; source: Chronicle Live

Michy Batshuayi replaced Christian Benteke in the 60th minute of Crystal Palace’s 1-1 draw against West Ham. He didn’t score (Zaha did) but Roy Hodgson seemed pleased with his impact off the bench.

“[Batshuayi needs to] keep doing what he’s doing, I thought his performance was good,” said the manager.

”He was looking to get shots away and, in his brief period of time on the field, he probably had five or six shots. He was certainly working hard to get behind the defence which is what we want from him, we want him getting into those positions. We want him to be confident enough to take on those shots.

- Roy Hodgson; source: Tribal Football

Tammy Abraham didn’t receive too much service from his midfield for majority of their Friday night fixture against Sheffield United but managed to capitalise on a goalkeeping error from Manchester United loanee, Dean Henderson, to score his 20th goal of the campaign.

A Billy Sharp hat-trick saw the Blades lead 3-0 after 62 minutes played but a stunning quick-fire three goals in the space of eight minutes meant that Villa salvaged a point. Tammy’s already at the 20-goal mark and there are at least fifteen games he’s left to play, barring injury. Can he breach Glenn Murray’s recent record of 30 goals in 2012/13?

Michael Hector and Matt Miazga played every minute of Sheffield Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Reading, while Lewis Baker was substituted after 72 minutes. Baker had one good opportunity to score and almost set Sone Aluko up to do the same, while Miazga was comfortable as ever; the former NYRB man’s introduction to the XI has seen Reading keep consecutive clean sheets for the first time in over two years. Hector played a part in what was nearly a last-gasp winner for Wednesday, playing the ball out to Liam Palmer in space on the right, who crossed to Adam Reach but he wasn’t able to finish from close-range.

In another clash of Chelsea loanees, Fikayo Tomori and Todd Kane squared off as Derby triumphed over Hull City courtesy of a double from Martyn Waghorn. Tomori was once again, very good, alongside Richard Keogh and has now helped the Rams to three clean sheets in a row. Kane didn’t get forward much, as he was kept amply busy by the combination of Scott Malone and Florian Jozefzoon. Mason Mount was out injured but is recovering sooner than his prognosis suggested, it should be another 12-14 days at most before he’s back.

Izzy Brown finally made the Leeds squad at Middlesbrough but didn’t get off the bench.

Reece James played for Wigan in central midfield again, this time alongside Everton loanee, Beni Baningime. It was a tough outing against a very direct Rotherham side at the New York Stadium but the youngster acquitted himself well nevertheless and would’ve learned a lot from this - that being said, he was still among their best performers on the day. He should be back at right-back in their next game, as captain Samy Morsy will return from suspension.

Trevoh Chalobah lasted the entire East Anglia Derby, in which Ipswich lost 3-0. He was, at times, the main driving force from midfield and looked to be one of the only players to make things happen but also conceded a couple of costly turnovers.

Bristol City kept themselves in 6th place on goal difference with a 0-1 win against Blackburn Rovers. Jay Dasilva and Tomas Kalas started, while Kasey Palmer was a 73rd minute substitute. Dasilva in particular, was quite impressive and is now keeping his England Under-21 teammate Lloyd Kelly out of the side on a regular basis.

Dujon Sterling was his usual, solid self in Coventry’s 0-1 win against Rochdale.

There was another clean sheet for Bradley Collins, as Burton defeated West-Ham-vanquishers, AFC Wimbledon, 0-2.

Jacob Maddox started as Cheltenham Town played their postponed fixture against Yeovil Town on Tuesday night and won 1-0; he had a couple of decent strikes on goal as always. Nathan Baxter was very curiously dropped from the XI, and Josh Grant remained out due to injury.

Maddox was a 72nd-minute substitute in Saturday’s 3-0 loss against Colchester United, while the statuses of Baxter and Grant for Yeovil, remained unchanged.

Karlo Ziger was not involved for Sutton United, and Jack Wakely was missing in action for Basingstoke Town due to injury.

GERMANY:

Christian Pulisic earned a rare start for Dortmund in the DFB Pokal, versus Werder Bremen. Pulisic scored a crucial goal in the 105th minute to put Dortmund up 2-1, finishing a swift one-two with Paco Alcacer but the score by the end of extra time was 3-3. Die Borussen could not convert more than two out of four penalties, however, owing to misses from Alacer and Maximilian Philipp, and crashed out of the tournament. Pulisic showed class when it mattered the most for his team and was solid, for the lack of a better word, otherwise. He didn’t pull up any trees but was nowhere near bad, either.

ITALY:

Tiemoue Bakayoko played yet another impressive 90 minutes in the red-and-black of AC Milan against Cagliari.

Lucas Piazon made his Serie A debut, replacing Perparim Hetemaj in the 59th minute but couldn’t help his team score to reduce a three-goal deficit against AS Roma. It was an unimpressive cameo for the attacker but his manager absolved him of any blame in his post-match comments, claiming that it was always going to be difficult for Piazon to adjust, having only been in Verona only 10 days.

Ola Aina won Torino their clash with Udinese, scoring the only goal of the game in the 34th minute; Aina rushed into the box to meet Cristian Ansaldi’s cross with a header a forward would be proud of.

Mario Pasalic was a 78th-minute substitute for Atalanta, who continued their 8-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 win against SPAL.

FRANCE:

Victorien Angban played the whole of Metz’s 0-1 loss to Orleans in the Coupe de France. He was then a 77th-minute substitute in their goalless draw against Lens.

With current starting left-back for Reims, Hassane Kamara, doing well, Baba Rahman spent another game watching from the bench.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Fankaty Dabo was brought on for the injured Janne Saksela in the 23rd minute and saw Sparta Rotterdam’s 0-3 loss to Twente out at right wing-back.

Jake Clarke-Salter and Eduardo started for Vitesse as per usual, but the center-back was at fault for the first of two FC Groningen goals with some weak marking, in the eventual 2-1 loss.

SPAIN:

Kenneth Omeruo played an impressive 90 minutes for Leganes in a 3-0 win against Real Betis.

Alvaro Morata played 71 minutes against cross-city rivals Real Madrid, with Thibaut Courtois in goal, and put a superb chip past him but it was disallowed. You can read all about the game here.

Josimar Quintero played about 3 minutes in Lleida Esportiu’s 0-0 stalemate against UE Cornella.

TURKEY:

Victor Moses was a half-time substitute for Fenerbahce after the dismissal of Roberto Soldado. He didn’t have the same impact as in his previous appearances, with Fener losing 1-0 to Kayerispor.

BELGIUM:

Kylian Hazard was introduced in the 62nd minute, as Cercle Brugge found themselves trailing 1-2 to Club Brugge. They equalised five minutes later (and the score then remained that way), but Kylian didn’t anything to do with it.

SERBIA:

Partizan Beograd, and Danilo Pantic with them, will resume their regular season on Saturday.

BRAZIL:

Nathan played the latter half of Atletico Mineiro’s 0-1 win over Caldense.

NORTHERN IRELAND:

Jared Thompson kept a clean sheet in the Irish Cup as Warrenpoint Town beat Queen’s University 2-0.