Chelsea Loan Round-up: Chalobah scores, Gallagher continues to impress

ENGLAND:

Conor Gallagher was one of the most notable performers of the weekend yet again, having not only scored for Charlton in their 2-2 draw against Barnsley, but also winning their equalising penalty. The 19-year-old evidently impacted the result in a huge manner but had a rather quiet game outside of the two aforementioned involvements. Last week he was played as an attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, whereas on Saturday Lee Bowyer reverted to his frequently-used 4-4-2 diamond shape with Gallagher in the midfield two. Barnsley dominated midfield possession, and that’s not to say Gallagher was wasteful with the ball but his impact was all too fleeting and inconsistent.

“I’m buzzing.

“The most important thing is to get the points on the board and to know that I’m helping out is the main thing, but I’m buzzing to get another goal and I just hope that I can carry that on.

“I try to make it into the box as much as possible and scoring is something I want to do in my career. Obviously, you need the players around you to help you do that and, at Charlton, there are a lot of good players. The most important thing is to get as many points for the team and, hopefully, I can score a few more goals.”

“We were hoping to come away with all three points,” he said.

“But with the way the game went, we were happy to get the late goal at the end and get the point. We had chances to win the game, but going down twice and coming back, you have to take the draw and it’s a good point.”

“I wanted to play in the Championship and Charlton had just got promoted so I wanted to play a big part in the team and I felt like I could do that here.

“I heard what (manager) Lee Bowyer was like and how he is with his players and I’ve already seen it how he is with me. He’s already taught me a lot and it’s only been two weeks. He’s a great manager and I think he’ll help me a lot this season.”

- Conor Gallagher; source: Charlton Athletic FC

Gallagher also started in a midweek 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest, completing 90 minutes and looking superb in the first half. He was chasing down lost possession at every opportunity, progressing play with his passes and making some driving runs through midfield. Gallagher even had a hand in Charlton’s goal, threading through a pass for Jonathan Leko down the right, who then crossed for Lyle Taylor to finish. The 19-year-old seemed to tire a little as the game wore on but unsurprisingly so, given these are his first weeks in senior football.

Trevoh Chalobah played most of the second half in Huddersfield Town’s 1-2 loss to Fulham, replacing Juninho Bacuna and proving to be an instant upgrade despite a couple of sloppy moments. That might speak more about Bacuna’s form itself, but make no mistake that Chalobah cuts a much more defensively dominant, confident figure than in an Ipswich Town shirt last season. He started the Terriers’ next game against Cardiff, which was also a 2-1 loss but Trev was easily his team’s best player and also scored their only goal of the game, striking with his weaker foot from distance.

It was among the best I’ve seen Chalobah play. In a midfield two alongside captain Jonathan Hogg, rather than a lone holding role, he was exuding composure on the ball and intelligence off it. Sadly his teammates weren’t up to the same standard and Trev felt some cramps in the second half but you can rest assured he’ll be a big player for Huddersfield this season.

Luke McCormick played 60 minutes in each of Shrewsbury Town’s last two games, a 2-3 win against Accrington Stanley and a 0-0 draw against Rochdale where he played as an attacking midfielder as opposed to his usual box-to-box role. Unfortunately, a dead leg means McCormick will miss Shrewsbury’s next match.

Izzy Brown had a couple of cameos for Luton last weekend against West Brom, and then against Sheffield Wednesday, playing just over an hour combined. In both, he was lively but didn’t create any clear-cut chances or score.

Jake Clarke-Salter, Josh Grant and Richard Nartey were unused substitutes for Birmingham City, Plymouth Argyle and Burton Albion last weekend. Clarke-Salter wasn’t even in the 18 for Birmingham’s midweek fixture due to a slight knock and Grant maintained status quo but Nartey was brought on in the 80th minute of Burton Albion’s 2-4 win against Oxford United for his debut.

Jacob Maddox is yet to make his debut for Tranmere Rovers.

Danny Drinkwater and Dujon Sterling were not involved for Burnley and Wigan Athletic, with Sterling battling some minor fitness concerns.

Matt Miazga was imperious in Reading’s 3-0 win against Cardiff City. After a poor start to the season, Jose Gomes’ switch to a 3-5-2 formation from 4-2-3-1 worked wonders and saw the Royals seal their first win of the season in convincing fashion. Miazga also played the entirety of their midweek 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion. <watch back>

GERMANY:

Lewis Baker looked right at home in the Bundesliga, playing in a deep midfield pivot with USA international, Alfredo Morales for Fortuna Dusseldorf. Fortuna’s season-opener was against Werder Bremen, upon whom the onus was to actively create chances with Baker’s team willing to soak up pressure and attack on the counter. A large part of Baker’s role involved winning the ball back and pressing opposition players close to his own penalty area and he was as good as one can remember in this regard. Looking almost born-again, the 24-year-old was markedly determined off the ball and helped relieve the pressure when in possession. He even had a hand in one of Fortuna’s 3 goals in the 3-1 win, with his accurate long-ball into the penalty area laid off for Kenan Karaman to tuck away.

Ethan Ampadu was on the bench for RB Leipzig - so we know he’s recovered from his muscular problem at the very least - but didn’t get off it.

THE NETHERLANDS:

Ike Ugbo played his first minutes for Roda JC in the Eerste Divisie, coming on as a half-time sub for Ba-Muaka Simakala, another young attacker. Unfortunately, Roda’s 2-0 deficit against Volendam at half-time only worsened, ultimately ending 4-0 with Ugbo playing left-wing and not impacting proceedings much.

Charly Musonda Jr. played the last half-hour of Vitesse’s 3-0 win against PEC Zwolle and put in a very promising display, misplacing only 1 of his 25 passes and completing 4/4 dribbles, which was the highest in the match. Leonid Slutsky seems keen on easing Charly back in following a very lengthy injury lay-off, and the indications thus far were that his patience will reap its rewards. However, Musonda left training with an injury ahead of Vitesse’s clash against Heracles, where he was set to start. Hopefully it’s not too serious.

TURKEY:

Victor Moses, playing as a right-winger in a 4-2-3-1, had a very interesting start to the Turkish Super Lig season, to say the least. Not only did he miss a penalty after converting another minutes earlier, but he also assisted Nabil Dirar’s goal which was the fourth in Fenerbahce’s 5-0 rout of Gazisehir Gaziantep FK.

BRAZIL:

Nathan played the second half of Atletico MG’s 1-0 loss to his former club, Atletico Paranaense. He was then an unused substitute as they defeated La Equidad 2-1 in the Copa Sudamericana.