Liverpool Loan Watch: February 2020

Welcome to the sixth part of my series of monthly articles; tracking the progress of Liverpool’s loanees for the 2019/20 season. This is an ongoing series which will hopefully help keep fans up to date on how our players are getting on at their temporary homes. The club has fifteen players on loan, and this series will follow their campaigns closely, and assess which of the loaned players are likely to have a future at Anfield. This series was something I enjoyed writing last season, and hopefully we will see players have similar successes to those that were out on loan last season.

If you didn’t catch my January piece, you can find it here: http://fanscorners.com/liverpool-loan-watch-january-2019/

Let’s see how they got on in February…

Marko Grujic – Hertha Berlin

Grujic was rested for Hertha’s DFB Cup clash with Schalke and stayed on the bench as his team exited the competition, losing 3-2. He suffered badly in their league defeat against Mainz, being hooked at half-time after an uncharacteristically poor performance. As a result of this, he was an unused substitute for their 2-1 win at SC Paderborn. The Serb was back in the lineup for the next fixture at home to FC Koln and despite putting in an okay display, his team were humbled 5-0 in an appalling result. Grujic was dropped for the next fixture, away at Fortuna Dusseldorf, and didn’t come on from the bench either as his side drew 3-3.

Rhian Brewster – Swansea City

Brewster made an excellent start to February by tapping home a nice Swansea move to equalise at Preston and earned man of the match for an impressive all-round display full of work and winning his battles. He had another good game at home to Derby County, linking play well and having a big impact in the Swans’ second goal, scored by Kyle Naughton. However, Swansea went down 3-2 to Phillip Cocu’s side, who picked up only their second away win of the season. The striker had to feed off scraps in Swansea’s goalless draw at home with QPR, receiving very little service. Despite starting a clash away at Hull City on the bench, Brewster came on to score what he thought would be the winning goal, scoring acrobatically to put the Swans 4-3 in front late on, before Tom Eaves equalised for Hull in injury time in a staggering Championship game. It was another impressive outing for Brewster as Swansea beat Huddersfield 3-1. Brewster could’ve had a goal but for an excellent Jonas Lossl save, though played a great pass to assist the Swans’ third. Swansea were excellent in defeat at Fulham, Brewster again working hard at Craven Cottage without reward. The Welshmen were in sight of the playoffs at Ewood Park before conceding very late on to Blackburn to draw 2-2. Despite missing a chance in the first half, Brewster made up for it by scoring with a great strike to level the scores at 1-1 and continued his good form with a very positive performance.

Nathaniel Phillips – Vfb Stuttgart

The defender played the full 90 in Stuttgart’s 1-1 draw with St Pauli, who are under the management of former Sheffield Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay. German legend Mario Gomez scored an equaliser for Phillips’ side late on. Despite a valiant effort against Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, Phillips outing in the DFB cup ended in defeat, losing 2-1. The centre-back got an assist after winning the first ball from a corner, and his pass was tapped in by Daniel Didavi for Stuttgart’s first goal in a 3-0 win over Erzgebirge. He helped his side to another clean sheet as they defeated 1848 Bochum 1-0 away from home, cementing their top 3 place. Phillips was part of a back three that continued their good form with a 2-0 win over Regensburg. However, they ended the month negatively with a 2-0 loss to Greuther Furth.

Ovie Ejaria – Reading

Reading’s first game in February was an FA Cup replay with Cardiff, which they won on penalties after an exciting 3-3 draw, though Ejaria wasn’t involved in the game. He certainly was involved in the Championship fixture at home with Hull, showing some beautiful touches of skill and coming close to scoring on three occasions as the sides played out a 1-1 draw. The Royals were narrowly beaten 2-1 by table-topping West Brom, with Ejaria producing a beautiful backheel to create space early in the game, though overall had no impact on the match and frustrated once again. The midfielder was back to his absolute best against Sheffield Wednesday though, running the show from the middle of the park. Ejaria assisted Reading’s first goal, picking the ball up from deep and spotting the run of Yakou Meite, splitting the Wednesday defence with a precise pass for the striker to finish. He could’ve scored a goal of his own when Cameron Dawson saved his shot in possibly his best performance of the season as Reading thumped a struggling Wednesday 3-0 at Hillsborough. Ejaria unfortunately picked up a groin injury in the warm-up at Elland Road, meaning he missed the 1-0 defeat to Marcelo Bielsa’s team. He was back in for the home game with Wigan but put in arguably his worst performance in a Reading shirt so far, struggling out on the left wing. He was much better in a central position though as the Royals comfortably beat Barnsley 2-0 at home.

Sheyi Ojo – Rangers

Rangers’ poor run of form continued as they drew 0-0 with Aberdeen in a dour performance, with Ojo coming off the bench but having no effect. The winger was then left out of the matchday squad as Rangers came from behind to beat Hibernian 2-1 at Ibrox, Ianis Hagi scoring on his debut. Hagi’s arrival has left Ojo’s place in the squad under even more threat and this was further evidenced when he was once again left out of the matchday squad for Rangers’ comfortable win at Hamilton in the Scottish Cup as well as their league defeat to Kilmarnock. This continued as he didn’t make the 17 for the narrow win over Livingston or the fabulous comeback win against Braga in the Europa League, though he did at least make the bench as Rangers drew 2-2 with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Ojo had a positive contribution towards the end of the game as Rangers brilliantly won 1-0 away at Braga to secure a place in the last 16 of the Europa League for the first time since 2011, winning a few duels and working hard defensively as Rangers saw out the win in Portugal.

Herbie Kane – Hull City

Kane was brought off the bench for Hull’s first game without Jarrod Bowen or Kamil Grosicki and the Tigers were thrashed 5-1 at home by Brentford, courtesy of a hat-trick from the wonderful Said Benhrama. Kane got 23 minutes but could not turn the tide. We were robbed of a Liverpool loanee derby as injury kept Kane out of the Championship clash with Ovie Ejaria’s Reading. This injury turned out to be an ankle injury which Grant McCann confirmed is likely to see Kane miss the rest of the season in a terrible blow for the club and the player. Hull were then beaten 3-0 at Blackburn before drawing 4-4 with Swansea in a sensational game. The Tigers’ poor form continued with a 2-1 loss at playoff-chasing Preston in their next game. Two more defeats followed at home – 1-0 to Barnsley and 4-0 to Leeds.

Isaac Christie-Davies – Cercle Brugge

There was no involvement for Isaac Christie-Davies in a 1-0 loss to Eupen early in the month due to a knee injury, which also kept him out of their games with Mechelen and St Truiden. His side moved off the bottom of the league with a win away at Royal Excel Mouscron.

Ben Woodburn – Oxford United

February was all about Woodburn stepping up his recovery from injury. Oxford defeated Blackpool 2-1 in an entertaining contest to start the month before scaring Premier League Newcastle in an FA Cup replay, though Steve Bruce’s side went through in extra-time. They were batted by automatic promotion-chasing Peterborough 4-0 and then drew 2-2 with Burton Albion before losing 1-0 at home to a resurgent Sunderland team. They bounced back well with a 5-0 thumping of Wimbledon and a highly impressive 1-0 win away at pre-season favourites Ipswich Town. They finished February with a 3-0 win against Accrington and a 2-1 win over Southend.

Harry Wilson – Bournemouth

Wilson put in a good performance as Bournemouth defeated Carabao Cup finalists Aston Villa 2-1 at home in a much-needed win in the relegation scrap. I then got to see Wilson live at Bramall Lane as his side fell to a 2-1 defeat against the hugely impressive Sheffield United. I was interested to see how much Wilson finds himself on the ball and his running off-the-ball, which was certainly better than I expected. Wilson was at the centre of a bizarre and controversial incident in Bournemouth’s game at Turf Moor. The ball struck Adam Smith’s body in Bournemouth’s box but nothing was given, before Bournemouth then countered down the other end and Callum Wilson played the ball through to his namesake Harry, who nudged the ball under Nick Pope and celebrated his goal, which was the equaliser at 1-1. However, VAR then ruled out the goal, going back to the incident involving Smith, and awarded a Burnley penalty for an adjudged handball. The Cherries ended up losing 3-0 and the rest of the day, perhaps unsurprisingly, didn’t go well for Wilson and he was subbed with 15 minutes left. Wilson was an unused sub in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea as Bournemouth came from behind to earn a point.

Kamil Grabara – Huddersfield Town

Grabara’s serious head injury kept him out of Huddersfield’s first few fixtures of the month, starting with a 3-2 loss at Fulham. There was positive news as he was well enough to attend their 2-0 home win over QPR, with manager Danny Cowley revealing that he could be back sooner than expected. Huddersfield were comfortably beaten 3-0 at home to Cardiff in their next fixture before bagging a late equaliser to peg back Derby County at Pride Park in a 1-1 draw. Grabara’s injury meant that there was no loanee derby as Huddersfield travelled to Rhian Brewster’s Swansea City, where they were defeated 3-1. Huddersfield recorded an impressive 2-1 win over playoff-chasing Bristol City and a 4-0 thrashing of Charlton at home to ease their relegation fears.

Loris Karius – Besiktas

Besiktas and Karius started the month well, winning 2-1 away at Rizespor, the German goalkeeper starting and helping Besiktas hold on to the win. His seventh clean sheet of the season came as Besiktas comfortably beat Gaziantep 3-0, with former Sunderland winger Jeremain Lens among the goals. Karius’ team were beaten 1-0 by Istanbul with Liverpool nemesis Demba Ba on the scoresheet. His next game was a 2-2 draw with Daniel Sturridge’s Trabzonspor, in which former Crystal Palace striker Alexander Sorloth scored twice. The month ended more positively for Karius though, starting in a 2-1 win away at Alanyaspor. Reports emerged that Besiktas are unlikely to buy Karius in the summer, which means that Liverpool and Karius will need to look for alternative potential suitors.

Anderson Arroyo – Mlada Boleslav

Arroyo is still waiting to make his first appearance for Czech side Mlada Boleslav.

Daniel Atherton – Marine FC

Atherton’s second game for Marine was a 1-0 win away at Ossett United (incidentally the first football ground I ever visited), keeping his first clean sheet for the Merseyside club. Marine then defeated Widnes 5-2 in a superb game of football, Atherton starting again. His second clean sheet for Marine came as they ruthlessly took apart Droylsden away from home, winning 7-0, with Atherton being praised for keeping the opponents scoreless. There was no such luck when they travelled to Trafford though, where they were beaten 2-0. They finished the month positively with a 3-1 win over Droylsden, Atherton performing well.

Taiwo Awoniyi – Mainz 05

Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi didn’t make a single matchday squad in February as speculation fuelled about the possibility of his loan being terminated.

Rhys Williams – Kidderminster Harriers

Rhys Williams returned from suspension to play a part in an excellent 1-0 win away at Kings Lynn for his side, before again starting as his team drew 1-1 with Darlington. Williams helped his team to a clean sheet as they won 1-0 at Farsley Celtic, before keeping another in a 0-0 draw with Gateshead. There was no such luck when they took on York City though, narrowly losing 1-0 in a hard-fought contest as Williams made his 25^th appearance of the campaign.

Thanks for reading my loan watch, I hope you enjoyed it. See you again for March’s report!

Daniel (@daykind19)

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Daniel Daykin

A non-biased voice of reason among fellow Liverpool fans. I'll always tell you the truth, no matter how hard you find it to accept. I miss Suarez. A lot.

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