After the international break, club football resumed, and Liverpool’s loanees were back in action—two even played one another.
Nat Phillips and Fabio Carvalho, two of Liverpool’s most well-known out-on-loan players, both contributed over the weekend, but neither played the entire game.
Despite being forced to leave the field at halftime of Celtic’s 3-0 victory over Dundee, Phillips’ gameday was more encouraging.
Brendan Rodgers, Nat’s manager at Celtic, said to BBC Sportsround: “Nat just rolled his ankle right in the last action of the first half so we wanted to just protect him and make sure he’s OK and available for Tuesday.”
None of his teammates from back at Anfield will be playing in the Champions League away to Feyenoord on Tuesday, so Rodgers believes he will be healthy enough to do so.
During his 45 minutes on the field, Phillips faced up against fellow Liverpool loanee Owen Beck.
The left-back from Liverpool has started every game for Dundee this season and has already played for 90 minutes eight times.
This season, Carvalho should appear in Europe’s top tournament as well, but he will first need to prove himself worthy of a berth on the team.
He has only played 44 minutes in five games while at RB Leipzig so far, including Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Augsburg.
Manager Marco Rose gave him 25 minutes to make a good impression.
Sepp van den Berg started a third straight game for Mainz in the Bundesliga, but they fell to Wataru Endo’s former team, Stuttgart, 3-1.
Locally, Tyler Morton made an excellent first impression for Hull on his debut, coming off the bench to help rescue a 1-1 draw against Coventry, and setting up Aaron Connolly for a late equalizing header with a deft ball.
Morton is “not at all up to full fitness,” his manager Liam Rosenior acknowledged after the game, but he told the Hull Daily Mail: “I thought he was great when he came on.
He “demonstrated so many touches of class and quality, kept us on our toes, was brave, and he showed exactly why we worked so hard to bring him to the club.”
The Wirralian “turned down a lot of clubs to” move to Hull, according to Rosenior.
Billy Koumetio’s debut went less well because he was benched during his first game for USL Dunkerque.
The defender received a second yellow card of the game in the 52nd minute as his team drew 0-0 with the opposition.
While James Norris made his league debut for Tranmere, goalkeepers Harvey Davies and Luke Hewitson made 90-minute appearances for Crewe and Stalybridge Celtic, respectively.
