Grabara’s contrasting fortunes & Ejaria’s full-blooded comeback – Liverpool FC Loan Watch

December 16, 2019
Ben Twelves

Kamil Grabara went from hero to zero at Huddersfield on what was a weekend of frustratingly little game time for Liverpool’s loanees.

This was one of the least rewarding spells of the season for Jurgen Klopp’s borrowed Reds, as just five loanees featured.

Injury ruled Harry Wilson and Ben Woodburn out of action, while Rhys Williams had no game and Nat Phillips is set to play on Monday night for Stuttgart.

More worryingly, three Reds were not picked at all: Taiwo Awoniyi an unused sub while Sheyi Ojo and Anderson Arroyo were left out of matchday involvement completely.

It all meant only five Reds played and it wasn’t the most successful period—as Grabara will know more than anyone…

Another big test looming for Grabara…

The Polish ‘keeper started the week in top form, as he kept a first clean sheet for six Championship games with a solid display in Huddersfield’s vital 1-0 win at Charlton in midweek.

But it didn’t end quite so positively, as Grabara followed that fine work with a game-changing, costly mistakes on Saturday.

An unfortunate error from the 20-year-old resulted in two points being dropped in a 1-1 draw at Wigan, where victory would have been priceless against relegation-battling rivals.

Grabara gifted Wigan the lead when his poor clearance landed straight at the feet of Latics striker Josh Windass, who controlled and finished to ruthlessly punish the mishap.

A second-half equaliser from Karlan Grant went some way to bailing out the young Red, as the Terriers at least earned a point.

Pleasingly, Huddersfield boss Danny Cowley took a pragmatic and mature view of his goalkeeper’s misfortune when speaking after the game to the Yorkshire Post:

“Kamil’s a young boy, he’s going to make mistakes—as most young goalkeepers do—and he’ll learn from it.

“He’s going to be a top goalkeeper but if he wasn’t going to make those mistakes he would still be at Liverpool.

“Liverpool have rightly sent him here to make those mistakes and he’ll be better for it.”

Such a measured assessment from Cowley is refreshing, and hopefully he will show faith in the Poland under-21 captain and give him a chance to bounce back.

Grabara has done it once already this season after a similarly high-profile error, and the loanee will have to show the same maturity and mental toughness to get back on track again.

A quiet weekend for the remaining four Reds…

It certainly was not a weekend to remember for the goalkeeping union.

Loris Karius also endured a frustrating outing as Besiktas were unable to keep their unbeaten run going, suffering a first Super Lig defeat in nine games with a 2-0 loss to Yeni Malatyaspor.

In Germany, Marko Grujic continued his good form as Jurgen Klinsmann earned his first victory as Hertha Berlin boss with a 1-0 win over Freiburg—in which the Serbian played the full 90 minutes.

Two Reds were in action on home soil.

Ovie Ejaria was back from injury and straight back in Reading’s starting XI for two games this week.

Surprisingly, after three games out, Ejaria played all 90 minutes of both matches on his return to action as the Royals were held to successive draws by Barnsley and Stoke.

Finally, Liam Millar enjoyed a rare outing in his natural striker position for Kilmarnock but was unable to end his 14-game goal drought as his side went down 1-0 to Ross County.