Sunderland loan report: New position for Leon Dajaku, surprise stalemate for Jay Matete

How did the Sunderland players who are out on loan get on for their clubs over the weekend?

Sunderland couldn't get themselves a win against Bristol City at Saturday, but how did the five players who are out on loan get on?

Well, in truth, they fared about the same as Sunderland did - at best. None of them managed to win and one of them didn't get to play at all. 

So, let's have a closer look at how they did while Sunderland were battling Bristol City. 

Bailey benched

Bailey Wright has had a bit of a rollercoaster start to life at Rotherham, by his own admission.

His debut ended after 30 seconds due to concussion and he had to wait until his third game for his first start.

He was dropped to the bench this weekend for the 2-0 home defeat to Coventry, so it may not have been the best decision.

It may be that boss Matty Taylor did that to avoid having to chop and change his defence too much, though. Wright can’t play Rotherham’s next game, which is obviously against Sunderland, so it saved him an enforced change in midweek.

Frustration for Matete

Jay Matete played the whole game in the centre of midfield for Plymouth as their League One promotion charge stumbled a little.

The Pilgrims were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Fleetwood, although it’s hardly a disaster for them as they have a commanding lead over the teams in the play-off places.

In fact, despite the disappointing result they are still eight points clear of third-placed Ipswich, so I doubt they will be losing too much sleep over it.

Diamond draws a blank

Another Sunderland loanee who was frustrated this weekend was Jack Diamond, who played the full match as Lincoln drew 0-0 against Portsmouth.

Diamond was the pick of the Imps’ attack, but they could not find a way past a stubborn Portsmouth defence.

That defence didn’t include former Sunderland full-back Denver Hume, though. He wasn’t involved at all for the away side.

New role for Leon

Leon Dajaku is getting plenty of starts for FC St Gallen, which is just what Sunderland wanted, although he isn’t really getting much in terms of positional consistency.

Sunderland see him as a winger, yet St Gallen have used him mainly as a striker so far. That changed again this weekend, with him played in an attacking central midfield position against Luzern.

He didn’t have an especially productive game, with a booking about all he had to show for his 66 minutes on the pitch in the 2-2 draw.

He did create the most dribbles (3) of any player on the pitch, though, which is something.

Winchester still struggling

It’s still not really going well for Carl Winchester, who seems to be just playing out the season at Shrewsbury without much going on.

He started against Accrington in central midfield but was hauled off at half-time as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat.

Winchester, who is a nice player on the ball, continues to be a bit out of his element in Steve Cotterill’s direct team that often bypasses the midfield. He completed just 11 passes during his time on the pitch.

It seems a bit of a shame as we know how good Winchester can be at League One level, but never mind. I'm sure he'll find something better suited to him in the summer if he's not happy where he is. Probably with Lee Johnson somewhere, I suspect. 

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