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Though the numbers decreased slightly with the returns of Michael Ngoo and Joao Teixeira from their respective loans at Yeovil Town and Brentford, Liverpool still have quite a few players spending portions of the season elsewhere, mostly getting regular time in their temporary squads' first teams. A few noteworthy events this weekend for them, and a chance to get reacquainted to get the week up and running.
We have to start in the Northeast, where Fabio Borini hit a stunning winner in the Tyne-Wear derby. The Italian striker hasn't played a ton of minutes at Sunderland to this point, and their struggles have meant that he's experienced little success in the time he has earned. Sunday was a different story, however, and in the 84th minute he gathered a heavy touch from Jozy Altidore and unleashed an unstoppable strike past Tim Krul. The Stadium of Light exploded, Fabio Borini exploded, and your heart should have too. Hopefully this helps him kick on for the rest of the season, and that he returns to Liverpool next season ready to make an impact.
Video by LFCmostar
Not quite as exciting was the Derby County debut for Andre Wisdom, who got the start in his first match under Steve McLaren. The match ended in a draw, but the young defender was named Man of the Match for his efforts. Of slight concern is the fact that he featured at right-back rather than in central defense, though that's not necessarily an indication of where he'll play regularly, with McLaren noting that Wisdom can fill a number of defensive duties. For his part, Wisdom was slightly disappointed with his role in the Birmingham equalizer, but pleased overall:
"We were happy with the performance - we just wanted a better result. Scoring a goal just before half-time sent us into the changing room with enthusiasm and we thought we could go on and score more - but, obviously, that wasn't the case here and they equalised."
"I'll hold my hands up and say I could have possibly done better with their goal Our first thought was that is was offside, because it was from the second phase of play. But that's all part of the learning experience, which is what I'm here for."
Final note comes from Spain, where Suso had started every La Liga match for struggling Almeria. He'd have likely been set for the eleven on their trip to San Sebastian--which the visitors lost 3-0--were it not for illness. He ended up getting left behind but will hopefully be back to full health when they make a midweek trip to Valencia still in search of their first win of the season.
For everyone whos asking im not playing today as I've been sick for two days. Ill support the team today and best of luck to the boys
— suso30fernandez (@suso30fernandez) October 27, 2013
There's others, of course, with Pepe Reina keeping another clean sheet for Napoli, Krisztian Adorjan starting again for Groningen, Jack Robinson giving away a penalty and getting sent off later for Blackpool, and Conor Coady making a substitute appearance in Sheffield United's win over Crewe Alexandria. Oussama Assaidi increasingly goes the way of the Pacheco for Mark Hughes and Stoke City.