West Ham Weekly Loan Watch

Josh Cullen

The Irish 21-year-old spent the international break captaining the Ireland U21s and came back to Bolton on little rest after racking up over 10,000 air miles while away.

Bolton’s manager kept this in mind as Cullen subbed on for just 25 minutes in a 3-0 loss to Middlesbrough. The Irishman may not have started the match, but it was only because of his fitness. Cullen got a bit of a breather and was then able to start and feature for the entire match in a 1-0 loss to Sheffield United three days following the unfortunate Middlesbrough loss.

Despite the best efforts of West Ham United’s loanees, Championship side Bolton Wanderers still remain winless and currently sit dead last in the table. While this is unfortunate, Cullen is getting plenty of quality playing time which is pertinent in his development regardless of his squad’s win-loss record.

Reece Burke

As it was with Cullen, so it was with Burke — albeit Burke wasn’t representing his country during the international break. Burke was surely fit for the match, but he didn’t get the start on Sunday evening against Middlesbrough, which was a bit odd. The usurper of Reece’s starting role apparently did not do well anyway, as the 21-year-old promptly subbed on at the start of the second half.

Some of the Bolton fans weren’t happy with Stephen Darby getting the start over Burke in the first place and made it known.

That all changed against Sheffield United when Burke started and featured for the entire match yet again.

It’s good to see Burke getting some solid playing time after sitting out most of his season at Wigan Athletic last go-round with an injury. Now if he and Cullen could help their adoptive club get a win it would help their confidence massively.

Reece Oxford

After a bad spell at Reading where he got no playing time, it seems Oxford isn’t going to be playing in the Borussia Mönchengladbach first team anytime soon. A pattern looks to be rearing its ugly head for Reece Oxford — a pattern that just won’t give the lad a stinking break.

Robert Snodgrass

Snodgrass made his full debut for Aston Villa and apparently did very well, despite a sitter that he punted into the crossbar. Maybe if the Scotsman starts to do really well, the board will panic-recall him instead of spending £10m on him this time around.