Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Ipswich Town: Terry Hunt’s verdict
Ipswich Town won 2-0 at Plymouth Argyle on Saturday to move back into the Championship’s automatic promotion places. Blues fan Terry Hunt gives his thoughts.
Sunderland: The Jewison Bennette decision that isn’t looking great – View
Sunderland loaned Jewison Bennette to Aris in January, but the Costa Rican has hardly featured in the Greek Super League
Sunderland allowed winger Jewison Bennette to leave the club on loan in January, but the Black Cats’ hierarchy may already have regrets over the move.
The Costa Rican winger made the temporary move to Greek Super League side Aris Thessaloniki, but Bennette has struggled to break into their team and has barely featured so far.
Whilst the club made the right decision to loan the player out in January, they would have wanted the 19-year-old to be playing regular football to help him grow and develop as a player – not being used sparingly and struggling to get a game.
This is doing the Central American attacker no good, and whilst it’s early days for Bennette in Greece, it appears to be a move that has benefitted and will be benefitting nobody that is involved.
In hindsight, Sunderland should have perhaps ensured with Aris that the player would have regular minutes before agreeing to send him there on loan for the rest of the season.
Jewison Bennette’s time at Aris so far has been a let-down
There’s no doubting that Bennette needed a loan move, and the move to Aris seemed a good one on the face of it.
The winger had played just 79 minutes of football for the Black Cats this season, and was out of the first-team picture despite being highly-rated upon his arrival on Wearside last season.
Whilst the Greek Super League isn’t one of the main European leagues, playing regular football there certainly would have benefited Bennette far more than playing under-21’s football at Sunderland or sitting on the bench each week, and with Aris having two other Costa Ricans in Alvaro Zamora and Ronald Matarrita, there was a good chance that Bennette might be able to settle.
However, he’s struggled to make the desired impact in Greece, appearing in just two games at time of writing – both of which were starts – but he was hauled off at half-time in both.
This is arguably more concerning for Sunderland that the player not being picked at all – the fact he’s been given two chances, and been subbed off at half-time in both suggests that he’s not up to the required standard.
