Roy must really not rate him. Does anyone have an idea as to why (other than personal preference) he lost his starting place and Kelly stepped in?

I think it's debatable if Ward is better than him but Roy certainly got Joel's confidence back and he's in a rich vein of form so hard to argue that he shouldn't be starting.

However, now he's injured and Fosu-Mensah is a young, promising and powerful right back surely he must start over the likes of Kelly.

The fact he's not must surely mean it's a waste of our time to have him on loan.

The loan positions are often the most important transfers to clubs our size unfortunately. I'd prefer it to be actual transfers for people that will stay but the loan system allows us to have top quality players in our starting 11 that otherwise wouldn't give us a second glance.

I can see us sending him back, having an injury crisis and playing Delaney so I'm a little worried we aren't using the lad.

We'll need a serious loan replacement if he goes.

Purely injured against Watford.
Unfit for Leicester.
On the Bench today.

Palace 13th 2017/18.

Before Wardy got injured I heard that if TFM didn’t play above a certain number of games, we could send him back and free up a loan space. It looked like we were going down that road as Joel Ward was starting to show his old form. TFM then came in and was pretty poor against Bournemouth, then really awful in the first half against Watford before limping off early in the second half. Jelly came in and did a really good back up job, so I for one wouldn’t mind if we can send TFM back, and use the loan space for a striker.

has resisted writing a single post on the Ross McCormack thread !!!

Watched the Sky edits of the game yesterday and Kelly does look weak on the ball.

An earlier poster said £10m guarantees success but not sure that is the case - look at the left back situation.

Looks like FM is not going to be the answer and he will go back.

I think he's one of those younger starlets more suited to a transfer to Palace than a loan.

Loftus-Cheek is the opposite. That's us using the loan system effectively. He wouldn't join us for any fee, even if Chelsea agreed which they probably wouldn't.

He's young and needs game time but ultimately a class above the rest and it's a matter of time before he wins us games on his own (in my opinion). At the very least, he is currently taking a lot of pressure away from Zaha and Townsend as the 3rd member of the team capable of running with the ball and not losing it under pressure.

Fosu-Mensah on the other hand, I think would be superb if we got Man Utd to agree to a £10 million move and we had him at the club. Let him grow into the role and next season replace Ward full time. Young enough to be our right back for at least 10 seasons.

Having someone of his current quality and needing a lot of nurturing isn't ideal with only 5 months left until end of the season though. Only benefits United really.

I don't think FM is a right back, he looks like a centre half playing out of position. He's been caught out of position a number of times.

He may have a higher upside than Ward, but as with Schlupp v PVA, Joel is just more consistent.

Employee of the month is a good example of how someone can be both a winner and a loser at the same time.