Personal view - I watched much of the Barnsley game as I hadn't seen Joe Williams in action this season yet and Barnsley were an attractive footballing side last season.
I thought he put in a poor performance in a very poor side, who were second-best all over the pitch. In defence, on occasion he would dive in and miss a tackle, resulting in a hole behind him while on attack his distribution was surprisingly inaccurate (if I remember rightly, he had a stretch of breaking down three attacks by passing to the opposition). On a positive side, even though he was having a bit of a nightmare he was still looking for the ball and happy to show for the pass.
Thinking about it afterwards, his game probably summed up why loans are necessary. If you are at the level where you are going to be loaned out to the Championship or above, then you have probably been pretty much a rising star in the Academy. That means you can afford to have a wayward game or play some poor passes and staff may criticise but still see the potential of your positive moments.
On loan, this is real life. When you give the ball away on attack, that's your team-mates who have busted a gut to run up the field with you to try to get an equaliser which will stop the thousands of fans getting on their back and the manager decide to shake up the team. And it's real life for you now as well. No longer all about potential, it's about whether you get the chance at Everton or end up at Colwyn Bay thinking about what might have been.
On balance, I think Joe Williams possibly needs to stop the Academy 'style' where you are trying to do the right things and start playing professional percentage football (i.e. get rid rather than doing a Stones near your own box).
