Open Thread: January 10, 2021.

Hola Madridistas!

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail or Oscnar.

Real Madrid Stymied Again by the Low Block

There is no excuse for Real Madrid’s play — was Zidane’s message — but the conditions for executing their intricate style of attacking football were undeniably poor. The team is also unable to return to their families and homes because of Filomena.

The Royal Whites move to one point below Atleti, but Los Colchoneros have a daunting three games in hand. It is hard to imagine Diego Simeone’s men not taking points from these matches against Athletic Club, Levante, and Sevilla, the latter of whom they face Tuesday. Atleti have also been eliminated from the Copa del Rey by the third division club Cornellá, which means they will have fewer problems with schedule congestion. Real Madrid in their last eight games are still at six wins and two draws, which is nothing to sneer at, but Barcelona have now crept within three points in their win over Granada. This is setting up for Real Madrid to have to be flawless from here on out, and for Atleti to suffer upsets for Los Blancos to have a chance at retaining their crown.

Emily.T.Wilson had the player rankings here.

Kiyan Sobhani gave his reaction to this regrettable match here.

Kroos and Courtois react to the match

Marca has more of the Kroos interview:

“We created very few chances,” Kroos said after the game. “With our quality, we had to create more, even though the pitch was difficult.”We knew they were going to defend like this. The pitch isn’t an excuse, both teams played on it.”Zinedine Zidane’s changes have come in for criticism, but Kroos thinks that it was just one of those days where they didn’t work as the coach would have liked.”The changes sought to bring what we were lacking,” Kroos said. “But this time, they didn’t change much.”We can’t be happy with this result. We have to fight to be first, and a draw doesn’t help.”

Ultra_Suristic reports that LaLiga responded to Zidane

“Behind Enemy Lines: CA Osasuna”

Jose C. Perez has a piece worth reading that examines Osasuna as an opponent in Saturday’s match.