The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Ezek lx, NeRObutBlanco and YoSnail

“And Reverend Green be glad to see you

When you haven’t got a praaaaaaaaayer..

But, boy, you’ve got a prayer in Memphis” - Marc Cohn

Uncle Flo and JAS struggle to clean house

Mariano’s elite mentality

Mariano always puts on a passionate albeit error strewn display when given minutes and it seems that same elite mentality allows him to stay and fight for a place when he could be guaranteed minutes elsehwere

A true baller at heart. Mariano is likely to finish what he started by remaining at the Bernabeu until the end of his contract.

End of the road for Take?

This relationship was doomed to fail from the start. The signs were everywhere. Odegaard.. Brahim was shipped off. Isco benched into oblivion and if LV wasn’t a cheap RB alternative he wouldn’t get any minutes either.. Yes.. Size matters too! Take never stood a chance. Real shame.

Comfy Lunin.. Or calculating Lunin?

Lunin is a gifted GK and there’s every hope he might reach the highest level but he needs to play more. He is a very confident player but he always going to be coming into games cold and there’s no realistic expectation that he might actually compete Courtois over the next 5 years. GKs get better with age, especially the rare talents. We’ve already seen Courtois improve with the ball at his feet while being an unparalleled shotstopper. Lunin should go on loan and there surely not a shortage of suitors out there.

Do we love Borja?

The reality is that the club can not have a high class backup for Karim. Top class strikers are starters or they’re not top class strikers. Spurs tried to get a backup striker for Kane some years ago.. Yikes.

I think having Borja play a few minutes for Karim does not do much harm. There’s no way Bayern can replace Lewandowski in the semifinals of a CL campaign and there’s no way Real Madrid can replace Karim either. We need to be realistic about what kinds of players sit on the bench to get opportunities when the best player in the team gets injured.

Better the Marco we know?

Asensio like many of his teammates showed up in some crucial moments to help maintain the momentum of Real Madrid’s title charge. That is a fact but we wish he could do much more and for twice as long. That is not going to happen. The way Real Madrid play will continue to show glimpses of Marco’s quality and for short spells. Asensio is a healthy alternative off the bench as has been the case since he joined. He has so far failed to make the jump after numerous opportunities.

Can we keep him? Oh..pretty please

Real Madrid have very long way to go during this transfer window. There are young players who need to secure spaces in teams where they can develop and players in the first team who make very little contribution which makes it difficult for the manager to manage his squad. The manager will risk his top players mid season because he needs wins and does not trust the players who make up the rest of the numbers. Granted Ancelotti bears some responsibility as well.

The Daily Poll