keylor navas should continue to sit on the bench except for copa del rey games, in my opinion. if casillas were to be dropped now, i think it would have bad effects on the morale of the team. i think that is part of the reason why diego lopez left as well.

recently, the togetherness of the squad, a sense of family i guess, is really being incorporated into real madrid. the return of fernando hierro. talks of raul's return. to a certain extent, vicente del bosque's recognition. zidane's involvement. it would be a bad time to bench casillas now.

ancelotti's current headache, isco or bale?

raul has signed for cosmos, according to marca.

it was a good performance in the sense that madrid could cope with the physicality of the granada players, perhaps? noticed a few time how they muscled out marcelo, isco and ronaldo. also to some extent toni kroos. but madrid's pace was raw and too much for granada while madrid was always going to be more technically capable. story of backflicks this past weekend? even a granada player contributed.

strange game considering liverpool's team sheet. real madrid didnt have to work hard and all threats were snuffed out by sergio ramos and varane.

isco is now the only player who can bring the ball down from the sky as if he has glue on his shoes. but it was only an ok performance from him. the team generally did well without having to exert a lot of energy. kroos is as imperious as ever.

that kroos goal, oozing with class, nonchalance and precision.

Basel is no easy meat........

Better hope no more injuries to midfield from now on. If kroos is out, while i would be happy with illaramendi coming in, he lacks the physical presence.
got a strange feeling that if there is upgrade next season, modric may be going out coz he is very valuable while the obvious upgrade would be pogba. I dont know why i have this hunch

That toni kroos cross......
Apart from barcelona, the 20 games were ok teams. Even barca was not the barca we had come to know. I would take this streak with a little caution. But still, a win is a win, and 20 wins are still 20 wins.
one thing that cheered me was cr7 pointing to carvajal to acknowledge the assist. I always thought dani didnt get on quite so well with cr7.

Time to see julian draxler in action

Have a Real Xmas

bale is coming in for some real criticism now. will be off to another club and be replaced with, wait for it..........marco reus?

Sterling and shaqiri are a sure no for me. Both are trully overrated at the moment, but sterling has got heaps of potential.
But reus, because of his price and ability, is sure tempting madrid. I do think he is an upgrade on bale.
there is a distinct difference between the 2. While bale is quite decisive, partly due to his directness, reus is much more aware of the openings and much more composed. For sure passing is certainly better than bale.

For that, i am all for reus.

U do the business now and wait till the season ends for him to come.
Otherwise, you'd end up signing a balotelli calibre kind of players

too many torres goals......

While i think its a shame if illara goes, i can probably see why. He is not physically imposing, instead he goes about his job quietly in closing down and nipping at the opponents. Perhaps he has been too neat with his shorter range of passes.
A shame in that madrid may also lose 1 spanish starlet.

being one of the front three there is bound to be pressure to perform, and in bale's case, goals counts. but he looks to me like he has not been at ease, lacking composure lately in front of goal. should have just stuck to providing assists.

http://sport360.com/article/spanish-liga-b...-barcas-growing

enjoy. phil ball on illaramendi

even with ramos, marcelo, james and modric fit and playing, there is no surprise real madrid will lose to atletico. they are an organized and physical side. they will run you down like hell let loose.

the reason barcelona could beat them was barca's passing ability. they are established in that aspect. real madrid have not, and if you noticed, madrid's passing when they record high percentage in possession is when they pass it around in the midfield - defence region. once the ball is transferred to front 3, speed is all that matters for them. just look at ronaldo and bale. benzema can be excused because that man moves well.

ronaldo just didnt work against atleti.

most of us are a little overwhelmed by the winning run in the beginning of the season. real madrid started well after a wake up call and the winning streak was against the so called weaker teams. that helped.

now it's crunch time. from now on, we will all find out what real madrid is made of. will madrid's mentality prevail. right now, the only side with good morale is atleti.

barca's run too, are friendly. do not read too much into that.

i guess the loss to athletic bilbao was too much to take for all fans in here?
barca is now top of the league. this makes the el classico even more important for madrid.
the only positive to take away from these latest games are that bilbao was always a tough game while rayo always play open attacking football and will eventually be found out by a team like barca.
i believe lucas silva's acquisition is a mistake, kind of. real madrid are better off with illaramendi in midfield. modric too.
when james and modric returns, expect more troubles whether it be dissatisfaction because of isco's lesser playing time or the unbalance caused by the returning players. there is no way james will sit on the bench with his price tag.
also, madrid can forget about reus now. i believe he is going to be the totti of dortmund.