Le Journal

Le Conseil supérieur de la fonction publique territoriale (CSFPT) a rendu un avis unanimement défavorable le 21 janvier à un projet de décret autorisant une expérimentation sur le temps de travail des aides-soignants d'un Ehpad vendéen. Organisations syndicales et employeurs ont rejeté le texte craignant une extension à d'autres métiers territoriaux.

Atlético Madrid’s horrid away form continued Wednesday, as the Rojiblancos now have won just one of their last five away matches in the Champions League. Atlético squandered a golden opportunity to all but secure a top eight-position in the final Champions League table. “Squandered” may actually be an understatement based on what I witnessed. If you can think of more extreme adjectives to describe the performance, feel free to drop them in the comments. Atletii looked far and away the better side for the first hour of the match. Giuliano Simeone was rewarded for his relentless energy and effort with a lovely headed goal, Marc Pubill kept Victor Osimhen firmly in his pocket, even while playing on a yellow card for most of the match, and the midfield played with cohesion and confidence. Los Colchoneros were unfortunate to concede an own goal that deflected in off Marcos Llorente. The Spaniard ultimately redeemed himself, however, clearing away a wide open chance for the Turkish club in the dying moments that would have seen Atleti return to Madrid empty handed. Let’s dive into some takeaways. Suspect substitutions You could make the argument that Atleti’s chances of finding a winning goal ended the moment Robin Le Normand replaced Pablo Barrios. Over the course of the 2025 26 season, it has become abundantly clear that Barrios is Atlético Madrid’s most important player, and the match changed entirely once he left the pitch. The decision to remove Alexander Sørloth for the final 30 minutes while continuing to send long crosses toward the 5’9” pairing of Antoine Griezmann and Álex Baena was head scratching, to say the least. With Julián Alvarez enduring a slump in form, Atléti are unfortunately reliant on Sørloth to consistently generate goal scoring chances. And with Alvarez, it is becoming glaringly obvious that he is not anywhere close to the level he showed last season. However, substituting him for a still-recovering Nico González is simply not a sound tactical decision. Alvarez has been poor, but he remains Atlético Madrid’s best attacking option. In a situation where a goal is needed, you have to live and die with La Araña. When you’ve built your attacking system around a very limited #9 your problems run very deep. https://t.co/lJ2AiOZmHT— Into the Calderón (@intothecalderon) January 21, 2026 An aggravating attack Between the poor form of Baena and Alvarez, the growing dependence on Sørloth, Thiago Almada failing to become the signing many had hoped for and prime Griezmann feeling like a distant memory, Atlético Madrid have a serious problem in attack. Today’s match saw Baena and Almada turn in uninspired 45-minute halves. The former has struggled to find his place in the team over the past several months, while the latter continues to be linked with a move away from the club. With Baena, the quality is clearly there, and it is hard to believe that two unfortunate injuries earlier in the year suddenly stripped him of it. Prior to donning the red and white stripes, Baena ranked among the league leaders in chance creation. Simeone simply cannot seem to unlock that same style of play for him. The flashes are there, but time is starting to run out and Atleti need answers. Almada possesses excellent skill on the ball, but the fundamentals are lacking. The signing did not make much sense at the time and was met with mixed reviews from supporters, despite the player’s obvious talent. Personally, I do not see a clear path forward for the Argentina international. On the topic of Argentines, Julián Alvarez has extended his goalless games streak to seven. We’ve talked about this countless times on this website. The world is starting to take notice. What can be done to pull Julián out of this slump? My admittedly-novice take is that Simeone appears to be deploying Alvarez in more of a 10 role rather than the 9 position where La Araña is most comfortable. The intent seems to be for Alvarez to replicate the late 2010s Antoine…