Things have changed since Matías Almeyda took over as manager at Chivas.
After they claimed the Liga MX 2017 title for the first time in a decade with a team featuring only Mexican players, pressure rose on Almeyda.
But the Argentinian coach and his players failed to live up to the hype.
Chivas played 24 league games since they defeated Tigres 2-1 in last year’s final and have won just five of them.
In this Clausura 2018, Club Deportivo Guadalajara recorded only 15 points of 48 possible, a product of three wins, six draws and seven defeats.
They are the fifth-worst defensive team in the league, as they allowed 21 goals.
Numbers are negative, and Almeyda obviously wants to improve things.
Chivas owner Jorge Vergara still supports his coach, but the club weakened the side this summer with central midfielder Jose Juan Vazquez that left for Santos Laguna.
The main problem relies on the offence with Chivas failing to convert.
It’s not that they don’t create scoring chances, since Chivas is currently producing more opportunities to find the net than any other side this Clausura.
Chivas also lead the league in terms of ball retention and expected goals (xG), where they are fifth in the league.
However, Almeyda’s side is 3.66 goals under their expected total.
The fact that Alan Pulido is not in the same shape he enjoyed during the winning 2017 Clausura is not unrelated to these offensive woes.
Counting on Chivas’ offensive struggles, opposition sides are content to let Almeyda’s men control the ball, sending their offensive players forward, knowing that some good scoring chances on counters will arise sooner or later.
Chivas get on the counter by Morelia
Should the opposition not get chances to counterattack, they still can damage Chivas using set pieces.
Defending set-pieces became tough for a Chivas side prone to conceding goals in these situations.
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