Chivas have to maintain a style of play

Another change in the Guadalajara dugout

Author

Tom Harrison
March 07, 2025

There’s a paradox in the history of Chivas after Matías Almeyda’s departure. Off the pitch, we’ve seen consistent changes, with a total of 12 head coaches in under seven years (including interim coaches with more than five matches). On the pitch, Chivas have barely changed, finishing eight of the last nine season between fifth and tenth. There’s never been a true crisis at Guadalajara, but neither have they consistently competed with the best teams in the league. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Analyzing the underlying numbers show similar results. Taking into account an eight-game rolling average, their xG difference has sat between +0.5 and -0.5 for nearly the whole of the last four years.

Whilst results haven’t fluctuated much, we’ve seen changes in Chivas’ play style. With the scatter plot, we can visualize their style in each season, since 2019-20. I’ve used a principal component analysis (a form of machine learning) to reduce a large number of metrics regarding play style into just two numbers, one in possession, one out of possession.

There are four play styles shown, taking into account ideas in possession (patient or vertical) and out of possession (pressure or passive block).

This analysis doesn’t take into account how teams and coaches can adjust and change their approach in different matches. Generally, the teams located closer to the extreme points on the graph change less and have more specific styles.

The red points show Chivas’ teams since 2019-20, the blue points are from Tapatío under Gerardo Espinoza, and the grey ones show other Liga MX teams between 2019 and 2025 or Liga de Expansión sides in 2022-23. The lines are used to connect the season-by-season changes.

We can place Chivas’ general play styles during the past few years into three different groups. Under Tomás Boy and Luis Fernando Tena, Chivas were a more patient team in build-up, and used a more passive block defensively. The press increased during Víctor Manuel Vucetich and Michel Leaño’s time in charge, and the team dominated possession between Clausura 2021 and 2022.

After a drastic change under Ricardo Cadena (Apertura 2022), Chivas adjusted their philosophy as Fernando Hierro arrived as sporting director, and three foreign head coaches were brought in. There was a clear intention to press and play more direct football, looking to exploit transitions, under the stewardships of Veljko Paunovic (who also changed Tigres’ style) and Fernando Gago. However, Chivas haven’t shown a particularly clear style in the past year.

If Gerardo Espinoza is going to attempt to create a similar game model to his Tapatío side, we can expect another stylistic change, more similar to Chivas under Vucetich and Leaño.

The graphic shows that Chivas have altered their general play style every year and a half or two years. Such frequent variations can complicate the work from inside a club.

Player contracts normally last longer than two years, and therefore it isn’t possible to alter the squad in order to have players that fit the new play style, without huge investment. Some footballers are able to adjust well to different ideas, but many have specific qualities, and aren’t able to play at their peak with every single coach.

It’s difficult to create alignment within a club’s staff with so many changes, especially with scouts and analysts. Scouting lists become obsolete if positional necessities change. Individual development plans can become useless if a new head coach asks for different concepts and decisions from their players. Whilst the academy may need to adjust the types of players that they’re attempting to prepare for the first team squad.

The key is to get the most out of Tapatío

Liga MX teams increasingly need more talented Mexicans, as the foreign player limit has dropped and a rule regarding international experience of foreign signings may be implemented. We’ve already seen an impact on the types of signings being made by major Liga MX sides. Monterrey brought-in two Mexican full-backs that have passed their peak-age during the winter, Tigres only have Mexican wingers, and América bought Alan Cervantes, without particularly impressing at Santos.

This could complicate Chivas’ transfer business in the future, creating more competition for Mexican players. However, Guadalajara have already prepared another method to find players. Five on their 14 squad members with more than 300 minutes this season passed-through Tapatío, whilst Jesús Orozco Chiquete also played in the second division.

Adaptation can depend based on the position and role (something I’ve studied in the past), however, it seems that stand-out performers in Liga de Expansión don’t tend to drop off too much when they step-up a division.

For example, Hugo Camberos has maintained his quality at ball carrying and dribbling, plus his creativity.

Whilst Mateo Chávez has been a little less effective in ball progression, perhaps impacted by Chivas’ style of play compared to Tapatío, he’s actually improved his defensive output.

Chivas have had plenty of talent in their academy for years, and have often won titles in different age-groups. But with Tapatío, the club has now added an important part of the development and preparation process, cutting the distance and the adaptation between the academy and the first-team.

Maintaining a consistent style between the first-team and the final step of preparation for Liga MX football (in this case Tapatío) can also help to reduce the amount of adaptation required. This idea has worked well for Pachuca in recent years, with Guillermo Almada’s assistant and brother, Luis, coaching the U23 side.

If Chivas are to compete at the top of Mexican football in the long-term, it’s vital that they now stick to a certain style of play, focus on maintaining the pipeline from Tapatío to the first team, and allow staff behind-the-scenes to create processes that will improve the level of the club.

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También, se puede leer este artículo en Español- https://cambiodejuego.beehiiv.com/