Jornada 10 Review

Paunovic sacked, León comeback to win, América beat Toluca

Author

Tom Harrison
March 03, 2025

Data from Fotmob, Wyscout and Golstats. Photo from Récord.

Mazatlán (0.97 xG) 1 - 1 (0.62 xG) Cruz Azul

Mazatlán deserve a lot of credit for their performances this week. Los Cañoneros won four points from games against Cruz Azul and Monterrey, limiting both teams to under 1 xG created.

Last week I criticised Víctor Manuel Vucetich’s defensive organization, with his side sticking to a zonal marking idea, making few adjustments to mark Necaxa’s players between the lines or cut passing lanes. Versus Cruz Azul, Mazatlán oriented their system more towards the positioning of their opponents, limiting options between the lines, apart from some Mateusz Bogusz movements. Vicente Sánchez’s line-up also had an impact, with two nines and Bogusz, Cruz Azul looked more dangerous with direct passes than combinations between the lines, but ended the match with just 0.62 xG.

América (1.70 xG) 3 - 0 (1.59 xG) Toluca

Henry Martín has now failed to attempt a single shot in his last three matches, despite starting all of them. There’s a strong argument that Víctor Dávila should be the starter, after his performances at the beginning of the season, but for now Henry’s lack of shots hasn’t been much of a problem. América are creating goals from movements from behind their striker, with Álvaro Fidalgo and Alejandro Zendejas reaching five goals this season. Fidalgo in particular has added an ability to make runs in-behind and get into the box. Whilst he’s outscored his xG, the Spaniard has already managed more shots from inside the box during Clausura 2025 (11) than Apertura 2024 (9).

An important concept to generate through balls in América’s first goal, straight pass from Zendejas, diagonal run from Fidalgo.

Toluca ended the match, between the two highest ranking sides on the xG table, with a similar attacking output to América. However, more than 50% of their xG came from Luan Garcia’s shot from a set-piece, that Luis Malagón clawed off the ball, and Toluca couldn’t create many dangerous moments in open play.

Juárez (1.61 xG) 2 - 2 (0.98 xG) Pachuca

Corners are saving Juárez’s attack. Los Bravos have scored five of their 10 goals this season from corners. Martín Varini’s team prepared well to face Pachuca’s set-piece ideas. Guillermo Almada prefers to leave three players in attack, to exploit transitions, but it can be a risky strategy.

Madson had the job of exploiting Pachuca’s set-up at corners. The first goal was one of the simplest set-piece plays of the season. Juárez positioned their attackers to open the centre of the box, with Los Tuzos marking man-to-man, and Madson simply ran into the space, and scored with his second attempt.

Pachuca adjusted afterwards, with Ponchito González marking Madson.

However, a similar plan worked, with González losing his man. Once again, Juárez have positioned their other, and taller, players to open up the centre, and Madson scored his header.

Juárez couldn’t maintain their advantage in the second half, but have won 10 points from their last five matches.

León (1.59 xG) 2 - 1 (0.75 xG) Tijuana

I had the opportunity to watch this match in person and, apart from the atmosphere of a nearly full stadium, Jhonder Cádiz stood-out to me. Tijuana’s defensive line struggled to deal with the Venezuelan after he subbed-on, with his ability to play with his back to goal and start vertical attacks, make off-ball runs, and hold-off defenders. Cádiz would have ended the second half with a goal and penalty won, from two very similar situations, if it wasn’t for very tight VAR reviews that showed slight offsides.

Tijuana started this match better, but León could adjust their press and force more long balls from Xolos (13% of their passes in the first half were long, 18% in the second half), and exploited gaps in an open second half. Right-back Sebastián Santos was key to León’s comeback, showing his energy to overlap, connecting well with James Rodríguez, and crossing for Rodrigo Echeverría’s goal.

Tijuana also created dangerous attacks in the final minutes, especially after Gilberto Mora came on, but in a back-and-forward match, León had the clearer chances, and the 2-1 scoreline reflected the xG.

Necaxa (0.78 xG) 1 - 2 (2.04 xG) Tigres UANL

It isn’t often that a head coach loses their job after a win, and taking into account Necaxa’s performances this season, it was one of Veljko Paunovic’s best wins with Tigres. However, we’ve discussed how Tigres’ style of play has changed in 2024-25, and if the directors want to re-discover their possession-based philosophy, it’s better to accept their error and change the coach. Although, Tigres’ style hasn’t changed much between Apertura 2024 and Clausura 2025, so it would’ve made more sense to have sacked Paunovic before the season started.

Guido Pizarro has retired and their new DT. One of his most important challenges, apart from the psychological change of becoming the head coach, after being part of the playing squad, is to get more out of Tigres’ talented attackers. Uriel Antuna is often criticised for a lack of quality in his final ball or shot, but I think he’s become underrated. The winger made his case to deserve more playing time in this match, creating threatening situations with his movements in-behind and into the box. Antuna is the leader in xA (expected assists) in 2024-25, and shows the importance of movement and positioning in a player’s attacking output, plus how technical concepts can be overrated.

Pumas UNAM (0.68 xG) 0 - 1 (0.47 xG) Guadalajara

Two teams without effective attacks combined for just 16 shots in total, and a little over 1 xG. Both sides also lacked efficiency in 1vs1 situations, as just nine of 36 dribbles were completed. Pumas had their best chances in the first minutes, although Ignacio Pussetto and Adelberto Carrasquilla may have been offside before shooting.

Chivas came away with all three points after a 92nd minute goal that showed the importance of second plays at set-pieces. Pumas didn’t adapt well to the second ball, leaving themselves un-organised, with two players open at the far-post. Alex Padilla stopped Alan Pulido’s effort, but Luis Gabriel Rey was on-hand to score.

Querétaro (0.96 xG) 2 - 0 (1.35 xG) Puebla

Firstly, Emiliano Gómez’s health is the most important part of this match, after a very worrying clash of heads in the second half. It seems that Gómez is doing well right now, and hopefully he’ll soon be back on the pitch.

I believe that when a head coach takes over a struggling side, one of their first tasks is the create a single strength. Without large financial backing it’s almost impossible to create a complete team in a few months, but with one clear strength, a team can earn themselves some results, and give them a starting point to build from. The strength could be a tactical idea, like an intense press or effectiveness at set-pieces, or could be a specific side of the pitch. Benjamín Mora has developed the left-side of Querétaro’s attack into their strength, exploiting Adonis Preciado’s abilities and runs from Francisco Venegas. That combination brought their first goal, and Querétaro’s last six open play goals have been scored or assisted by Preciado or Venegas.

Atlas (1.04 xG) 3 - 1 (0.58 xG) Atlético San Luis

San Luis started this match well, scoring first and missing chances to have doubled their advantage. But overall we saw why their xG is the worst in the division. Atlas have struggled to progress the ball effectively this season, but Gonzalo Pineda’s side could frequently create dangerous opportunities against San Luis. Atlas recorded more touches in the box than in any other match this season, with 32, far greater than their average of 16.7.

San Luis suffered after losing the ball in their build-up, but looked especially vulnerable when Atlas created superiorities against their defensive line in built-up attacks. Domenec Torrent’s side defended more with a back-four than their usual back-five and Atlas were able to create a free man in attack or directly get behind their opponents. They didn’t make the most of their dangerous situations, and their final xG wasn’t that high, but good finishing from Uros Durdevic gave Pineda a crucial victory.

Monterrey (3.50 xG) 4 - 2 (1.65 xG) Santos Laguna

Monterrey’s ability to progress the ball is impressive. 79 final third entries in this match, with 46 touches in the box. Rayados could connect between the lines, create problems with their rotations out wide and overlapping full-backs, and with Sergio Ramos they now have a centre-back who can play diagonal balls to switch the focus of the attack.

Ramos stood-out in Monterrey’s build-up, and scored his first Liga MX goal.

Monterrey didn’t make the most of all their attacking pressure, with a few too many off-target shots from distance, and they did get a slice of luck with Sergio Canales’ deflected shot. However, with 30 shots and 3.5 xG, this was a dominant performance.

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