Jornada 6 Review

Data from Fotmob, xG adjusted for plays with more than 1 shot. Photo from Goal.com.

Querétaro (1.24 xG) 1 - 0 (0.38 xG) Atlético San Luis

San Luis didn’t create a shot in the box during the clásico de la 57, and lost their 4th consecutive match. Domenec Torrent’s side started the match by threatening down the right-side, through Vitinho-Jhon Murillo combinations, but in general this was another match full of poor final 3rd decision and few ideas of how to create clear goal-scoring opportunities.

Querétaro’s route to attack was clearer. As in their previous match against Chivas, Los Gallos Blancos attempted to create on their left-wing, with the explosiveness of Adonis Preciado and Francisco Venegas overlapping. San Luis have struggled to defend their right-side all season long, and Torrent started his 4th different right-wing-back in just 6 games (Román Torres from the U23s). Therefore, it was no surprise to see Querétaro’s goal coming from a Venegas cross, after overlapping Preciado.

Necaxa (3.36 xG) 3 - 2 (1.55 xG) Santos Laguna

Throughout his career, Carlos Acevedo has shown a tendency to leave dangerous rebounds after making saves. Whilst Acevedo can produce exceptional saves, he’s a rather limited goalkeeper in other aspects (for example, he isn’t effective at coming off his line or at playing with his feet), and this tendency to leave rebounds is a significant weakness. Twice in this match, Acevedo saved a shot from outside the box but failed to catch the ball or push it to a wider, safer area. On the second occasion, Diber Cambindo took advantage and scored the match-winning goal.

Once again, Nicolás Larcamón’s Necaxa created an open match. We’ve seen a total average of more than 33 shots in Necaxa’s games this season, the highest number in the league. They have concepts to improve, like their deep build-up, counterpressing and marking in the box, but their high-risk strategy has developed one of the most dangerous attacks in Liga MX.

Puebla (0.78 xG) 1 - 2 (1.63 xG) América

Has a change of system gotten the best out of Érick Sánchez in América? Sánchez only started 8 times in Apertura 2024, and didn’t make a single start for América after October. There wasn’t a place for him in André Jardine’s 3-4-3, but the flexible 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 that Jardine’s preferred this season suits Sánchez very well.

There’s more freedom in this system to exploit his ball carrying abilities and arrivals in attack, whilst still getting Sánchez to contribute effectively in the build-up phase. Against Puebla, the midfielder completed 51 passes (3rd highest), created 4 chances and attempted 2 shots inside the box. His production this season has been impressive, creating dangerous opportunities with his passes and box arrivals, and whilst he didn’t get a goal or assist in this match, Sánchez once again showed he can be a key player for América this season.

Tigres UANL (1.11 xG) 2 - 1 (1.62 xG) Atlas

Juan Brunetta is a great example of how attacking midfielders can develop into consistent goal-scorers. Finishing is important, but movement and positioning are the most significant concepts. Brunetta was excellent at Santos at arriving from deep and shooting after cut-backs, whilst at Tigres he’s added an ability to attack zones even closer to the opponent’s goal.

In the 21st minute against Atlas, Brunetta was positioned on the blindside of Matheus Dória to finish off a Jesús Angulo cross that was flicked-on by Nicolás Ibáñez. Brunetta’s scored 14 league goals with Tigres, 12 from inside the box. However, Tigres couldn’t dominate this match after taking the lead, and were somewhat fortunate to come away with the victory, with Aldo Rocha missing a penalty and Ozziel Herrera scoring a golazo.

León (1.06 xG) 3 - 3 (1.78 xG) Toluca

2 completely contrasting halves of football in this 3-3 draw, with Turco Mohamed’s triple switch at half-time paying-off, despite Pau López’s error almost handing León a 6th win in 6 matches.

Turco’s key switches were bringing-on Isaías Violante and Robert Morales. Violante played as a very attacking left-back, and in just the 5th minute of the second half, he got in-behind León’s defense and saw his shot go in via a deflection. Morales joined Paulinho up-front as a second striker, arguably his best role, to occupy León’s centre-backs and drag them out of position. This opened up spaces for runners such as Alexis Vega and Marcel Ruíz. They provided the assists, and Morales finished off clear chances to earn Toluca a point.

Juárez (0.97 xG) 2 - 1 (1.95 xG) Monterrey

Los Rayados normally win this match based on the opportunities created, but with 2 goals from corners, Juárez won their 3rd home game this season. Also, Sebastián Jurado impressed with 8 saves, preventing 1.81 goals (Monterrey created 2.81 xG post-shot).

Post-shot xG or xG on target measures goal probability after a shot has been attempted. The metric takes into account the original xG (of the opportunity) and concepts such as a direction of the shot. An off-target shot would have an xG post-shot of 0, as there’s no chance of scoring. A shot towards a corner of the goal would have a higher xG post-shot.

Juárez have scored almost the same set-piece goal twice in their last 3 games. The organization of their players was a little different here, but twice Óscar Estupiñan has won the first ball at the near post, positioned between a defender and the goalkeeper. In this situation, Fidel Ambríz couldn’t protect the near-post or deal with Estupiñan, but the Rayadas set-up had also left a lot of space in that zone.

Cruz Azul (1.88 xG) 2 - 1 (0.84 xG) Pachuca

At times Pachuca can suffer due to a lack of flexibility depending on the opponent. Their dogmatism can help their players to easily understand the system and focus on the most importante part of Guillermo Almada’s style, intensity. But in this match, especially during the first half, Cruz Azul exploited Pachuca’s 2 lines of 4 out of possession, creating numerical superiority against the defensive line, with their 2 wing-backs, 2 attacking midfielders and center-forward.

Other teams (e.g. Puebla, Juárez) have stifled Cruz Azul’s attack by defending with a back-5. Pachuca didn’t adjust and therefore left 2vs1 situations out wide.

However, once again it was 2 goals from corners that decided this match. The first came from a well-designed set-piece, and clever movement from Ignacio Rivero to separate himself from Eduardo Bauermann, whilst the second was fairly straightforward, Toro Fernández using his strength and aerial ability.

Pumas UNAM (0.75 xG) 1 - 0 (0.51 xG) Mazatlán

Less than 1 xG created by Pumas for the 3rd consecutive home match, but Piero Quispe’s last second goal earned Gustavo Lema’s side all 3 points.

Mazatlán’s trends are fairly clear after 6 games. Víctor Manuel Vucetich’s side are usually well-organized out of possession and can adjust between a compact low block and a man-marking approach in a high block. Mazatlán rank above league average for xG against, and with 5.2 per match, only 2 teams have recovered more balls in the final 3rd per game. However, no one has fewer shots on target (3 per game) or clear opportunities created (0.5 per game). Their attack is filled with too many post-peak and injury-prone players, and their attackers with the highest xG + xA creation last season have left to Querétaro (Josué Colmán and Brian Rubio).

Guadalajara (2.33 xG) 2 - 1 (1.43 xG) Tijuana

I feel like Juan Carlos Osorio thought so much about bringing in tall players that he’s ended-up with a team that isn’t compatible with his play style. Alongside their problems in deep build-up (for example, Jackson Porozo’s error that almost ended in a Luis Romo goal), Osorio used Raúl Zúñiga to occupy the left-wing and send crosses into the box, and 2 natural center-backs as inverted wing-backs. At times, Tijuana progressed the ball through the center, only to find Jesús Gómez or Ramiro Franco between the lines. Franco looked especially uncomfortable at receiving on the half-turn between the lines, like a “number 10”, and couldn’t continue ball progression. Xolos improved with Iván Tona and Gilberto Mora occupying those spaces in the second half.

Tijuana with their full-backs occupying attacking midfielder positions in the first half

Set-pieces can be a strength given such a tall side, and Xolos scored their only goal of this match via a corner. Perhaps Tijuana should try to exploit their aerial strength a little more, and build-up with a little less patience?

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