Playing the Clásicos against América and Atlas caused a real headache for Chivas technical director Veljko Paunovic, as the Serb was far from what fans expected against the strong rivals.
The clearest example was the recent National Classic, where the Águilas really hit the ground running with a 4-0 victory.
For the Eagles, the latest result is alarming; He has two wins in Liga MX and against the Zorros there was a 3-3 draw in a match in which his team’s lead was reduced to two goals.
In the match against América in the regular phase, Veljkos Chivas were exceeded in a shocking way: two defeats, the first 4-2 in the last Clausura 2023 and this Saturday, September 16, 4-0; That means they scored eight goals and he could only score two goals.
In the Liguilla, where they more or less had the upper hand, they lost 0-1 in the first leg of the semi-final and in the Vuelta they won against 10 Azulcremas 3-1, their only victory that helped Chivas become finalists in 2023.
The fans are angry, they did not like the dance that André Jardines América performed on the night of September 16 in Chivas, where the people of Guadalajara did not lend a hand, although former football players like Joel Sánchez believe that the Serbian’s sporting project as Coach and Fernando Hierro as sports director are on the right track, as he announced on his X account (formerly Twitter).
What did Paunovic miss against America?
The Serb moved around his lineup again. At the back, he made modifications such as placing Jesús Sánchez at right-back in place of Alan Mozo, and he replaced Jesús Gilberto Orozco at center-back to leave Cristian Calderón at left-back.
Mozo has put up good numbers as a right-back, he is the fifth best in Liga MX in 1v1 defense, while at Chivas he is the best in 1v1 defense. 1 offense, the second with the most successful passes from the right and the third with the most contested returns.
In midfield, Erick Gutiérrez continues to do a lot on the field; They gave it the command to start and it didn’t light up. Another who was deleted was Fernando González.
Further up, Alexis Vega is far from his best, it was Guadalajara’s first substitution of half-time. Víctor Guzmán was on the bench unable to help his team after recovering from an injury that kept him out of the last two games. Roberto Alvarado was the best of the Holy Herd, but even he couldn’t do much, and Ricardo Marín was completely lost and without connections in the attacking axis.
He goes through the same thing against Atlas
Paunovic only had one duel against the Rojinegros del Atlas in the regular phase and in the end it was a duel to forget. And Chivas won the Tapatío Clausura Clásico 2023 2-0 and in the last 17 minutes of the first half the Zorros equalized. In the second half, the Rojiblancos regained the lead and ended up being eliminated from the final with a score of 3-3.
They met in the quarterfinals of the Clausura 2023 and there was a win for each team: Atlas started 1-0 with the goal of now American player Julián Quiñones; the second goal came for Chivas through Gilberto Sepúlveda’s goal; With an overall result of 1:1, Guadalajara moved into the semi-finals due to the best position in the table.
