Alexis Vega went down with a knee injury in Chivas’ last game. The scenes on the field were not encouraging at all for the man who is arguably Chivas’ best player. At the end of the day the outcome was “bad”, but it could’ve been worse. Alexis had a procedure done to clean up issues within his meniscus, and he’s expected to be out from 6 to 8 weeks. This is certainly a blow to the team, and it could hamper new manager Paunovic’s ability to pick up positive results.
There could be a silver lining in this situation though. The absence of Alexis Vega is likely to speed up the addition of Pocho Guzman to the starting line up. Guzman was brought in from Pachuca this season, but so far he’d been used mostly as a sub. Although Pocho is more of a middle of the field player with Vega playing his best on the wing it’s understood that he has to be the one to call for the ball and get a higher usage rate out of anyone else at Chivas.
How Do We Expect Chivas To Play Without Alexis Vega?
Fans probably want to see Chivas stick to a 4-3-3 formation with Pocho Guzman almost playing as a number 10 in front of Beltran, Pavel Perez, or any other players that Paunovic would like to use in more of a defensive midfielder role. There’s no question that Pocho Guzman in that role can take some of the spotlight off Beltran, and that may not be ideal. Beltran is a gifted midfielder, but he’s just too short and thin to be an effective defensive midfielder. That can be a problem if Chivas do in fact decide to go with a 4-3-3.
If Paunovic decides to go with Alvarado and Brizuela on the wings in his 4-3-3 it can really end up being a 4-4-2 with Pocho Guzman playing behind whoever Chivas wants to play at the number 9 role. Neither Alvarado nor Brizuela have the talent of Vega, but both of them have shown they are typically more willing to get on defense from those positions on the wing. In fact, both of them have played as left or right backs particularly in a back 5. So they are way more willing to get back on defense. This lineup could potentially provide Chivas with much more stability defensively. Then they would have with a 4-3-3 that focuses on very high pressure.
Paunovic Has To Build A Different Team
Perhaps one of the reasons why Paunovic had been reluctant to start Guzman was because he wasn’t sure where he wanted to put him on the pitch. With Vega gone though, as we mentioned it’s pretty obvious that Guzman needs to be the focal point of the Chivas offense. Maybe not so much in the way Vega was though. Pocho is more of a distributor from the middle of the field. While he can certainly finish plays on his own and create his own shots that’s not necessarily his strength.
As a distributor in the middle of the field he can help play Alvarado, Brizuela and anyone at the 9 spot into the open field. Going back to the Beltran issue, the biggest problem for Guzman may just be that he doesn’t have two premier midfielders playing alongside him like he did at Pachuca. Luis Chavez for example is a much more complete defensive midfielder particularly when it comes to the defending part of the job. Erick Sanchez played the role that Nene Beltran would have to play for him in this Chivas squad. It may be hard for Chivas fans to hear this, but Guzman downgraded in talent around him. Let’s see how things play out though!
