Other than Toluca, all of the top teams advanced to the round of semifinals in Liga MX. That includes Pachuca who on paper had the toughest outing of the bunch with a matchup against Tigres. Miguel Herrera’s team got a lead in their home game. They were also able to come back and tie the second leg game 1-1 at one point. Ultimately Pachuca’s speed proved to be too much, and despite the fact that Pachuca played a large part of the second half down to 10 men Tigres wasn’t able to prevail. In his exit interview Tigres head coach Miguel Herrera said that his team was “too old” to be playing anymore.
Herrera’s comments may not sit too well with the Tigres locker room. Although, what he mentioned wasn’t exactly inaccurate. Javier Aquino’s age for example was on full display in Pachuca’s second goal as he was outrun by Marino Hinestrosa who put a cross in that was finished by “Chofis” Lopez. Herrera would go on to recognize that his team left it all on the field. Putting more blame on the refs for the loss than anything else. As we’ve been saying for weeks now, though, the pressure on Herrera is going to be high thanks to this loss.
He’s Got A Point About The Team Being Too Old
Andre Pierre Gignac is 36 he’ll be turning 37 in December. Nahuel Guzman is also 36, Guido Pizarro is only 32, but he plays and looks a lot older in that midfield. Rafael Carioca who accompanies him in the midfield is 33, and Juan Pablo Vigon who’s the back-up for both of them is 31. We could go on, and on with other players. It’s not only an age issue it’s also that they play old. There are plenty of players out there that are 31 or 32, and haven’t necessarily lost a step. The entire Tigres midfield though is just collectively slow. That means that Sebastian Cordova has to run, and be an active presence on the offensive midfield as the team pushes forward.
Another issue that we could point to is the fact that the young talent, even the ones that have gotten plenty of chances to play, just haven’t stepped up. Cordova has shown flashes, but he’s not been as consistent as Tigres fans would hope he’d be. Raymundo Fulgencio is one of those players that may not look terrible because he’s constantly around the ball, but last night was his presence effective at all? That could be said about a lot of his games. Jesus Angulo on the back end hasn’t really wowed anyone either. Miguel Herrera said that this team with or without him needs to find new players, and that’s a fact!
If He Gets Sacked, Who Could Take His Place?
Tigres have been known to stand by their coaches for a while. Then again this was a team that wasn’t accustomed to winning, so they stuck by Tuca Ferreti because he was able to bring winning ways to Tigres. Miguel Herrera though hasn’t proven to be as effective. Since modern Tigres fans expect to win, the pressure could be much greater on him than it may have been on other coaches in Tigres’ past.
If Herrera does get sacked, look for someone like Santiago Solari to pop up as a potential replacement. If it’s not him then Tigres would certainly have to look at the international market, and think outside the box. We don’t see someone like Andres Lillini taking the reins of such a high profile team. Nicolas Larcamon buried his chances with the dreadful exit to this year’s playoffs. With that in mind, Herrera may get another chance just because there aren’t a ton of options out there to replace him! You’d have to think someone at Tigres would call Marcelo Bielsa if Herrera is sacked, but other than that they’d have to surprise all of us.
