Mexico's Tactics

Gentlemen,

I have been analyzing Mexico's offense from their past two games and even though I am not much of a tactician I have come to the conclusion that Javier Aguirre has an ace hidden up his sleeve. My first guess for Aguirre's Ace was a player, be it Nery Castillo or even Daniel Luduena whom FMF directive Nestor de la Torre had admitted to be a possibility, that could come in and offer an offensive spark not seen since the days of Jesus "Cabrito" Arellano with the Tricolor.

These players, however, did not make the team. So, while I still think Aguirre has an ace up his sleeve it is not in the form of a player but of tactical variants he has been careful not to expose in these recent friendly games. The variants I am talking about are in the team’s attack which I will attempt to analyze.

While Guillermo Franco seems to be set as a starter for the national team I do not think that he is an integral part of el Vasco's tactic. If that had been the case then I am sure that Vasco would have called in a second centro delantero be it Enrique Esqueda or Aldo Denigris to serve as Guilles back up. Instead Vasco went with two players of completely different characteristics in Javier Hernandez and Adolfo Bautista.

Bautista has not played with the full team so I expect to see him against Gambia. And while Bautista has not impressed I still think that Aguirre has something special stored for us. The belief from most fans has been that Bofo is Temoc's substitute and while I thought that at first I think it could very well be the other way around.

Unless Blanco has some Rocky style training and surprises us at the World Cup, with a top form and can play a full 90min, I do not expect to see him play more than 20min in a match. And if Temoc is brought in it will most likely be to help control the tempo and or if we are headed to the dreaded penalty kick shoot-outs.

That said and from what we have seen; Mexico will play with Guillermo Franco as the Target Man and two wingers in Carlos Vela and Giovani Dos Santos. And after this is where it can get tricky. I have read in the forums that if Hernandez plays that it will be alongside Guille but as seen against Holland that does not have to be the case.

Going by the match against the Dutch my best guess is that Hernandez can play as the center forward but not to fulfill Franco's duties of playing with his back against goal and holding the ball. Instead because of Chicharo's versatility he can easily switch positions with either Giovani or Vela.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkCHdxdaVJ8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkCHdxdaVJ8[/ame]

Here is the clip from Hernandez goal in that match and if we pay attention from where the play starts; Hernandez getting the ball almost at the half way mark and passing it to Giovani; followed by his impressive diagonal run what caught my interest was Vela and Giovani's positioning during the run of play.

When Cheech gets the ball Vela is on the right and Gio is on the left side and playing slightly below Hernandez. As Gio passes the ball to Torres Nilo; Cheech does a diagonal run while Vela sprints down the middle taking with him three defenders. Holland's Orlando Engelaar loses sight of Cheech who when the play starts is right in front of him. These two players basically run the same path until Hernandez breaks away and scores the goal. So, I can see these three players causing many defensive headaches by constantly switching around.

That said Hernandez goal reminded me of the goals scored by Vela and Gio in the Gold Cup 09 final. The majority of those goals originated close to the halfway mark. The difference between Franco and Miguel Sabah, however, is that Cheech can actually keep up with the Dynamic Duo. So, I think I have figured out Cheech’s role during the World Cup. Provided below is the GC goals for further reference.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPhh4L16Q0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPhh4L16Q0[/ame]

Since we cannot expect the speed of those counters to be maintained in a full match then I can see Hernandez coming in as a second half sub. I am not even taking into account how Pablo Barrera and Andres Guardado can also play at the same time as Gio, Vela, and Hernandez if Aguirre decides to play balls to wall attacking futbol. I am sorry to say this but in this high powered Tri Machine there is no room for Temoc.

So, this brings me back to Bofo who I am guessing el Vasco must have seen something that made him drop Sabah who managed to score some clutch goals for Mexico. This just does not make sense to me. Granted, Sabah’s goals were against weak sauce teams but the Morelia striker seemed to have adapted to el Vasco’s tactics. My best guess is that Bautista will be used as a Deep-Lying Playmaker.

The Deep-Lying Playmaker role as defined by Wikipedia:

Some players prefer to set up an attack from a withdrawn position, and are often coined deep-lying playmakersmainly because of their ability to spread play and dictate the game from a withdrawn position. Despite their deep role, they are not classed as defensive midfielders as tackling and defense are not the main function of their roles — they may have to be supported by a holding midfielder. Deep-lying playmakers are typically given a moderate amount of defensive responsibilities, but are granted freedom positionally to dictate the play as it evolves as well as a license to attempt long, riskier balls to the forwards.

There are many more variants that Vasco can use by using Bautista as a DLP; which at this point is only my best guess. Vasco could use Bautista and Franco with an outside forward in either Giovani or Vela. And then depending on the match sub out either Franco for Vela, push up Bofo as an Enganche, or take out Bofo for Vela. I think I am way over my head now, lol. Anyways, I would like to hear everyone’s opinions.

 

Re: Mexico's Offense

Good Memory DGreat, tenias que ser Chiva..

One of the things I have noticed analyzing Mexico's goals is that most start around the midfield mark and usually revolved around a fast break. This is very diffrent to Mexico's usual playing style of which would usually require a good 15 touches on the ball.


What a diffrence we are now seeing with this Mexican team compared to Aguirre's side in Japan/Korea. The goal scored against Italy was the best example of Mexico's playing style. The goals scored in the 2009 Gold Cup and recent friendly are no where near that style.


This is why I believe that Vasco's reason for bringing in Bautista is to use him as Deep-Lying Playmaker. Although, I picture Bofo lingering round the box but dropping down to midfield to start plays be it with give and goes or long ball passing down the wings. Also, Marquez could easily fill in as DLP at which point then Bautista can easily be sent back home.

 

Re: Mexico's Offense

So, I dedicated the majority of the Mexico vs. Gambia match analyzing Bautista's role with the national team. The first thing I noticed, which had been obvious in previous games, is that Bofo is being utilized in a diffrent position/role than he is at Chivas.

I noticed this more with Guardado who IMO was doing a better job. Although, I would say that Guardis was closer to the ball. Guardado really impressed me with his hustle and how much ground he covered. This is
what the Depor midfielder had to say after the match.

"One tries to do things the best way possible. I am more accustomed to playing down the wing, very close to it, but Javier likes to put me in the center with more creative and ball recovering responsibilities and also to surprise down the wing, in that sense it is a bit of everything," said Guardado.

When I first started watching the match I thought Guardado was indeed playing down the left wing which was Velas job. It is only now that I realize that Guardado was playing in Torrados DMid position but a hella of a lot more versatile. Instead of being a midfield enforcer Guardis was playing as a Deep-Lying Playmaker.

That said, Guardado is the closest I have seen the Tricolor to having a box to box midfielder. Pavel Pardo comes to mind but the America midfielder lacked the speed to be a more dangerous threat at attack.

Overall, Mexico's versatility is what makes the team dangerous. Many players managed to switch roles and then switch back which caused my initial confusion at least with Guardado. Marquez; who played as Libero would cover for Guardado and take over as DLP.

Most of us had Guardado competeing with Vela for a spot down the left wing but, at least with a 3-4-3 line up which Mexico was using against Gambia, he will most likely be playing in the center of the pitch. Perhaps, he will line up next to Torrado. This is what Guardado said of his new position withing the MNT; "I like playing there, I have more responsibilities and I will try to do things right and earn a spot in the starting eleven because obvious that is what I aspire for."

As for Bofo; who still cannot seem to shake off his image of a lazy player that walks the field from many of his detractors. The Chivas attacker has also had more responsibilities given to him by el Vasco. Under Aguirre Bofo is expected to come down, round the center circle, and help recover the ball as well as initiate plays. By the end of the first half I notice Bofo combine on two ocassion with Guardado.

Bautista did not really alternate too much down the wings. He mainly stayed down the right wing and when he would come down to help defend he would attack down the center at which point many times he would play with his back to goal; even though he was far from the box.

And judging from Aguirre's comments he seems to like how Bautista performed. "What Bofo has best, much like Cuauhtemoc, is a great personality, he is a lad that wants the ball, that even though the fans are not in his favor he was capable of scoring two goals, he was capable of fighting and finish 90 miniutes in a very very good rythem, I am very happy," said Vasco after the match.

Interesting to note is Aguirre's comment on Bautistas rythem. Bautista is a player that last season did not get much playing time with Jaguares. Also, Bautista was not a starter with Chivas at the start of the season. Basically, Aguirre gambeled on a player that was not match fit and still batteling with rust.

This was very noticible in Bofo's first games with the national team. Most fans were quick to critisize Bautista and say that he is out of shape and did not belong with the national team. Bofo, however, was most likely being run down in rigorous camp training. The NT that participated in the GC had a similiar set up; loaded training session that made the squad look sluggish during the first round games but had the players firering on all cylinders by the time they reached the GC final.

I did not quote this one important aspect of Aguirre's thought's on Bautista but it is important to mention that el Vasco said that much like Temoc; Bofo can control a games tempo. This is where Bofo will come in handy. If he does not get sent home then I would really like to see him play against Italy.

 

Re: Mexico's Offense

The tactic, player movements, is not new the Seleccion has been playing this way for a few games now. We had a preview of Mexico's offensive set up during the Gold Cup; specially the second half of the final.

Indeed, and it makes it even more clear now as to why Vasco choosed to bring Alberto Medina to the World Cup. Medina is fast enough that he can maintain Mexico's fast game tempo if he is to sub Gio or Vela.

Is France's defense really slow? I ask because I have not seen them play and because in the past years they have had very good defenders.

I could have sworn that Mexico against Gambia was playing with a 3-4-3 formation. So, I went to Mediotiempo to check their formation on their match page and they also have 4-3-3 formation. Still, I have my doubts mainly because of the player movements I noticed during the game.

Using the Mediotiepo set up I can point out that Vela did not stay on the right and seemed to be free to switch wings. Bautista mostly ran down the right wing when Mexico had possesion and came down to the center cirlce area when Mexico did not have the ball. Also, Guardado played more in the center of the field and his role was that of Deep-Lying Playmaker; a role I had foolishly though Bautista would employ. Guardis even admited to his new role after the match.

Moving on to Marquez I could have sworn that he would cover Guarado's spot whenever he made a run down the left wing. BUWII, however, claims that he saw Salcido covering for Guardado. I did not pay much attention to all of the movements since I was concentrating on Bautista. In the match against Italy I will try to analyze Mexico's formation and player movements which can be difficult given the TV view.

I agree about Temoc but Bautista proved that he can keep up with the Young Guns. After the match Aguirre even claimed that he liked how Bofo maintained his rythm for the entire match. If Gio would have played in the Gambia match; he would of most likely been placed where Guardado was.

IMO, the Ace up the Sleeve would have to be a player that the opposition is not aware of and well I think given Juarez rise within the NT that he is not an unknown. Player wise I do not think Mexico has a hidden Ace. I take that back. We all know what Barrera is capable of and I think he could very well be that player.

When I posted about Bautista I meant that he was not Mexico's Ace but his positioning in the field; playing more as a creative midfielder rather than a striker could open a can of whoop ass.

IMO, Bautista did a good job of keeping up with the youger guys. I would like to see Bofo play against Italy just to see how he performs against a top team.

I agree about Barrera but what Excuses are you talking about? Are you saying that I am making excuses for Bautista's poor play with the NT pre-Gambia match?

I see Mexico playing 3-4-3 on offense and switching to 5-3-2 on defence. Let us go back to the Mediotiempo formation page and we can see that basically all Marquez has to do is drop down for Mexico to have five defenders. I will stubornly insist that Mexico was using 3-4-3 and in that scenario only the full backs would have to drop back, level with the center backs, and Mexico can maintain a back of four with Marquez still allowed to roam outside of the box; we can have a 4-1-2-3 line up in that sense.

However, I do not think that will be the case. I doubt Aguirre will just want two players at midfield. Which is why I think he has brought in Bofo who as pointed out allready drops to midfield when Mexico does not have the ball and Guardis also plays in the center. So; 3-4-3 attacking and a 5-3-2 defending with the likes of Bautista, Gio, and or Guardis playing as the third Midfielder.

The only problem I see with Plan A is that if Aguirre wanted to employ that tactic and have a target man to create space for the wingers then why did he not call up a back up. What happens if Franco get's injured or suspended. Would it not have made more sense then to bring in either Vuoso or Aldo DeNigris.

Has Aguirre ever played all five players at the same time? The one "flaw", for lack of a better word, about Plan B is the sheer inexperience of the Group. Out of the five players only Guardado has been playing first team football for the past four years. Chicharo only recently came into the scene. While Gio and Vela spend more time riding the pine. Barrera does have experience, at club level, but Aguirre has never considered him a starter; which begs the question is he hidding the player?

NOTE: Lavolpe, in an interview with Jorge Ramos, said that Mexico plays 4-3-3 and switches to 4-4-2 formation. So, now I wonder is El Cabrito a closet Lavolpista or does Lavolpe follow Cabrito on Twitter?

Going by Aguirre's words in the press conference after the Gambia match; Bautista is one of those players like Temoc with the ability to change the games Tempo!