Five weeks into the Liga MX Apertura, we’re starting to get a better idea of what clubs are for real, which ones are pretenders and which clubs are simply looking relegation-battle-bound.
Luis Ramos, Tom Buckley, Tom Freeman-Eves, and I (Garett Kerber) put our heads together to come up with our first Viva Liga MX Power Rankings.
Without further ado, here are the inaugural Viva Liga MX Power Rankings for the 2018 Apertura.
Luis Ramos: Cruz Azul should stick to playing with 10 men on the field, they are unstoppable and true no.1
Tom Buckley: Elías Hernández and Roberto Alvarado providing spark on offense in front of league’s stingiest defense.
Garett Kerber: Despite the poor performance against Queretaro, Las Aguilas have shown themselves to be a title favorite. Opponents can catch them on a bad night, but they still have the talent to pull out victories if the situation calls for it. Their form on the road is a little concerning, though.
TB: When this offense starts to click, watch out! Pizarro still getting comfortable with new teammates.
GK: Santos’ 3-1 win over Tigres should cement them as being a solid Liguilla team, Furch and Rodriguez are a hand-full up front. I almost put them as my #3 team, to be honest.
LR: Santos have creeped their way up to 2nd in the table but they’ve played teams in the bottom of the table and Tigres were without 2 starters. Still not sold on the reigning champs.
LR: Pumas finally got tested and failed vs Monterrey. Let’s see if they bounce back vs Queretaro
GK: Starting to look like the team I picked to win the Apertura before the season, finally. If they keep this form once Sambueza comes back, they’ll shoot up these rankings.
LR: Monarcas have been playing excellent football and have found ways to win games.
TB: Coach Roberto Hernández pulling all the right strings. Solid and steady.
Tom Freeman-Eves: I don’t anticipate that Tigres will be in any real trouble but Toluca and Monarcas will be battling it out to stave off the likes of Necaxa to secure their postseason position.
GK: Can we safely say there will be a new Apertura champ this season? They went 1 for 3 on penalty kicks this past week against Santos. Depending on your perspective, that could be taken different ways. Are they just not getting converting the chances, or are they showing themselves to be “finish-deficient”?
Smooth-flowing offense offset by leaky defense. Not a good combination.
LR:
Necaxa has done enough to stay right in the middle of the pack. When they should be in the top 5
More from Viva Liga MX
- Guillermo Ochoa is out 4-6 weeks
- The Clásico Regiomontano is Heating Up
- Pumas: In Search of Regaining a Top Spot
- Why the United States Is Set to Overtake Mexico on the World Stage
- Erick Gutierrez is out once again
TFE: Tijuana have both been very up and down but I anticipate that they’ll steady the ship as the season goes on. Tijuana’s home form in particular is a big reason for their ranking.
TB: Mauro Boselli has yet to get on track but this team will find a way.
GK: Talk will center largely on America’s performance in the 1-1 draw, but Queretaro deserves a ton of credit for their play. Their aggressive style should serve them well.
TB: Tiago Volpi in-goal is fun to watch. A little ragged on offense, but if Puch finds his scoring touch …
LR: Chivas finally won a game but it was against Veracruz…..
TB: Not much separates #11 through #15. If Chivas beat Necaxa Tuesday, they can switch places.
LR: Puebla manages to find ways to lose their games. A coaching change wouldn’t hurt the team
TB: Simply don’t have the roster to challenge. Could be relegated for second straight season.
GK: I’d like to see Lobos get creative tactically, their roster isn’t talented enough to cause enough damage on its own. Time to differentiate from the 4-4-2 type systems most Mexican teams are playing. What have they got to lose at this point?
GK: We’ll wait to see how Leo Ulloa’s addition effects this team’s ranking. Their performance against Lobos wasn’t enough for me to push them past Lobos in my rankings just yet.
LR: To follow-up their impressive tie vs Pumas, they defeated a weak Lobos team. This might be the spark they needed to turn their season around.
TFE: Atlas have had a disastrous start whereas Veracruz and Chivas have practically imploded. If Juarez can press on and take that top spot in the Liga de Ascenso, one of these teams could be in real trouble come the end of the season.
GK: Atlas is really bad. Leon got better after I tweeted that they looked awful so you can thank me later, Zorros fans!
TB: An absolute mess. Can players focus despite not getting full wages?
There it is: the Viva Liga MX Power Rankings after 5 rounds of play. Tuesday marks a new Jornada, so we’ll have predictions out soon!
I’ve hammered on this a few times since Saturday, but Jornada 5 was the kind of on-the-pitch product Liga MX needed to divert attention away from the off-the-pitch mess, at least to some degree. As the table starts to take shape, we’ll continue to adjust our rankings and expectations, but Liga MX tends to be so unpredictable, you may want to stay tuned.