Liga MX: Santos Laguna hosts Monterrey intending to keep pace at the top of the table

Santos Laguna remains just two points behind the top spot in Liga MX and now face a Monterrey side still trying to reach their potential.

The first match of Jornada 14 sees Santos Laguna taking on Monterrey at Estadio Corona in Torreon, Mexico on Friday evening at 7 pm CDT. Monterrey just advanced in the Copa MX, but haven’t found their best form in Liga MX, yet. Santos, meanwhile, have been the most consistently good club in the league and sit third in the table behind Club America (27 points) and Cruz Azul (26 points). Only Club America has more points in their last five matches than Los Guerreros.

Last Match

Santos: D @ Pachuca 1-1

Three minutes into this key match-up, Pachuca’s Victor Guzman took a Emmanuel Garcia pass and put it past Jonathan Orozco to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Garcia would be subbed off in the 34th minute with an injury, however, weakening Los Tuzos’ chances at adding on to their advantage. They did their best to hold on tight to their single-goal lead, with goalkeeper Alfonso Blanco receiving a yellow card for time-wasting in the 80th minute. Then, in the 85th minute, Julio Furch added to his Player of the Apertura resume, bagging his tenth goal on the season. That would be all the scoring in the match, and Santos went home happy to get a point on the road.

Monterrey: W v Toluca 2-1

The first half went back and forth with both teams sharing their chances, but Toluca maintaining 56% of possession before the halftime whistle. Just five minutes after the break, Osvaldo Gonzalez found the scoresheet, and Monterrey would need to do some work to come away with points. Jesus Gallardo provided the first Rayados goal off a pass from Dorlan Pabon in the 73rd minute and then Daniel Lajud scored what would eventually become the game-winning goal. It was the 19-year-old Mexican’s first goal in his first appearance of the year for Monterrey. Tempers would boil over for Toluca as they tried to regain points, and Rubens Sambueza was shown his second red card in eight total matches for violent conduct just before the final whistle.

Predicted Lineups

Santos: 4-3-3

Orozco
Abella – Nervo – Doria – Angulo
Martinez- Vazquez – Lozano
Preciado- Furch – Rodriguez

Sometimes I like to predict the lineup I want, rather than the one I expect to see and this is one of those times. I really like Santos in a 4-3-3 with Ayrton Preciado joining Julio Furch and Jonathan Gonzalez up front. I think it gives them even more “oomph” in attack and allows for more clearly defined areas of responsibility in the midfield. Osvaldo Martinez has played well the last few weeks, however, so I won’t be overly disappointed when they use the 4-4-2, in reality. Carlos Orrantia was an unexpected insertion into the Santos starting eleven last week and he fared well before being subbed off at half for Preciado. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get another start this week.

Monterrey: 3-5-2

Barovero
Molina – Sanchez – Montes
Gutierrez – Gonzalez – Ortiz – Gallardo – Vangioni
Pabon – Madrigal

Head coach Diego Alonso rolled out a 3-5-2 formation last week against Toluca, as well as two weeks ago against Cruz Azul, so we’ll assume they play it again, this week. Rogelio Funes Mori is still serving a red-card suspension and so Guillermo Madrigal gets the call up front again. Cesar Montes started against Cruz Azul and played well, but wasn’t in the team to face Toluca. I think he will be back and slotted into the back three. I haven’t seen the latest on Jonathan Gonzalez, who left in the first half of the match against Toluca with an injury, but if he can’t go, expect Carlos Rodriguez to take his place in the eleven.

Key Players

Santos: Jonathan Rodriguez

The last time these two clubs faced off was in the 2018 Clausura. Santos won the match 3-2 behind two goals from Jonathan Gonzalez and another from Julio Furch. If Santos wants to have similar success, Rodriguez can help immensely by providing a similar performance. Currently sitting on seven goals on the season, he and Furch will be a handful for Monterrey.

Monterrey: Guillermo Madrigal

Los Rayados’ top scorer this season is their 32-year-old center back, Nicolas Sanchez. They will need someone like Guillermo Madrigal to step up and find some offense in this match, though. The Mexican striker has just 2 goals in 10 appearances this season, but the back line of Monterrey will have to focus their attention on stopping Furch, Rodriguez, and company, meaning Madrigal will need to either find goals himself, or be dangerous enough to force fouls in dangerous positions for his club.

Prediction

Monterrey has been underwhelming this Apertura, but they haven’t been bad. They are just two points behind Santos, who have been consistently good all year. With none of their forwards or midfielders providing a consistent offensive threat, though, it’s hard to see this match-up working in their favor. As noted above, the Monterrey defense will be busy defending against two of the top four goal scorers in Liga MX, limiting their opportunities to get forward. They might be able to sneak one past the solid Santos defense, but I have a hard time envisioning much more.

Santos 2 – Monterrey 1

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