Jorge Almirón has stepped down as Independiente by mutual consent in the aftermath of Sunday’s clásico de Avellaneda defeat and a poor run of results in 2015. El Rojo have been without a league win since March, a run of eight matches and the defeat to Racing proved to be the final straw. With the pressure at breaking point it is understood Almirón offered his resignation and agreed with president Hugo Moyano and the board that he will leave immediately.

The 43-year-old coach oversaw a successful first season back in the Primera after promotion from the Nacional B as Independiente finished fourth. Moyano and the board backed Almirón with a policy of heavy recruitment over the summer but have been left frustrated with the side seemingly going backwards rather than mounting a title challenge as they had ambitiously suggested at the start of the season.

In spite of the growing discontent from the stands Moyano had publically backed Almirón in recent weeks. However, Moyano also made the point that the club were still paying several previous coaches who had been fired and the impression was that the president was loathed to add Almirón to this list.

Perhaps crucially, it is reported that Almirón is only being paid up until tomorrow and is leaving without compensation. The manager will visit the Villa Domínico training ground to say his goodbyes to the players and staff and then Fernando Berón, the reserves coach, or Abel Alves, youth side director, will take temporary charge. 

At this point there are a whole host of names being linked to the post with Moyano mentioning coaches varying from Mauricio Pellegrino, Juan Antonio Pizzi, and Diego Cagna to Ricardo La Volpe. Either way, the interim coach will likely oversee the next match against Tigre and perhaps even the one after that.

After the investment of the summer, results have not been good enough in the Estadio Libertadores de América in 2015. The defence remains a real problem for Independiente after it was evidently the issue during the Torneo Transición. Despite spending a lot of money, centre defence was not really improved and at full-back El Rojo brought in Gustavo Toledo and Nicolás Tagliafico, both of which prefer going forwards. Tagliafico at least appears to add something to this side but so far Toledo has been very poor.

Elsewhere, the signing of Lucas Albertengo has been a great success but money appears to have been wasted on other options. José Valencia has made only a few brief substitute appearances and Claudio Aquino likewise finds himself outside the first team set-up.

The broken leg to defensive midfielder Diego Rodríguez has caused real problems but Almirón does not appear to have dealt with this. The result of this injury has seen captain Federico Mancuello drop deeper and therefore not influence games in the way that he did during the Transición and Independiente have looked like less of an attacking threat as a result.

President Hugo Moyano now begins the process of looking for a new coach again but the half season break could not come soon enough really for Independiente.