Matías Almeyda knows all about taking over at one of the biggest clubs in a country during times of crisis after leading River Plate back to the top flight in the aftermath of the first relegation in their history. This morning, Mexican club, Chivas confirmed that the 41-year-old Argentine would be the man tasked with reversing the fortunes of the Guadalajara giants and ensuring their Liga MX survival.

 Having been ensconced in a hotel in Guadalajara since the weekend, Chivas’ interest in Almeyda was no secret and following Friday night’s defeat to Tijuana, the end was inevitably close for José Manuel de la Torre. Sitting only one place above newly promoted Dorados de Sinaloa in the descenso table, Chivas are skirting a catastrophic relegation out of the top flight for the first time in their history. 

This is a pretty familiar story for Matías Almeyda – he was a player in 2011 when River Plate lost their struggle against relegation and fell into the Nacional B for the first time. A successful playing career in Europe and with the national team ended with this disastrous moment in River’s history and Almeyda was appointed manager at the Monumental. Landing in the hot-seat at the Estadio Omnilife at this juncture, at least provides Almeyda with time to avoid this fate but unlike at River, where the midfielder enjoyed iconic status with the supporters, in México, Almeyda arrives relatively unknown and completely inexperienced with Mexican football.

Chivas have been in trouble for sometime now and the appointment of Chepo de la Torre was supposed to bring in a new era, one which Chepo was able to represent being that he was in charge when Los Rojiblancos last tasted success in 2006. Initially it appeared to have worked with results improving but the current season has seen the dark clouds gather once again and it has prompted owner, Jorge Vergara to swing the axe.

The appointment of a revered older coach during tumultuous times is one that is common in Argentina but Vergara has now gone in the opposite direction. In a club statement following the firing of Chepo, Chivas said: “The club has not achieved the required results to date, forcing us to take this difficult decision and find another way to achieve the goals of the club and meet the expectations of our fans.”

This ambition and expectation led Vergara to Almeyda and before even De La Torre was officially out, the Argentine told reporters in Guadalajara: “I met with the president. I had a meeting an hour ago, and it was about football. We exchanged footballing ideas, and now there is one meeting left, and we’ll see how it goes.” 

Those meetings obviously went well and Almeyda is now the eighth coach since 2013. Arriving at a club in turmoil and for an owner who has shown little patience over his 13 year tenure of the club, Almeyda will require an immediate impact to survive.

The question now is whether or not Almeyda can do that. Two Nacional B titles in Argentina, with River Plate and Banfield and a reputation of attacking and attractive football are hardly the qualifications that most Chivas supporters would demand. Guiding River back to the top-flight was necessary but not the most demanding of tasks and perhaps it could be argued he wasn’t given enough time back in the Primera. At Banfield, he certainly had the time but results were always inconsistent. The club and Almeyda agreed to the separation on good terms but Banfield have certainly not suffered since his departure.

Almeyda’s sides will break with speed and should be easy on the eye if his time in Argentina is anything to go by but it is results that matter with Chivas. The 41-year-old is taking over one of the youngest squads in Liga MX and will require them to adjust to his methods almost immediately. There is no time for acclimatisation for Almeyda or the players and so the pressure is immense.