End of Paco Jémez's Era at Cruz Azul

After almost a year, the coach and the club decided not to renew the contract that was due to expire at the end of Apertura 2017.

Not Much to Boast About

Yes, Paco is leaving Mexican football with little to boast about. Although in his last press conference he claimed that they had "made many fans happy," the truth is that he did not improve upon what previous coaches had done.

It is true that he led the team to the playoffs, but with the quality of the squad he had and the semester of adaptation they gave him, it was more than an obligatory objective. And in the final phase, he was unable to score a goal against América, especially in the first game when they had a man advantage for almost an hour.

Jémez joins the list of coaches who arrived with high expectations and did not achieve the goal of giving the institution the desired title. Even though he may believe he succeeded, the truth is that he fell far short of being one of the coaches who deserve to be remembered at this club.

WHAT HE FELL SHORT ON

47 Percent Effectiveness: Speaking in numbers, Jémez's performance at Cruz Azul is far from the best. The coach directed 34 regular season games in his two tournaments, earning just 48 points out of the 102 that were at stake, which means a 47 percent productivity. In other words, he couldn't even reach half of the available points. In his first tournament, he failed to qualify, and in the second, he settled for securing a spot in the playoffs.

More Draws Than Wins: Jémez's Cruz Azul team struggled to achieve victories, instead it was characterized by obtaining mostly draws. Out of the 34 league games and two playoff matches, 14 ended in draws, with only 12 wins in both tournaments and 10 losses.

Neither Spectacular Nor Goal Scorer: Paco Jémez arrived at Cruz Azul with the reputation of being a daring coach who did not like to speculate results and, above all, prioritized spectacle. Well, although La Máquina showed flashes of this style Paco wanted in some games, it ultimately fell far below expectations. With the attacking players that La Máquina had, they were only able to score 41 goals in 36 matches, an average of just 1.13 goals per game.

Lack of Self-criticism: One thing that distinguished Jémez during his year with Cruz Azul was the complete lack of self-criticism towards his own work. In the first tournament, when the team failed to make the playoffs, the coach attributed his team's poor performance to luck. He even went as far as saying, "I've never seen anything like this in my career." And now, in his last two games, he was able to describe his team's performance as excellent, despite being limited in attack and lacking variations. The team only threatened América through set pieces.

Confrontational Personality: From the incident with a fan to confrontations with the media, Jémez always showed an explosive and impatient personality. He was always direct, and Paco definitely gave people something to talk about.