Why Are Atlas FC and Tomas Boy Struggling In Liga MX Play?

Atlas FC came into the Liga MX Clausura 2014 season with a lot of optimism and hope. Even though the team found itself in a relegation battle with Atlante, the distance between the two was not significant. Just as importantly, Atlas received a dose of stability as they were bought by Grupo Salinas/TV Azteca while Tomas Boy, the man who had stepped down six months prior, was returning to coach the team.

Well, three games into the Clausura 2014 season, and Atlas only have an opening game draw against Xolos de Tijuana to their credit. After having lost to Atlante this past Saturday, they are only five points from being relegated. To top everything off, they host Club America in Week 4. So why have things not started of well in Boy’s second stint as the Atlas coach?

The main reason is the absence of two players who were with Atlas when Boy was last coaching, Omar Bravo and Isaac Brizuela. The former is now with rival Chivas, while the latter is back with Toluca after a loan spell with Atlas. These two players were a large part of what made Atlas a competitive team during the 2013 Clausura season as they were the two attacking lynchpins.

Although Boy is trying to replace what Bravo and Brizuela brought to the table with the likes of Edson Rivera and Matias Vuoso, it has not produced the desired results. It is also clear that the players brought in to help save the team from relegation troubles have yet to either find their way to produce or show that they are good enough to.

Boy has made it a point to say that he will not place the burden of surviving relegation on the squad’s young players. That being the case, it is incumbent on the veteran players to step up and produce, something that happened during Boy’s first stint as coach.

Then again, the mistake could be that any of us expected Boy to repeat what he did in his first go-around, as their are numerous examples of successful coaches whose second stints with the same teams did not yield desired results.

Lucas Carreras is a contributing Soccer and San Francisco 49ers writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow Lucas on Twitter by following him @maldini3fan and you can add him to your network on Google.