Chivas Hasn't Won in Four Games, But Milito Has Pulled the Team Out of Slumps Before

Four games without a win. That's the number putting Chivas back under the microscope, but for anyone who knows how Gabriel Milito operates in Guadalajara, the stat shouldn't sound like a full-blown alarm: the Argentine coach has been here before, more than once, and so far he's always found a way out.

It all started, ironically, with a match Chivas was winning. In the Clasico Nacional against America, Chivas went up 0-2 at halftime and looked set to extend its good run. But a bicycle kick from Miguel Borja breathed new life into the Eagles, who ended up tying the match. Even so, that result kept alive an unbeaten streak of eight games in Liga MX.

The real blow came the following matchday, at home, with a 0-2 loss to Queretaro. That result exposed several of the team's shortcomings and also coincided with a FIFA date that sent several players to the treatment table: Luis Romo joined the list of absences alongside Bryan Gonzalez, Jose Castillo and Miguel Gomez, none of whom have been able to return yet. Two more draws followed, against Atlas and Tigres, matches in which Milito's side again failed to show its best version.

And yet, despite this four-game winless run, Chivas remains in fourth place with 20 points, and a combination of results in the upcoming double matchday could even put it back in second place overall. For now, the crisis coexists with an enviable spot in the standings.

Milito himself addressed the team's current moment with a tone that mixed self-criticism and confidence:

I still have full confidence in the team and in the players. I see them capable of getting back to winning and finding that consistency in results that this team has shown before. Sometimes in soccer these rough patches happen, and without using injuries as an excuse, you have to get out of them quickly. For that, self-belief is very important, I'm talking about the players, and belief in the team as a whole.Gabriel Milito

This isn't the first time

If Milito's run in Guadalajara makes anything clear, it's that rough patches aren't new for this squad, which has stayed largely intact since the Apertura 2025. Players like Roberto Alvarado, Ricardo Marin, Luis Romo and Raul Rangel have already gone through similar stretches and come out the other side.

In the Clausura 2026, the Argentine's best tournament in charge of the team (he finished second, only behind Pumas on goal difference), there were two slumps. The first, back-to-back losses to Cruz Azul and Toluca, was closed out with a 5-0 thrashing of Leon. The second, in the closing stretch of the tournament, included a 3-1 loss in the first leg of the Quarterfinals against Tigres that was turned around with a 2-0 win in the second leg thanks to a brace from Santiago Sandoval.

The toughest precedent, though, came at the start of his tenure, in the Apertura 2025: elimination in the Leagues Cup, a loss to Santos, a defeat to FC Juarez, a draw against Xolos and another loss to Cruz Azul, a stretch that dropped Chivas to second-to-last place. The way out came, once again, in a Clasico Nacional: a win over America that hadn't been achieved in eight years and that opened the door to breaking a year-and-a-half drought without reaching the Liguilla.

With that history in mind, the midweek matchup against Necaxa looks like the perfect chance for Chivas to snap the streak and settle into the tournament's top four.