Just when things were beginning to look up for Pedro Caixinha, they have suddenly taken a turn for the worse for the former Rangers boss, at Cruz Azul.
The Mexican top flight is split into two separate championships: the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura.
In late 2018, Caixinha’s side came top of the Apertura standings, three points clear of their closest challengers.
After success in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the play-offs, they then set up a two-legged final with Club America.
Up until that point, the Portuguese manager seemed to be proving his many detractors wrong in emphatic fashion.
However, since then, things have went a little pear-shaped.
After a stalemate in the first leg of the final, an Edson Alvarez brace secured a 2-0 aggregate win for their rivals.
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That was back in mid-December.
Now, with the new year, comes the second championship, the Clausura.
So far, it has been a different story altogether.
Caixinha’s side could only manage a draw in the opening fixture, away at Puebla, before succumbing to a late winner in the second, at home to Chivas.
Those results leave them languishing five points off top spot, after just two matches.
All teams go through blips, but the current run will serve as a wake up call, to a manager who seemed to have turned around his fortunes since leaving Rangers.
Perhaps, ultimately major success will evade the 48-year-old in this role, too.
