FU: Well, that was 40 nice minutes and 50 putrid ones
Granted, we were thin at CB today, but yikes.
Not beating a team like Belgium…
by PMan 
, The Banks of the Spokane River, Sunday, March 29, 2026, 07:40 (3 days ago) @ HCE
without Adams and Richards, and playing Ream.
Ream will be just fine against Paraguay and Australia, as long as Richards is healthy.
Losing Richards was bad news
and while I had hoped for better from Weah, I'm not surprised that Doku gave us fits--he's terrorized much better defenses than ours.
Still, I'm disappointed that, other than some bright moments from Robinson, there were so few encouraging signs anywhere on the pitch or, for that matter, from the sidelines.
The formation was all wrong for dealing with Doku…
by PMan , The Banks of the Spokane River, Sunday, March 29, 2026, 10:42 (3 days ago) @ HCE
and Saelemaekers, although Jedi held his own.
Belgium is a team you should defend with 5 across the back, and hit on the counter and with set pieces.
The 3 CB stats are crazy under Poch.
by PMan , The Banks of the Spokane River, Monday, March 30, 2026, 10:24 (2 days ago) @ PMan
Playing Poch's (preferred) 4-2-3-1: 8 wins, 8 losses, 1 draw. GD +1. GA/match 1.6.
Playing with 3 CBs: 5 wins, 1 draw. GD +10. GA/match 0.7.
Sounds like Richards is back for the friendly tomorrow. Just play 3 CBs and don't let Portugal blow you out, Poch.
Poch is really making me nervous
I appreciate that playing a back three sans Richards is a tough ask, but failing to adjust, once it became clear that Weah was getting badly outclassed, is just plain weird.
As a rule, I take my friendly results with a ton of salt; still, I'm working on a theory that Poch is just a bad manager who doesn't know what he's doing.
Seems to have decided to play without a true 9 tonight.
by PMan , The Banks of the Spokane River, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 14:56 (20 hours, 52 minutes ago) @ HCE
- No text -