Hard to say it wasn’t a successful defensive season for FCD: they posted the second-best defensive record in the league and tied for the best FCD defensive record of the last decade (after 2021, their worst season). The biggest difference year-on-year (besides getting to about-average GK play from Paes after Jimmy Maurer’s awful 2021)? Going all-in on defense at the fullback position. Out went legendary baller Ryan Hollingshead and in came defensive specialist Marco Farfan. Out went the rampaging pseudo-wingers of Luchi-ball, and a much more cautious approach was built to protect FCD’s languid CB duo from having to cover too much ground laterally.
Building 2023: The Defense’s Weakness was its Strength
