U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has defended both his player selection and the team’s performance after a 2-0 loss to South Korea on Saturday, which marked his seventh loss in 17 games since taking the job less than a year ago.

Pochettino described the USMNT as “better than South Korea” in the friendly after outshooting the opponents 17-5. However, the team once again looked disjointed, raising concerns about team chemistry with just nine months to go and approximately 10 friendly games remaining on the schedule before the World Cup. Many of the questions on Saturday focused on defense, with Tristan Blackmon failing to impress in his debut while mainstay Chris Richards was on the bench. Pochettino indicated that Richards arrived at camp with a minor “issue” that limited him to a substitute appearance. However, on Monday, he accused critics of lacking common sense with their remarks.

“The important thing is to apply common sense. If people want to sometimes talk about bullshit, they can talk about bullshit,” he said in his pre-match remarks before a friendly against Japan.

Pochettino also highlighted Malik Tillman, who broke out during the Concacaf Gold Cup and joined Bayer Leverkusen over the summer. Tillman picked up an injury during preseason that hindered his involvement in Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga match, although he managed to play 61 minutes the following week just before the international break started.

Pochettino refused to be drawn into external criticism, asserting it detracts from the players’ progress:

“It’s only when people talk, that they need to think a little bit that always, there can be another way to assess and to analyze the thing. It’s not only being negative … To be critical is one thing because I like the criticism when you say things that are right, but when it’s merely for criticism’s sake, I find it damaging for your country and for your players…”