Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith has defended Wilfried Zaha amid criticism of his recent performances, as the Crown prepare to visit Nashville SC on Saturday.

Zaha was a big-name recruit for Charlotte ahead of the 2025 MLS season, following spells in Turkey and France with Galatasaray and Lyon.

He scored on his debut against Atlanta United and has three goals in nine games for Smith's team, though his recent performances have been criticised with Charlotte losing back-to-back matches against the New England Revolution (0-1) and Columbus Crew (2-4).

After that latter defeat, Zaha took to Instagram to lash out as his critics, writing: "Typical. We lost a game and somehow, it's Zaha's fault. I'm not a scapegoat for people to waffle about anymore."

Smith has spoken up in defence of his winger ahead of Saturday's trip to Nashville, who are one place and two points behind Charlotte in the Eastern Conference.

The former Aston Villa boss said: "If we've got pundits criticising designated players who come into the league, because they're not scoring 10 goals in 10 games and doing cartwheels and walking on their hands, then they need to respect the league.

"Because if they are coming in and scoring 10 goals, then it doesn't make it a very competitive league. I think it's a really competitive league. 

"Somebody who's not been playing for nearly over a year, he's not going to come in straight away and be fluid, taking on four players at a time. 

"Pundits see bits of games at times and or see one game. I think that's disappointing, when they get criticism like that."

Nashville drew 1-1 with Atlanta in their most recent league game, then overcame the Chattanooga Red Wolves 1-0 in the U.S. Open Cup in midweek despite rotating heavily.

"I thought we saw good individual performances from a lot of players that fit into what I considered a really good collective performance," coach B.J. Callaghan said.

"They made it extremely difficult for us to play and get rhythm. But I think what we took away is that the depth and the versatility of our team were an asset."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar 

Mukhtar has scored five goals in six career matches against Charlotte, more than any other player has scored against the Crown in the club's MLS history. 

Mukhtar has only scored more goals against the Chicago Fire (eight) and Atlanta United (seven) in his MLS career.

Charlotte FC – Darlington Nagbe

Eleven of the 18 shots Columbus attempted against Charlotte last Saturday were on target, the most shots on target conceded by the Crown in a single game in their history.

Holding midfielder Nagbe will hope to tighten things up next time out.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Charlotte have lost two straight matches after losing only two of their previous 14 regular-season games, in a run dating back to last September (W10 D2).

The Crown have won their last two matches against Nashville, both at home, including a 2-1 success on April 5. 

Nashville are unbeaten in two meetings at home against Charlotte, however, posting a win and a draw, and they tend to enjoy playing at GEODIS Park.

Nashville have won four of their last five regular-season home matches (L1), including the last two in a row. 

They last won three straight games at GEODIS Park during a six-match winning streak overall between April and June 2023.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nashville SC – 38%

Charlotte – 35.6%

Draw – 26.4%