Pulisic doesn't really light up interviews with his personality, but it seemed a bit odd in one of his recent interviews when he talked about Tuchel. He didn't seem excited to share much about the relationship which made me wonder if he is really that tight with the manager. Tuchel even admitted that his familiarity with Pulisic is probably working against him. The last couple months only raise more questions about the relationship. Tuchel seems to like him as an individual and talent, just not for the shape and style he wants the team to play right now. He's literally one of the last names on the team sheet next to Emerson which is an incredible change.

Pulisic's going to come under pressure as a leader on his national team to get consistent minutes before WC qualifiers start in 6 months. His national coach probably has Tuchel on speed-dial. While Chelsea have a number of players on national teams, not many shoulder the sort of expectations Pulisic does on his. That doesn't mean he's more deserving of playing time, but it does explain the spotlight he's currently under and why people need to be patient. 

Let's see what the next 3 months bring. If he can't get the consistent time he needs to get back in form, he will probably have to go elsewhere on a transfer or loan because his national duties will demand it.

 

 

 

Man City star Joao Cancelo makes big claim over Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic:

https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/pulisic-chelsea-cancelo-man-city-20080068

Speaking to Star Sports ahead of City’s trip to Fulham on Saturday evening, Cancelo said of the 22-year-old Blues star: “I usually chat with my colleagues about it.

“It may sound strange but, for me, the most difficult winger I have faced in the Premier League is Pulisic from Chelsea.

“He is a very skilful and fast player with the ball, with quick dribbles, so for me he is the most difficult winger I have played.”

We all know how good he can be. When he's on top of his game and injury free, he can be Hazardesque. Love how he runs at defenders and beats them - something CHO doesn't do enough of.

His time will come. Just need him to get back to FULL fitness and regain his confidence and I'm sure he will be giving defenders nightmares again but right now he has to remain on the bench.

Edited March 11, 20215 yr by Nibs

I find it funny how when we start doing well the media links every one of our players with a move. In just the last week Pulisic, Ziyech, Werner and Tammy have all been linked with exits. Its so clear the majority of these journalists have no idea what's going on behind the scenes and just infer based on what they see in games.

Pulisic has been said by Fabrizio Romano to being calm about the situation and willing to wait until the end of the season before making any decisions.

 I'm only worried if we get to the end of the season and Pulisic's minutes remain the same under TT to what they currently are. I refuse to believe TT doesn't have faith in Pulisic as he's the one that gave him his first start as a teenager.

My only conclusions at the moment are we play a system without out and out attacking wingers due to the wing backs pushing high up. For the most part due to his injuries Pulisic doesn't fot that role I'm assuming the constant running can't be good for his muscles I could be wrong.

Secondly and this is the most likely reason he doesn't seem play is he needs to work out on his ball retention. Notice how we didn't see Kai for a good while (due to injury) which a few of us predicted maybe a umbrella term for getting to grips with TTs tactics etc.

Based on this it could be that TT doesn't trust him to play a full 90 yet due to injury concerns and or tactics (i.e needs to learn how to be more press resistant and play more like last season 1-2s less dribbling).

Finally, I believe TT may see more potential in Christian than a lot of people (including us his fans) and so is trying to provoke him to perform better in limited cameos. He clearly trusts Christian because you wouldn't put out a player to see out games if you thought they were a liability and this makes me think it may not just be that he loses the ball too much beacuse that can be fixed.

If you look at how TT has worked he has slowly introduced key players back into the starting 11 (Hakim, Kurt, Ben, Reece and most notably the duo of Kante & Kai) I wouldn't be surprised if he has a similar plan for Christian. 

 

13 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

I find it funny how when we start doing well the media links every one of our players with a move. In just the last week Pulisic, Ziyech, Werner and Tammy have all been linked with exits. Its so clear the majority of these journalists have no idea what's going on behind the scenes and just infer based on what they see in games.

Pulisic has been said by Fabrizio Romano to being calm about the situation and willing to wait until the end of the season before making any decisions.

 I'm only worried if we get to the end of the season and Pulisic's minutes remain the same under TT to what they currently are. I refuse to believe TT doesn't have faith in Pulisic as he's the one that gave him his first start as a teenager.

My only conclusions at the moment are we play a system without out and out attacking wingers due to the wing backs pushing high up. For the most part due to his injuries Pulisic doesn't fot that role I'm assuming the constant running can't be good for his muscles I could be wrong.

Secondly and this is the most likely reason he doesn't seem play is he needs to work out on his ball retention. Notice how we didn't see Kai for a good while (due to injury) which a few of us predicted maybe a umbrella term for getting to grips with TTs tactics etc.

Based on this it could be that TT doesn't trust him to play a full 90 yet due to injury concerns and or tactics (i.e needs to learn how to be more press resistant and play more like last season 1-2s less dribbling).

Finally, I believe TT may see more potential in Christian than a lot of people (including us his fans) and so is trying to provoke him to perform better in limited cameos. He clearly trusts Christian because you wouldn't put out a player to see out games if you thought they were a liability and this makes me think it may not just be that he loses the ball too much beacuse that can be fixed.

If you look at how TT has worked he has slowly introduced key players back into the starting 11 (Hakim, Kurt, Ben, Reece and most notably the duo of Kante & Kai) I wouldn't be surprised if he has a similar plan for Christian. 

 

8 attackers, 3 position. No matter how you spin it, somebody will play very little 

That is true, and these attackers are quite young. They want to establish themselves and will not be happy to sit on the bench patiently for a whole season.

 

https://www.talkchelsea.net/news/joao-cancelo-glorifies-chelsea-winger-as-the-most-difficult-to-play-against/

 

Pulisic should only be used as a sub at present, he is a shadow of what he was last season. 

Sadly, I have to agree. He has a few good crosses early in the game, but was rather quiet most of the day.

Don't know what's wrong with him, but he looks terribly lacking confidence and bite to his game.

To be fair though, most of the attackers are also in bad form; outside of Mount.

 

Very quiet game again.  Doesn't seem to be able to impact a game anymore.  All too often we loses his footing when dribbling, and that immediate burst of pace isn't quite there.  Perhaps that comes with sharpness.

The best thing about Pulisic last year was end product.  This year, 1 goal in 19 is not enough.

I would 100% not sell him I want him to be the future of this team. With that said a loan for 2 seasons may do him a world of good. It pains me to say this because he's my favourite current Chelsea player he earned that through his performances last season.

Playing regular football in a different league allowing him to build fitness and form may be what's needed. I would say give him another season with TT but as it stands we really need a 20+ goals a season striker a 20+ assists playmaker (or 10+ goals & 10+ assits) and another player that can contribute at least 15+ g/a and sadly no one seems to fit the bill of the present personnel.

He's still got plenty of time to justify the faith we have in him but if things don't start to improve for him I think a loan would be the best option without a buy option he is 100% not for sale!

Edited March 13, 20215 yr by LongtimerLurker

5 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Very quiet game again.  Doesn't seem to be able to impact a game anymore.  All too often we loses his footing when dribbling, and that immediate burst of pace isn't quite there.  Perhaps that comes with sharpness.

The best thing about Pulisic last year was end product.  This year, 1 goal in 19 is not enough.

The burst is not there right now. It just isn't.  Watch his highlights from last year or at dortmond.  He would skate by defenders and get 5 yards separation in a blink. Not this year. And I love the guy. As an American became a Chelsea fan because of him like so many. 

 

I wouldn't sell him if I were Chelsea....a year on loan getting alot of playing time would be good. His talent when FULLY fit and in form is undeniable.  You don't sell a player like that at when he's off.  

5 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Very quiet game again.  Doesn't seem to be able to impact a game anymore.  All too often we loses his footing when dribbling, and that immediate burst of pace isn't quite there.  Perhaps that comes with sharpness.

The best thing about Pulisic last year was end product.  This year, 1 goal in 19 is not enough.

I assume he started today because CHO was rested for Athletico. I doubt his performance today will help him get closer to a regular start. He is probably going to be featuring from the bench for now, unless injuries give him a chance or he makes a major impact on a game.

Yorkie and I disagreed a lot about him, but I will say had we kept Willian this season he would have produced far more imo than Pulisic and Ziyech and worked twice as hard too.

Might as well have had Ambrosetti and Kakuta on the wings they probably would have done more than  these two useless individuals.

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Yorkie and I disagreed a lot about him, but I will say had we kept Willian this season he would have produced far more imo than Pulisic and Ziyech and worked twice as hard too.

Might as well have had Ambrosetti and Kakuta on the wings they probably would have done more than  these two useless individuals.

All of attackers have not been good this year from a goals/game perspective and the eye test. (Besides Giroud and Mount) ....We just haven't had enough quality in the final third. 

 

William is a good all around footballer but if your saying we need him for goals and assists I have to disagree. There a reason most Chelsea fans didn't have a problem with him leaving. Also he had 0 goals/assists first 16 appearances at Arsenal.

3 minutes ago, Browerkid said:

All of attackers have not been good this year from a goals/game perspective and the eye test. (Besides Giroud and Mount) ....We just haven't had enough quality in the final third. 

 

William is a good all around footballer but if your saying we need him for goals and assists I have to disagree. There a reason most Chelsea fans didn't have a problem with him leaving. Also he had 0 goals/assists first 16 appearances at Arsenal.

Was still the right move to let him go. However for us he would be more productive than he has been for Arsenal imo.

He was poor today - but that said, for me, this was another case of Mr Tickle putting round pegs in square holes.

For me, Pulisic is not a false 9, not a LWB and not a 10 center ATM - he is a LW/Left attacking midfielder and I think he needs games in his natural position on the left.  The issue is that the current system more often than not sees him battling with Mason.

 

Everything said is true.  He has not fully come back from the hamstring injury and he may well not be for the rest of the season.  Pulisic however has an excuse!  The rest of Chelsea is putrid in the attack.  Chelsea spent all that money on German royalty and it has not panned out!  TT brand of football is boring and makes my eyes bleed.  Yay...Chelsea will finish in 4th place every year!

5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Yorkie and I disagreed a lot about him, but I will say had we kept Willian this season he would have produced far more imo than Pulisic and Ziyech and worked twice as hard too.

Might as well have had Ambrosetti and Kakuta on the wings they probably would have done more than  these two useless individuals.

Fans seems to be overestimating Willian’s contribution.  He  had a stretch of 9 league games where he was awful and rightfully dropped for Pepe, Arsenal fans still don’t trust him and let’s see how long this mini resurgence lasts. 
Don’t think Willian is the type of player you want starting games when your forward players are in a rut.

9 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

I would 100% not sell him I want him to be the future of this team. With that said a loan for 2 seasons may do him a world of good. It pains me to say this because he's my favourite current Chelsea player he earned that through his performances last season.

Playing regular football in a different league allowing him to build fitness and form may be what's needed. I would say give him another season with TT but as it stands we really need a 20+ goals a season striker a 20+ assists playmaker (or 10+ goals & 10+ assits) and another player that can contribute at least 15+ g/a and sadly no one seems to fit the bill of the present personnel.

He's still got plenty of time to justify the faith we have in him but if things don't start to improve for him I think a loan would be the best option without a buy option he is 100% not for sale!

You want to loan out a £50m+ player? Might as well loan out Ziyech, Havertz and Werner while we are at it. He just needs to put his head down and keep working hard.

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

You want to loan out a £50m+ player? Might as well loan out Ziyech, Havertz and Werner while we are at it. He just needs to put his head down and keep working hard.

If there is no space for him in this system and team for the long term then yes. Personally I would love him to stay he's so talented. I have his shirt and there's nothing to say he can't thrive under TT.

I'm just saying if he doesn't get the game time he wants then we should 100% loan him, selling him would be a big mistake imho unless ofc he remains injury prone for the rest of his career. 

 

Edited March 14, 20215 yr by LongtimerLurker

I thought he was decent, but he did not stand out as being clearly better than any of the other options.

 

Outside of Mount most of the attacking options are all kind of like that.  

I thought something that really hurt us was Havertz playing out of position.  He had a couple opportunities that Giroud would have just buried.

He came in good, some nice crosses / cuts into the box but overall, atm at least he seems a bit frustrated or unfocused - for whatever reasons. Can't say I have a good feeling right now when I see him, Zyiech and eventually Chilwell on the pitch together as they all look a bit apathic at times - each to a different degree and due different reasons ofc but still. They all try but as soon as it didn't go their way they seem to cramp up a bit. Hope they can effectively work on that, maybe he just need a lucky break and score 1-2 even though he isn't running rampage within the opponents box. If you have 3-4 players like that it's hard to compensate within the squad since you can't start the same 11-14 players every 3-4 days and especially when one if not the major advantage over most of the competitors IS the squad depth. Crossing fingers.

Edited March 15, 20215 yr by weetee

1 hour ago, weetee said:

He came in good, some nice crosses / cuts into the box but overall, atm at least he seems a bit frustrated or unfocused - for whatever reasons. Can't say I have a good feeling right now when I see him, Zyiech and eventually Chilwell on the pitch together as they all look a bit apathic at times - each to a different degree and due different reasons ofc but still. They all try but as soon as it didn't go their way they seem to cramp up a bit. Hope they can effectively work on that, maybe he just need a lucky break and score 1-2 even though he isn't running rampage within the opponents box. If you have 3-4 players like that it's hard to compensate within the squad since you can't start the same 11-14 players every 3-4 days and especially when one if not the major advantage over most of the competitors IS the squad depth. Crossing fingers.

Yes he us frustrated because he is injured and cannot do what he wants to do.  Everytime he wants to make a quick burst he is feeling than hamstring tighten like it could pop.  I have had these muscle injuries and they suck.

While Christian hasn't been as productive this season I have noticed in games he suffers from a similar problem as Timo. Both our runners off the ball and make good runs throughout the game but are often not found because team mates either miss the run or choose someone else.

When he came on he got to play in one of the more narrow positions rather than wb. This allowed him to make more centeral and dangerous runs. When we won the ball back and he ran at the defenders he show cased what we need more of which is pace in transition. Kante was brilliant giving Pulisic more than one option and Christian chose Emerson (imo the better choice) and he got his assist.

With that hopefully he should see a start in one of the more centeral attacking positions at some point. I have nothing against him at wb I think it gives him a lot of space to operate. But, I feel like contrary to some he can also thrive playing as an AM/LF/RF.

Edited March 18, 20215 yr by LongtimerLurker

1 hour ago, LongtimerLurker said:

While Christian hasn't been as productive this season I have noticed in games he suffers from a similar problem as Timo. Both our runners off the ball and make good runs throughout the game but are often not found because team mates either miss the run or choose someone else.

When he came on he got to play in one of the more narrow positions rather than wb. This allowed him to make more centeral and dangerous runs. When we won the ball back and he ran at the defenders he show cased what we need more of which is pace in transition. Kante was brilliant giving Pulisic more than one option and Christian chose Emerson (imo the better choice) and he got his assist.

With that hopefully he should see a start in one of the more centeral attacking positions at some point. I have nothing against him at wb I think it gives him a lot of space to operate. But, I feel like contrary to some he can also thrive playing as an AM/LF/RF.

Looking at the replay I'm pretty sure if he had played it to the right to Kante he would have risked having it stolen.  The defender in front of him had his feet pointed towards Kante so transitioning to defending Kante or attempting a steal would not have been hard.  Playing it left to Emmerson ment the defender had to turn all the way around and run over there.  It gave Emmerson loads of time to get off a good shot.  

If you look at the video and pause it just before Christian makes his pass I don't think you can argue that Kante was the better choice here.